Chef Nicholas Richard Blair has been appointed executive chef of Pudong Shangri-La, East Shanghai.
Chef Nicholas is responsible for fulfilling Shangri-La’s strict operating quality standards to ensure the highest levels of health, food hygiene and safety and to provide exceptional culinary experiences for guests.
Originally from Australia, Chef Nicholas has lived and worked in Asia for 10 years in total. No stranger to Shangri-La Hotels and Resorts, he was an executive chef at Shangri-La Hotel Dalian. He was part of the opening team as executive chef of the Shangri-la property in Tainan, Taiwan and an executive sous chef at China World Hotel, Beijing. He also worked as chef de cuisine at several high-profile hotels, such as Intercontinental Hotel Hong Kong.
Chef Nicholas’s father taught him how to cook at an early age. He has since gone on to have a successful career that has seen him work at some of the best restaurants in Sydney and Melbourne. In his native country, Chef Nicholas worked for The Botanical Melbourne and The Ritz Carlton Sydney.
He successfully opened five restaurants and one hotel and oversaw banquet operations ranging from 100 to 5000 people in exclusive locations throughout Asia, among which The Great Wall of China fashion show dinner was his personal favorite. Spending eight years with the Shangri-La group he experienced the Beijing Olympics in 2008 and then opened the Shangri-La property in Taiwan from March 2009 to October 2010.
Nicholas earned two master certificates in hospitality management and essentials of hospitality, as well as certificates in strategic hospitality management, hospitality marketing and financial management from Cornell University.
He now brings this wealth of experience, knowledge and training to his new role as executive chef for Shangri-La, East Shanghai. His experience and passion for finding fresh local produce and the best ingredients in the world, while embracing avant-garde technology is what makes his cuisine much sought after.
