CAM RANH, Vietnam (June 2023) A seasoned chef with more than two decades of hospitality experience in Asia and Europe has been appointed as Alma's Italian chef de cuisine.

Italian-born Francesco Leone has joined the 30-hectare family resort Alma, overlooking Long Beach on Vietnam’s Cam Ranh peninsula, to take charge of the trattoria-style Italian restaurant La Casa, a highlight of the resort’s rich culinary landscape comprising 14 dining venues.

Before joining Alma, Leone was Italian chef de cuisine and corporate Italian chef for a Ho Chi Minh City-based F&B company.

He was an Italian culinary advisor for various hotels, resorts, and restaurants in Cebu, Boracay, and Manila in the Philippines, Italian chef de cuisine for Le Meridien Phuket Beach Resort, Italian specialty chef, chef patron, and executive sous chef at Movenpick Resort & Spa Boracay, and a sous chef at The Foreign Merchant’s Club in Pampanga in the Philippines.

Leone started his career as a demi chef de partie in 2002 at Atahotels Tanka Village Resort and Golf Hotel in Sardinia and in Madonna di Campiglio before working as a senior chef de partie for various employers in Milan and Rome. He then moved to Asia in 2011, first working in Singapore as chef de cuisine at Pasta Fresca da Salvatore before moving to the Philippines to work as executive chef for Aria Cucina Italiana in Aklan. He has also studied a Bachelor of Arts majoring in restaurant and culinary management at IPSSAR Molfetta in Italy.

Alma’s executive assistant manager Ingo Stöneberg said Leone brought rich experience from Italy and Asia to his role overseeing the resort’s authentic Italian cuisine, as well as excellent interpersonal skills in interacting with diners and strong leadership and training to benefit his team.