Inspired by her grandfather, who owned a bakery in her native Milan, Perego knew she wanted to become a pastry chef from an early age. Today, as executive pastry chef for the new upscale Montenapo Restaurant in The New York Times Building, she gets to use the freshest ingredients to create traditional and contemporary desserts from all regions of Italy.

After earning her diploma in pastry design from Scuola regionale de Saronno in Varese, Italy, Perego went on to study professional sugar work and artistic chocolate making and presentations at the Etoile di Sottomarina in Venice. She continued to add to her education through additional classes in Trento, Italy and later in France at the L’ecole du Grand Chocolat.

In 1990, she began her career at the Hotel Ancora in Belluno, Italy and after only a few months was offered a position as Pastry Chef for Bice Restaurant in the Four Seasons Hotel in Tokyo. There she created desserts in the Italian tradition but after a year returned to Italy to the Grand Hotel in Trento where she stayed for one year as executive pastry chef.

Perego took on a major challenge when she moved to Singapore in 1996 to work as executive pastry chef for the entire hotel and all its restaurants, requiring her to create Japanese, Chinese and European desserts of all kinds. Always up for testing her culinary skills, she relished her time there, but once again jumped at the chance for a new opportunity that would take her to New York City.

Chef Perego moved to Manhattan in 1997 and worked for Tuscan Square Restaurant in Rockefeller Center. She adjusted quickly to life in The Big Apple and was delighted when the renowned Cipriani tapped her to become corporate executive pastry chef providing pastry, pasta and bread to all of their venues. During the next ten years, she managed a team of 30, helped design the pastry kitchen, and coordinated the opening of 11 restaurants including The Rainbow Room, Cipriani 42nd Street, Cipriani Wall Street, Harry Cipriani, Cipriani London and Punta Del Este in Hong Kong.

When her friends, the notable Chefs German Lucarelli and Giacomo Gallina, invited her to take on the role of pastry chef for Montenapo she was thrilled to join them. Their philosophy of using the freshest and best ingredients available is hers as well, as shown in her eclectic dessert menu that includes tiramisu (her personal favorite), La Mela (slowly baked organic apple served in puffed pastry with caramel chiffonade) and Giorno e Notte (black-and-white chocolate mousse served with acai berry infusion), among many other of her delectable offerings.

Montenapo Ristorante Della Moda is a member of HKHotels and Hospitality. The innovative and much acclaimed HKHotels collection includes four unique and distinct boutique hotels in New York City. These include the retro- glamorous Hotel Giraffe, the Country French-style Hotel Elysee, the Moroccan motif Casablanca Hotel and the book-lovers’ paradise, the Library Hotel, all ranked in the top ten by the members of TripAdvisor.com.

For more information on Henry Kallan or any of the HKHotels, please contact Adele Gutman at 212-201-1153, or e-mail adele@hkhotels.com. High resolution images may be downloaded at our media center at www.hkhotels.com.