In a leafy village 5,415 miles away, near Colombo, Sri Lanka, a young Mario Perera was flicking through the pages of a catering magazine. Serendipitously, his eyes caught an advertisement for The Dorchester, a five-star luxury hotel in central London, describing it as “the place to be and to work”. The fledgling chef decided – there and then – that working at the infamous hotel would be his ultimate destiny.