Anton kovalkov chef personal life. Direct speech: Chef Anton Kovalkov on the thirst for knowledge and modern Russian cuisine

How did a man from a closed city decide to become a chef?

The man from the closed city didn't think about it. I didn't think about much. Not about the future. I realized that I needed to look for a profession only when I moved to Nizhny Novgorod. My sister entered the university, I went after her, there was a technical school, there were such professions in the technical school: an accountant, an auto mechanic, a cook. I associated an auto mechanic with a man who looked like a Trudovik in a blue coat, with smeared hands, a greasy rag. I thought that the most decent of all this is the cook. The first time was not interesting, although I was one of the best in the class and generally studied well. And six months later I got an internship, subsequently got a job in the same place - and I became interested, began to delve into it. Let's go. I have already gone to a more serious restaurant, where there was a chef from Moscow. It became more and more intriguing for me, I started buying books about gastronomy. The desire for development was driven by a thirst for new knowledge, I always wanted to go forward, forward, forward.

What did you dream about in Sarov?

About the new guitar. About the motorcycle. About an even better jacket-leather jacket. What else can you dream of at 14? Everything was pretty material. About music - I played the guitar in the band then.

What was the music?

Like what?

We played such black, melodic death metal. Well, there were dreams of playing somewhere, performing at a concert. I never thought that I would go to cook something. But at the same time, I was always drawn to the stove: if I stayed at home alone, it was not difficult for me to cook something for myself. Although, I know, some men are generally afraid to approach the stove.

Why did you move to Nizhny?

Well, my mom did. My sister studied at the Pedagogical Institute in Arzamas, then moved to Nizhny Novgorod, and my mother said: come on, we must also take ourselves away from Sarov. She pushed me, I am grateful to her for that, because it all led to where I am now. Maybe if I hadn't gone anywhere, I would have stayed in Sarov.

What was the very first impetus when you realized that the kitchen is interesting? First practice?

Maybe yes. When you study a profession at a school, you have no idea what it is, this world. And suddenly you find yourself in the kitchen - and this is a whole world with its own rules. I liked it right away - this is a constant movement, when there are a lot of guests, it enchants.

And when did the interest arise to cook not just a good borscht, but something that no one else had cooked yet?

Probably when he got carte blanche. For the first time I became a chef at the Bezukhov restaurant. There was no basic concept, you just had to cook tasty. It was so long ago, ten years ago. Then connoisseurs of taste extolled "Caesar", where Lithuanian parmesan was added, and carbonara, which, in my opinion, did not even look like carbonara. And I had the opportunity to experiment. That's when something appeared. Not even ambition to cook something new, but rather a frenzied interest: what will happen if you do this? And what will happen if that's the case? This is probably the strongest incentive - when you ask yourself questions: what will happen if I do it differently, but differently? When you experiment, you find some interesting note, you think: cool, you need to think more about it. The ability to create is great, but then I began to understand that sometimes you need to curb yourself. You think it's cool, innovative, interesting - but it can also be tasteless.

And when and how did you get to Cipollino (a restaurant in which Adrian Ketglas was the chef. - Note. ed.)?

This was already after Bezukhov. I took a short break and left. I wanted to work in Moscow. It was not as long as I would like; by coincidence, I had to return to Nizhny Novgorod. But I got my share of interesting experience, it was great. Again, I understood what Moscow and world chefs are like: this was the first place of Ketglas, and he showed things that I had not seen anywhere else. And after Moscow, after some time, it dawned on me: after all, I want to see how it is abroad. And there the world turned out to be even more wonderful. For me, who was 24-25 years old, it was something incredible.

And how was it? Here you are the boss, save up money and go on an internship during your vacation.

Yes, I just took a vacation.

For how long?

Sometimes for a month, sometimes for two weeks. London, the first trip, was only for two weeks. I was already working at Milo at that time, a club-cafe in the expensive Etazhi shopping center in the center of Nizhny Novgorod.

A shot taken almost immediately after the opening of Fahrenheit: the restaurant team led by Anton and Bryce Shuman, the chef of the Betony restaurant, who came on tour. This is a New York project by Andrey Dellos, which has already received a Michelin star.

How did you choose where to go?

Just opened the list of "50 best restaurants in the world". I thought - what's the point? If you go, then go to something good. I made a choice, looked: cool photos, names that don’t mean anything to you at all. That is, I did not understand the seriousness of what was ahead of me. Seriousness appears only there when you arrive and get into the frantic rhythm in which people work there. You get up at 6 in the morning to be at work at 6.45, and go home at one in the morning to wake up at 6. Work is not for everyone. But it is in such conditions that it is known how much you love your profession. There is a saying: if you don't know if you love your job or not, imagine: would you stay in it if you get a million dollars? If you stay, then you love. And now, let's say you get into the rhythm of such a restaurant, you work for a month, two, three, you understand that you are tired, you don’t get enough sleep, you don’t have time for yourself, you are in constant stress, something is constantly pressing on you, you earn pennies and you live in a slum. And if you, with all these factors, stay at work and enjoy it, then you have chosen the right profession. You are in the right place.

Hibiscus was the first(London restaurant by French chef Claude Bozy, two Michelin stars. - Note. ed.)?

Yes. This is a very small restaurant, three times smaller than Fahrenheit. It works for two services, lunch and evening. I first got acquainted with this system then: that there is a break between lunch and dinner. During this time we had time to do everything, get ready, and we could have another hour and a half in the center of London to roam or sit somewhere to drink coffee. Restaurant with two stars, 49th in the world at that time (listed The World's 50 Best Restaurants.- Note. ed.). Then, having already worked at Ketglas, I realized that I didn’t know anything: there was a completely different level - how everything is prepared, served, served. Things that I just experimented with were already in full swing there. And, of course, it was great that the people who went to Hibiscus understood all this: every lunch and every evening the restaurant was packed. And also products that I have never seen: there, for the first time in my life, I met fresh almonds, a Berkshire pig, and other incredible things. I didn’t even realize then the value of how cool it is to have such products. Unknown world! And combinations: smoked mackerel broth, white chocolate with green peas - I tried similar things there. And for me it was a revelation: how we are lagging behind in Russia, how different such restaurants are from what we have. I realized that there is room for improvement.

What were you doing there? Cut up the pork? Did you cut potatoes?

All. At first we were engaged in preparations, from seven in the morning until half past twelve. They brought fresh chanterelles - you choose the ideal ones from them, you lay them out in portions. They brought black chanterelles - you cleaned them, also laid them out in portions. You make onion puree, you split almonds, you cook polenta. Some things that I've never encountered before. And then, when the service was already starting, I was already helping, standing on two side dishes. For example, the chef makes a side dish, tells me: heat the mashed potatoes; I warmed it up, give it to the distribution, the chef serves. We were allowed to try some things. Then I went to another station, to a meat station, where I helped, made moussaka. Over time, when you reach some kind of authority, you are naturally trusted to do some more complex things, but not to be trusted right away. The responsibility there was very high: two Michelin stars, every dinner, every evening was at stake. Everything is very serious there.

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Pictures from Kovalkov's training trips. This one is from Balinese restaurant Mozaic

Chez Dominique in Helsinki

Bo Innovation in Hong Kong

Atelier Crenn in San Francisco

Anton and René Redzepi, Noma Chef, Copenhagen

And so you returned to the Lower. What did you feel? Inspiration?

Partly inspiration, partly, of course, regret. For a long time I wanted to go back to it. After such restaurants - those chefs who have been in such restaurants will not let you lie - when you come back, you feel like you are watching a movie in slow motion: everything is so slow in our kitchens.

Have you started to change something in yourself?

Oh sure. To start doing what I saw there was unrealistic, of course. But in the organization of work, in the systematization, I already understood where everything could be corrected, corrected. Some even elementary things: something can be hung differently, and it will be much more convenient. I have been doing this throughout my career: I learned something somewhere, I saw it - and I try to adapt it as much as possible for my kitchen, so that the guys feel comfortable working and the system is understandable. Now chefs understand that there is a certain system whose rules cannot be broken, and they do it exactly as it should: because they do not break the rules, everything is in order for them. But, probably, the main thing after coming from anywhere is that you want to experiment. You have seen restaurants where people book a table for a certain time, and for them this is not something very important: they have visited one restaurant, then they go to another for a new experience in understanding food. But in Nizhny Novgorod at that time, hardly anyone went straight for the experience: people came to eat delicious food in a good interior. Unfortunately, we still do. In the same America, in many restaurants, people do not come to look at the interior, not to see if some stars are eating at the next table - they go to world-famous restaurants for the experience that food gives, for new combinations, new products. Well, it's not ours yet. But in time it will come.

A year later I went to Noma (Chef René Redzepi's Copenhagen restaurant. - Note. ed.). This happened just when they moved from second place to first (in the same list of the 50 best restaurants in the world. - Note. ed.). Completely different experience! Europe is Europe, but everything is completely different. The scale in the first place - it was a shock to me. Two huge floors, twenty interns from all over the world in one kitchen. Trips to the forest, searching and collecting different things, people have a separate laboratory. This level of restaurant.

And they show the trainees everything?

Well, yes. The main mistake of many young chefs and older ones who have never experienced work in Europe is that they judge these restaurants by beautiful YouTube clips. But there is a locomotive. And no one is waiting for you there. You come - and you are like a chip in the ocean. If you are not in the mood to work and understand, no one will babysit you. Don't know the language? Your problems. Can't work fast? Your problems. All problems are yours. No place to live, no money - your problems. If you want to train, then you need to tune yourself and constantly be in good shape. And then, if you work at a good speed, you will have time to see everything, to draw interesting ideas. Yes, so everywhere, in any normal kitchen: everything depends on you, you make your choice every day. Whether to stand on the sidelines and lay out rose petals, 6 leaves on one parchment, you need to make 100 of these - you do it, and no one will come up to you. Or have time to do your own thing and poke your nose everywhere, ask there, ask in another area. I always tell my guys too: how you will work today is your choice, not mine; I didn't bring you here, you work here not because I want to, but because you want to. Over time, people understand. People who are not interested, who came here like a factory - to sharpen parts and leave - there are no such people here anymore, they are eliminated at the first stage. Those who come just to beat the buckets - they can't stand it with me.

What were you doing in the forest?

It was bear garlic season then, these little buds, which were then salted for six weeks, washed - instead of capers - and we had to collect a huge amount of these buds. Specifically, I went three times. Collecting herbs is one of the duties of the trainees, they leave with the chef de party. Someone collected one, someone else.

Is it before work or instead?

This is part of the job.

That is, on the same day and work in the kitchen?

Yes, we left in the morning, then we arrive, we help to finish something on the blanks, and in the evening several trainees go to the service to help. Noma runs on two services. But I often worked in the evening, we did a lot of preparations, and in the evening we helped to give out dishes. There prep-kitchen (kitchen where preparations are made. - Note. ed.) and front-kitchen (main kitchen. - Note. ed.), on which everything was directly prepared and released into the hall. Then I was introduced to one of the most inspiring things about our profession: when chefs bring food themselves. This is how it is customary in Noma - not only the waiters bring the plates to the guests, but also the guys who prepared the dish. This is a very important psychological thing: how much a cook should value what he collects, how much he should be responsible for his food if he carries it himself. I was the first Russian trainee who came to Redzepi, and one evening there was a couple, I don’t remember where, but Russian-speaking, and I was lucky to bring them a dish and talk about it in Russian. And imagine what a responsibility: Noma was very different from El Bulli, which had previously been in first place, there was such a flow of tourists that their servers were crashing, where the booking was processed.

Did they still give you carte blanche in Nizhny Novgorod?

When I went to Noma, I was already in another place, Kitchen.

Was it made especially for you?

Well, not really, I guess. Not exactly for me. As a result, everything flowed and became under me, but I will not go into the nuances, everything was not entirely smooth. Yes, it was Kitchen by Anton Kovalkov, but many things didn't stick together there. And at the same time, in the menu that I made there, I had almost carte blanche, I experimented. But still, a competent chef eventually understands that you need a person whose opinion will be absolutely authoritative. Such a director. Because chefs are a little one-sided anyway - we look at many things, innovations and so on from the side of the kitchen. Guests perceive all this a little differently: not every time a person is tuned in to something complicated, not every time something should pop out or smoke on a plate. Often people just want well-prepared quality food. The chef needs to understand this. There should be modern technologies, but it is not necessary to bring them to the fore - look, I cooked fish for 150 hours, that's how cool it is. Kitchen lasted a year, I think. After that, I ended my career at that company and quit with a plan to go to the States.

Work or internship?

I left to work. I left for three months, although I didn’t really think about how much I was going. I thought that I could afford to travel, to travel. I had a plan to get into several American restaurants. For example, I went to New York and realized that I wanted to go to 11 Madison Park and Corton. Alinea in Chicago - there was a plan to stay there for at least a month. Then San Francisco - I chose Benu and Atelier Crenn. I gave three months to work in such restaurants, I don’t regret it a bit, it was an amazing experience, in terms of system, in terms of food, in terms of technique. Exceptional experience, honestly.

They returned - and set their sights on Moscow? Or how?

In fact, I returned back to Nizhny Novgorod with the understanding that something more was needed. I got a job at the Romanov entertainment complex, where there were VIP cinemas on the first floor, and a restaurant on the second floor. I worked there for almost a year, and then moved to Moscow.

And you named the restaurant in Romanov - Per Se?

No, not me. It was like that when I started working there. Yes, it was called as Thomas Keller's restaurant. In the end, I realized that I needed to move on. Even when I was in the States, I wrote to Natalia Palacios, who was the organizer of the Moscow festival Omnivore, that I want to participate. Submit photos of your work. Natalya kindly agreed to take me without tasting, said: "Yes, come." It was my first "Omnivore" - and after the performance, many people approached me, there were a lot of flattering reviews. I understood that I was doing experimental things, but then I was convinced that I was on the right track, that they had a place, they were relevant and they could be done. And a month before Omnivore, I went through a tasting at 22.13.

So this was before the festival?

Yes, that was before. Many mistakenly think that it was after. And I just announced at Omnivore that I would have a project.

So. And why "22.13"?

I can't say exactly why. It was just a new project in Moscow. This company (Global Point. - Note. ed.) was launching a new project in Moscow, I was also new to Moscow. So the cards were formed, so the threads of fate intertwined. I also can't say why "22.13" closed; that's probably how it should have happened. Each failure is an opportunity to let a person think, draw conclusions. Only a fool does not draw any conclusions from failures. A smart person will always make them. Right or wrong, but will do.

Was what you did at 22.13 much different from what you did in Nizhny Novgorod?

It was different, yes. For me it was a new stage, I wanted to climb the next step. Something, perhaps, was even too experimental. But there were also simple things on the menu - bruschettas, for example, a burger. Everything was there. Each person could find his own. It so happened that I left "22.13" at the end of the year. And I made a promise to myself that I would find a place where I would feel comfortable, I would understand what I was doing there. I drew some conclusions and moved on. The search for a place took me five months, from January to May. It's not that there were no proposals - there were proposals. They started showing up even before I left 13/22, in a week. But I didn't feel like it was mine. I've been tasting at a couple of new places. I almost got on a train with Moscow's F ​​our Seasons, but ended up in Fahrenheit in May 2015.

Did they invite you?

Yes. I used to talk to a girl who worked here in the personnel department, and somehow asked if there was anything for me. And somehow it all worked out so well: she came to the second Omnivor for me, we talked to her, shot a video. And in the end I met with the manager of the company (Maison Dellos. - Note. ed.) Alexander Vyacheslavovich Zaitsev. We talked, I did a tasting, he talked about the project. As a result, I came here when there was nothing yet, only walls, pipes and sand.

And did you make your own kitchen?

I designed the kitchen entirely myself. I was working on the details, the kitchen was being built at the same time, and I could always go down to check how everything was being built.

What must have been in it?

Again, it somehow grew together - everything that we conceived for the kitchen, it all happened. I wanted to have a charcoal grill - they put a josper. The entire hot line had to be near the wall, ordinary stoves mixed with induction - as they wanted, they did it. All sorts of gadgets are also there - shock freezing, "Anti-grill", pakodzhet; everything turned out great. Andrei Konstantinovich Dellos chose the color of the tile - in principle, this color should have played, and I also immediately liked it.

Do the people who manage your kitchen have a strong influence?

Well, there are a lot of moments when you need to listen to the opinion - this is what I already told you about. And here in the company I felt that there is a director.

Alexander Zaitsev?

Yes. And the bottom line is that he is not the kind of director who tells you: go straight along this road - and there will be a good shot (as they say in many places). No, he says: think about which way to go. No one dictates here, they just try to open up and help open up. They ask the right questions. And if at 22.13 I thought: what a tasting, I know everything, then it’s not here. And it's good that there is an opinion of authoritative people. Or when reviewers come, critics, including anonymous ones, such as the Insider (a group of anonymous critics writing for the site Insider.moscow. - Note. ed. ) or Boris (Boris Kritik, an anonymous critic from St. Petersburg. - Note. ed.), - their opinion is also important. Not a single chef will say: I don’t care about people’s opinion at all, I will cook what I want. No normal chef would say this, because there are things that are objectively tasty and objectively tasteless. Ugly - this is already very subjective.

And what Zaitsev asks the right questions? How does he say that something will work and something won't?

And there is no such thing. There were moments when he said: a delicious dish, but it probably won't work. And time passed, and the dish occupied the top position. And here it is very important that if he understands that he was wrong, then he admits it - this is the lot of the strong. And what questions? Well, for example, at the last tasting, he simply told me about one dish: the salad is delicious, but there is not enough brightness - there is not enough brightness in the whole picture, think again, you can do better. Says to think - and I take note that this salad just might not be ready to enter the menu yet. And after some time a new idea will appear, I will refine something - and it will sparkle with new colors. Probably, such relationships are very comfortable. I'm not going to prove to anyone that I'm a professional. And the manager of the company understands that I am a professional. Why dictate to a professional what to do? We do not hire a lawyer to tell him: you know, but I read on the Internet that this is the law. Or someone will sit and paint your portrait - you won’t tell him: I don’t have such a nose, you see it wrong. We don't tell architects how to build houses, engineers how to design cars. Everyone must do their job. And it's great that Maison Dellos understands this border, they know how to behave with the chef. It's a whole science. We are such, very capricious in fact. This is a story that anyone can offend an artist. But I know more expressive chefs than me. Many take criticism more sharply - after all, one must also be able to perceive criticism, it comes with time.

Do you understand where you are going next? In which direction?

Yes, I definitely understand that I am moving in the right direction. The beauty of Fahrenheit is also that I have a regular menu and a chef's table (dinner, set, which the chef makes entirely at his discretion. - Note. ed.), where I can reveal my ambitions, unrealized experimental ideas.

And what should a dish be like in 2016 to be considered modern? What should it look like, what should it contain?

Well, I think everyone has their own modernity. It seems to me that the most important idea is that the dish has a connection with the traditions of your country. Then it should support locality as much as possible - production on the territory of one's own country. Innovation - they should be in texture work. But should not come to the fore - look, I made smoke out of potatoes! The most important thing is that the food should be delicious. And I think that the dish can be made more interesting by combining different combinations. For example, I do not limit myself to Russian tastes: I really love Asia, and I like to add Asian notes. I like to bring something new, because it helps to take a fresh look at even a familiar product. The chief must travel with his head.

After Heston Blumenthal decided that something must be crunchy on the plate, everyone crunched. What do you think, should something crunch on a plate or not?

Well, for example, I like it crunchy, because it's a variety of textures that helps our brain perceive the dish better. I am also a supporter of diversifying textures. The same Blumenthal gives an example with mashed potatoes: the first three spoons are the most delicious, and your brain perceives everything else not so brightly. Any dish should be balanced, and if you try it and think - it would be great if there was a note of crunch here, then you need to add it. And if you have a concept that the main thing in a dish should be creamy, and for a change you can add some kind of marinated element or something sharply acidic, then the crunch is no longer needed. Balance matters.

What about color? Should the dish be bright?

Don't know. The dish can be made interesting in taste - and completely black. Black is the color of artists, the color of Malevich. However, it is not for nothing that they say that we eat with our eyes. The dish, of course, must be beautiful. No matter how delicious it is, the first thing you do is look at it. Even the appearance of the plate is important. Many people make plates themselves, to order - I am also a supporter of this. In general, about trends ... I recently received a call from some publication and asked: “Have you heard about such a trend - a bitter product?” A bitter taste, like, dampens the appetite, and if there is a bitter element in every dish, this is very good. I say no, I haven't. And the second question was: "Do you know of any ways to make a bitter product not so bitter?" And I’m like, “What’s the point of this trend then? Use a bitter product - and try to make it not bitter? The strangest trend

After impressing the audience of the young cuisine festival Omnivore with smoked sour cream in 2013, in July of this year Anton went on tour to Italy. As one of the ambassadors of Russia Expo at the World Universal Exhibition held in Milan under the motto “Feeding the planet. Energy for Life”, Anton participated in the Cooking show on the Italian channel RAI 3TV and fed the visitors of the Russian pavilion with buckwheat porridge with Crimean truffle on kvass. Immediately upon his return, SNC spoke with a young ambitious chef, who just moved from Nizhny Novgorod just a couple of years ago, about EXPO, about the best restaurant in the world El Celler de Can Roca, about working in Moscow and the Moscow restaurant scene, about the partnership between the restaurateur and the chef and plans for the future. And they are obviously big for Anton.

SNC: How is Milan?

Anton: I can't say how Milan is. I can tell like EXPO. It is striking in scope - I have never been to events of this magnitude. EXPO is not only and not so much about food, but rather about culture, about where we are going. It's like it says everywhere in big print: "People, pay attention to what is happening to this world." Naturally, I judge by several pavilions - by those for which there was enough time.

SNC: For what?

Anton: In Brazilian, for example, it's very cool. You feel like a child. Israel... They've got a horizontal wall, and cereals grow from there. The only thing I still don't understand is how to assemble them.

SNC: They're Israelis, they'll figure it out!

Anton: They will hire someone. And, of course, the Russian pavilion. The scale is amazing. There is a permitted building height EXPO - and the peak point of our pavilion is exactly this height. And in general, I was impressed by the concept, an attempt to comprehend the agrarian heritage of the country. And, of course, it was not without fun. I talked to the guys who work in the Russian pavilion, they say that visitors are stealing black soil.

SNC: It's like stealing manure from a nearby farm! What for?

Anton: It is absolutely incomprehensible for what purpose people take black soil, it is absolutely incomprehensible for what purpose people take away dry cereals, as if they had never seen them. It is impossible, inedible, but they still take it. Well, since they steal, probably, someone needs it.

SNC: It wouldn't have crossed my mind.

Anton: Probably, only the Russians would not have thought to take the black soil. What else can you bring from Milan?

SNC: What does it mean to you to be an ambassador?

Anton: This is a great opportunity. First of all, the opportunity to share ideas, the privilege to talk about what we are doing in Russia now, what it actually is - a new wave of Russian cuisine. Many people - primarily outside the Garden Ring - do not know about it.

SNC: How was the process of selecting ambassadors? It is not clear what the organizers were guided by - there are big questions about half of the list.

Anton: I don't know. Most interesting. I was simply put in front of this pleasant fact. I had to bring one dish and perform it at the Cooking show on one of the central Italian channels. How it happens: an Italian chef and the chief ambassador of one of the countries participating in the exhibition meet. They turned out to be me and Davide Scabin (One of the most famous Italian chefs; the Combal Zero restaurant under the direction of Scabin received two Michelin stars. - Approx. ed.). Each of us just prepared our own dish - this is not a competition, this is an exchange of ideas, experience, thoughts. I was simply dumbfounded by the honor of performing with him.

SNC: Of the Russian chefs, many know the maximum of Anatoly Komm. Now also Vladimir Mukhina (Chef of the White Rabbit restaurant, which this year took 23rd place in the prestigious ranking of the best restaurants in the world 50 Best according to San Pellegrino. - Approx. Ed.). Can Russia EXPO change anything?

Anton: Yes, only they know. But all of us - Komm, Mukhin, Berezutsky (Brothers Berezutsky - chefs and co-owners of the Twins restaurant, also ambassadors of Russia EXPO 2015. - Ed.) - unfortunately, as if not together. Each of us is absolutely sure that he is the one who will bring to the top a new wave of Russian cuisine. It is not right. EXPO is perhaps a small step towards rapprochement, towards making us aware of ourselves as part of a single process.

SNC: Why did you decide to cook porridge with kvass?

Anton: The main idea is that Russian products and traditional tastes, combined with modern culinary technologies, give a cool result. This is what I try to show through the Fahrenheit menu, and above all through the chef's set.

SNC: It's not easy to get on your set. You need to book a few weeks in advance, almost like in world famous restaurants.

Anton: It's no secret that food is becoming an event today. I think it's correct. And it's great that this is happening in Russia. Food is an art, just like theater, like traveling.

SNC: Taste is very subjective.

Anton: This is subjective, but there are factors that guide you assuming that it will be delicious. At least qualitatively. Products, equipment, technologies. Plus you already have some expectation. As a result, you compare the result that you received, your impressions and the price you paid. That's when you can form your own opinion. This is how any restaurant is critiqued. The main thing is that you pay yourself. This is the key point.

There is not a single critic in Moscow. There is a critic from St. Petersburg, Boris, we have insider.moscow (Not completely anonymous and rather provocative blog about restaurants. - Approx. ed.). It is felt that they cut some details, they understand what is on the plate, they distinguish products, they understand who just sells and who tries, who puts the Lego constructor on the plate, and who puts it from the heart. This is about criticism.

SNC: How do you select food for a restaurant? How is the menu made up, from what?

Anton: First of all, seasonality. I no longer perceive food differently. Cooking with seasonal strawberries is profitable. Both for you and for people. For some reason, many still do not understand this: “They eat berries all the time, I will buy them fresh for two and a half thousand rubles, they have no taste, and I will sell them in winter and put them in dessert as a decoration, because I don’t know what else to put. Or, for example, they brought us fresh black chanterelles to try. I made two dishes - the bomb! Put it on the menu. I went to the weekend market near the house, bought corn, cooked soup with it at home. Space! That's it, we urgently need to put some seasonal evening of corn. Or black Rostov pigmented garlic. These guys from Rostov generally contacted me through Instagram. Garlic - via Instagram, can you imagine?! Garlic has an account! Now I have it in my set, we made ice cream out of it, there will be several desserts with black garlic on the autumn menu. It simply cannot be compared with Asian. The Asian makes some incredible journey to get to us, but this one doesn't. There is, of course, a centralized procurement system for the main products. The rest is a constant search: suppliers, Facebook, but all means are good. For example, I know that a Russian key has now appeared. A super popular product in Europe, in America, perhaps everywhere. Do you know how much a kale costs? 1800 per kilo. For cabbage. This not normal. Here is our problem. The Russian problem is when you can't afford to buy a simple product. I can't explain to people why it costs so much. Surely girls who know what kale is would eat it with pleasure. It's super-healthy! But you will not explain why you are selling this dish for at least 800 rubles. I need to buy it, process it, cook it and take into account the cost price. And this is an absolutely crazy price! In the States, a kale costs $6, and it will last for two more days. Or Russian artichokes. They are excellent, but three artichokes cost 453 rubles. I have a casual restaurant, I would love to put this on the menu, but I can't - how to explain to people. They bring us a chicken from Krasnodar. He is a farmer, yellow, small, with the right cartilage, with the right meat, not like the "Ashanov" chicken, in which the cartilage is not formed. So, I can buy a Krasnodar chicken only for a set, I can’t put it on the menu, because no one will take it for that kind of money. The problem is that these are inadequate prices - due to logistics, due to the fact that we do not have federal support.

Another problem: the consumer of the mass market, unfortunately, does not know what he is taking. He doesn't care for now. This is our generation thinking about it, someone does not eat one thing, someone else. I also don’t eat a lot of things: mayonnaise, sausage, dumplings. I do not drink industrial juices, Coca-Cola. I just know it's trash. It's the same with food: in some restaurants you will eat, and in some you won't. It's no secret that some expensive restaurants are not shy about putting cubes in the broth. When you realize that, to put it mildly, you are being fooled, when you are being sold oxtail stew for seven hundred rubles at a cost of fifty, this is already PR, marketing. If you are not popular, although you make the best gnocchi in the area, cook the best borscht at the Dostoevskaya metro station, no one will come to you. If you were doing this in London, people would appreciate it. Everyone understands that in a restaurant they sell not only food, but also the name, the face of the chef, the face of the restaurateur. But it is better when both the chef and the restaurateur work together.

SNC: What is the success of such a tandem?

Anton: All successful restaurateurs are very smart people. In my opinion, we chefs are a little one-sided - we look at everything from the side of the kitchen. The main role of the restaurateur in tandem, probably, is to properly guide, help the chef open up. Say: "Think, you can do better." Never teach a chef how to cook. A competent restaurateur will imperceptibly plant an idea in the head of the chef so that he does not even notice.

SNC: What a perfect wife!

Anton: Yes, this is an absolutely comparable thing. The restaurateur is responsible for the harmony of "family life".

SNC: Who do you like in Moscow as a restaurateur? Well, except for Dellos. Rappoport?

Anton: I went to the “Chinese Letter” several times, and I don’t go there anymore. Probably right, insider.moscow wrote that Rappoport stamps establishments well, but they have no soul. From a business point of view, he has a super-successful, I think, institution. The Internet is drowning in discussions about the fact that Rappoport does not allow chefs to come out, does not show them, but that's another story. I am not a consumer of his restaurants, I can honestly say. I like it in Savva, I like "Roll". I went to Saxone+Parole for brunch here - good.

SNC: How do you like El Celler de Can Roca? )?

Anton: Incredible. Just imagine: you are going to the best restaurant in the world. You go to a restaurant with very high expectations. To be honest, I thought it would be a little worse there, and I was glad to be wrong. This is not a food point, this is a huge locomotive that sets trends. They [Roca brothers] are not alone there. This is a big job, a huge number of people behind the scenes, there are large-scale laboratories, separate buildings, a library. People stand on their feet 16 hours a day, six days a week. Only when you see how they work there, you begin to understand - this is the level. There are no such places in Moscow. In Moscow, they don't go to chefs.

SNC: They do if they are cute fashion guys. Like you, for example.

Anton: They go to the chefs - media people. They don’t come to you, because you have delicious food, they go to fashion. We don't have a culture of event restaurants. In the States, event restaurants are full because people come from all over the world. Moreover, they are already more than a gastronomic experience - today many arrange business meetings there.

SNC: We don't have people going for a rising star unless she's been publicized, whether you're anyone.

Anton: Everyone knows that many restaurants use the services of promoters who bring people. Promoters are paid money for this, and even so, the restaurant fills up for a very long time. How many establishments have closed since January. Moreover, good projects are closed, with delicious food, with all the necessary paraphernalia. Holy Fox is now closed. It's not easy to survive today.

SNC: Is the trip to El Celler de Can Roca an experience for the sake of experience?

Anton: This is the beginning of a large-scale project. The Roca brothers will come to Moscow in the autumn, and in the restaurants of each of our dinner participants [such as William Lamberti, Elena Chekalova, Dmitry Zotov and other famous Moscow chefs] there will be dinners inspired by our trip. A round table will be held on the development of Russian gastronomy, support for farming. It will be attended by bosses, the Roca brothers, representatives of government agencies, private traders like Bori Akimov, who created a brilliant movement (LavkaLavka. - Approx. ed.). Maybe there will be some kind of impact.

SNC: The logical way forward is to become a restaurateur yourself. You want your own restaurant, of course?

Anton: Yes, and I think that I will do it soon. Most likely not only in Moscow.

SNC: What will it be like? More gastronomic, more eventful?

Anton: Of course. It would be a small restaurant, forty seats, I would not do more. Open kitchen, small menu, normal prices. Lunch, break, evening service. I would like a chef to come to every table with a dish that the guest ordered, because no one will tell you better about food than the person who cooked it. And I would pick up such a team that each cook would be really proud of each of his dishes. Unfortunately, not all cooks yet understand this huge chain: the end result of what he does is a guest who sits on a chair. Everything is worth doing so that the guest eats and likes it. I like to feed people. I'm not even in the middle of the road, but at the beginning. I know exactly where I want to go, I have goals, ambitions, this is normal for every chef, I think. And the goals are not only to earn three stars, but also to promote - in a good way - Russian cuisine.

SNC: You are patriotic. And in another country, would you open something on the theme of the very “new Russian cuisine”?

Anton: Yes, definitely. It's just stupid to open an Asian restaurant. I really enjoy playing with classic recipes and reinventing them. For example, porridge. This is a dish with which we have already lived for many centuries. Cereals are historically rarely used in main dishes - in Russia, Italy and India. We [in Fahrenheit] have a course called Porridge in the set, we constantly change the type of cereal. Buckwheat, for example, we cooked on a mixture of mushroom broth and pu-erh. Of course, this is not the buckwheat that everyone is used to. Someone will say that this is wrong, that this is a distortion - it makes no difference to me. I will do what I see fit to show what Russian food can be today.

Every year more and more restaurants open in Moscow, and each of them, of course, needs a chef. The younger generation of line chefs and sous chefs is not growing as fast as we would like; culinary schools still rarely graduate those who want to tear off with their hands. Therefore, restaurateurs often bring experienced foreigners to the capital - chefs from Italy, France, Malaysia, the USA, and so on. The Village keeps a close eye on the emerging industry and occasionally finds up-and-coming young chefs to talk about. Among the new big names that are worth knowing, Russians come across much less often, but today we are talking about just such.

Anton Kovalkov

chef of the restaurant and bar "Favorite Place 22.13"

So far, Anton Kovalkov is not particularly famous in Moscow. This is because before Global Point he worked in Nizhny Novgorod. And he didn't waste any time there. After studying at college, he studied at MAG in Moscow, and here he worked for some time at the Chipollino restaurant. Returning to Novgorod, at the age of 21 he became a chief for the first time. According to Anton, it was the best restaurant in the city, but the thirst for knowledge overcame, and he sent letters to hundreds of European restaurants asking about the possibility of an internship. The first internship that Anton went to was at Hibiscus, a London restaurant with two Michelin stars. That was four years ago, and now the Chicago restaurant Alinea (three Michelin stars) and Noma (two Michelin stars) also appear on Kovalkov's track record.

In 2013, Anton Kovalkov gave a master class at the Omnivore festival in Moscow. The views on the modern cuisine of the chef, in his own words, completely coincide with the idea of ​​the new young cuisine of the festival. Kovalkov advocates the use of Russian products, the search for new flavor combinations, for making everything possible in his kitchen, using ready-made ingredients to a minimum.

Anton himself says that the current menu at 22.13 is just the beginning, "further it will be more interesting." By autumn, tasting sets will appear, about which the chef says: “It will be a reflection of what I really have in my head.”

Start

I decided to become a chef at the age of 15, but then the choice was not conscious. I moved from the city of Sarov - there is such a small town in the Nizhny Novgorod region, named after a saint - to Nizhny Novgorod. I was 15 years old and needed to get some kind of profession. My sister went to college, and there was a college at the institute, there were acquaintances, and they asked me: “Will you go?” There were two options - a cook and an auto mechanic. I decided that digging in cars, in oil and being a grimy is not my thing.

I studied for a profession, got an internship in a restaurant, and after about six months I began to enjoy what I was doing. There was a thirst for knowledge and interest in the kitchen, I began to buy books. Then I got into a restaurant where there was a very good Moscow chef. Every year it got more and more interesting.

I became a chef at the age of 21, in Nizhny Novgorod. My first restaurant is somewhat reminiscent of "22.13" in terms of interior. This is one of the oldest restaurants in the city, it is now eight years old. And one of the most popular. Everything was not bad, but just one day I realized that this was not enough for me, I had to study further.

Internships

I have trained in many places. Without too much modesty, I am one of a small number of Russian chefs who have traveled all over the world. One of the most important places is probably Noma (Restaurant chef Rene Redzepi, with two Michelin stars, has been recognized as the best in the world by various guides and magazines in recent years. - Approx. ed.). I am the first Russian who was there. Spent a month. Of the restaurants with three Michelin stars were Chicago's Alinea and New York's Eleven Madison Park. With two stars: Hibiscus (London), Frantzen (Stockholm), Chez Dominique (Helsinki), Corton (New York) and Atelier Crenn (San Francisco).

My first internship was in London, at Hibiscus. He was then included in the 50 best restaurants in the world. Now I'm 28, and when I started traveling abroad, I was 24. I worked as a chef in Nizhny Novgorod. I worked and saved money: I had a goal. At first I saved up a certain amount, then I chose the restaurant I wanted to go to and thought about how to do it. It turned out differently, often I found the right people, I'm lucky.

The language barrier. When I went to London, I spoke very little English. My sister helped me - she is an English teacher. She wrote me a resume in English, helped me write letters to restaurants. Gave me a template on how to do it. When they wrote to me: “Come back in a month”, this month I just surrounded myself with books, textbooks and began to teach. My sister helped here too. Human self-development is one of the most elementary things. A person should not stand still in any case, no matter who he is. Not only in terms of profession, but also in terms of all life - morally, spiritually, physically. These are the rules of life. This is normal for every person.

During the internships, I was not looking for recipes, but I was looking for ideas and techniques. During my internships, I studied how chefs work with products, what techniques they use, how they come up with dishes. I got into Noma and Alinea. Very imbued with Frantzen in Stockholm. It's actually one of the brightest places I've been.

Omnivore Festival

Talking about a local product in Moscow is generally ridiculous, there is no local product here. And I focused on the new kitchen. I was a visitor in Moscow on Omnivore. This whole idea of ​​a new young kitchen is very close to me. Farm products, the search for new techniques, new views on old products.

I showed a master class on this Omnivore in Moscow. Made liquid potatoes with mushrooms. It's like a siphon for coffee - we did the same, only poured potato broth inside, put different types of dried mushrooms into the siphon. They heated it - the potato broth rose, went down, and it turned out to be a liquid potato with mushrooms. I also made hot okroshka - also one of the ideas for kvass soup, only hot. We made homemade bresaola ourselves, the meat component - aged meat, smoked sour cream - a bunch of all sorts of troubles. There were very good reviews. Approached the editor of "Gastronom" Marianna Orlinkova, Alexander Gavrilov, who taught master classes. He said that in three years my performance was one of the brightest. And I say: "God, really?" I was so happy. I thought that I would calmly show a couple of tricks, everyone would say: “Thanks for coming. No wonder they were invited."

Modern Russian cuisine

It seems to me that a person should do what he has a soul for. Everyone must find their own path and follow it. I understood what I want to work with and why I should do it: to work with Russian products, because I am Russian. We make beef with adjika, for example. In fact, in almost all the restaurants where I worked, I made beef with adjika - this is one of my favorite flavor combinations. We cook adjika ourselves, serve it with Chinese black fermented garlic cream. I'm trying to keep a touch of Russian, but bring something else.

I play with Russian cuisine in a modern way. I think that this is the only way it can be represented at the world level. Russian cuisine should now be one that you are not ashamed to show to anyone. It may be completely different, but in my opinion as a chef, Russian cuisine should look like this.

Angus beef tartare with beetroot granita and fresh sorrel from the 22.13 menu

Farm chicken with malt béchamel sauce and 3 hour confit carrots from the 22.13 menu

There is no need to remain only within the framework of Russian ideas and Russian tastes. You can take a Russian product and shade it with something. I like spices, Asian motifs. You need to diversify your tastes. I really love dumplings at Pushkin, but I think we should go further. What Volodya Mukhin does, for example, is just super and a great example. He makes food within the framework of Russian ideas, but he also takes southern cuisine and beats their ideas in a very cool way. He has a concept, he has ideas. Shishkin is constantly looking for some food, he brings it, he made gingerbread from bird cherry flour, pasta from Borodino bread. Each of us presents his own idea, that's right.

There are so many restaurants in Moscow, and every menu has something "farm". And how many people just flaunt this "we have a farm." In fact, they just take frozen. Or, for example, farmer's, but not Russian - farmer's French. We take farm pike perch in LavkaLavka. We know exactly its origin, everything is transparent and can be tracked at any stage.

We do a lot ourselves: we smoke fish ourselves, pickle vegetables, quail eggs. Despite the small menu, we have a lot of blanks. Why buy smoked fish when you can smoke it yourself? Anyone in a professional kitchen can do everything on their own.

There is a boom in some products. Now there is a boom in bird cherry flour. Everyone is like, “Ah, bird cherry flour!” We thought, why not make a sauce for fish and duck out of it. My tasting menu will include duck in a cherry flour sauce with Amaretto flavor. This is quite Russian and at the same time not quite a standard use of bird cherry flour. Trying to look for something and not stop there - this is one of the most correct approaches.

can't build something
interesting and unusual
without giving it all up,
without investing entirely

We have a dessert with birch sap. Here again, about locality - we found a person who collected 300 liters of juice for us and froze it. We found it on Avito.ru - funny and stupid. About this person, it turns out, Channel One filmed a program. We reserved this juice and are gradually buying it - he brings it to us every month.

Birch sap is very sweet and naturally fermented., fermentation. That is, it can be put, and it will ripen until it turns into vinegar. It will be very serious, we have already staged it in burnt wooden stumps, there is such a technique. The juice is kept at a certain temperature. Vinegar will be with the aroma of birch sap and acquire the aroma of wood. But it will take time for it to appear on the menu. For some time, experiments, clarity, and accuracy are taken away.

I want to launch a tasting menu by autumn . Seriously prepare, so that there are dishes, serving, so that these are interesting ideas, what I want to show. To be a reflection of what's in my head. Just started making the first sketches. I want it to be an unforgettable experience for a person. For a person to come, eat and think: “Yes, this is something new for me. I won't try this anywhere else."

Cook's job

The restaurant inside is not the same as outside. Outside, everything is quiet and calm, while in the kitchen there can be exorbitant screams, yelling, pushing. The only thing I understood is that you can’t build something interesting and unusual without giving yourself completely to it, without fully investing. And I realized what I want to do.

You don't always have to show that you can make foamy sauce. or something popping out of the plate. The first thing to talk about is taste. You should be struck by the taste or combination of flavors, and only then everything else.

Salad with sturgeon, baked vegetables and marinated quail eggs from the menu "22.13"
Dessert with sorrel, salty white chocolate, birch sap and fennel from the menu "22.13"

Sometimes you meet chefs who want to show the techniques they know. They don't care if the food tastes good. They know how to froth, and they think it's a modern kitchen, and put these froths everywhere. They make snow, lay out a bunch of flowers. A bunch of flowers, creams, emulsions - they know how to make them, and the taste of vegetables is simply disgusting. Some marinated, others overcooked, no cabbage. You just eat them and think, “God, why are you putting them on a plate at all?” At the same time, they serve a tasting menu for, say, 95 euros. How does your conscience allow you to do this? There are such chefs not only in Europe, there are plenty of them all over the world and, unfortunately, in Russia too.

A lot of people make food sketches, I never do., because I understand that I can’t adequately transfer all this to paper. I can only make some sketches. I played the guitar, I still play for myself. This is a hobby that can distract me, otherwise I constantly drive thoughts about food in my head. You need a hobby that distracts you from these thoughts. You have to step back and empty your head for something new to come. That is what happens most often.

About Moscow colleagues

I have recently been in Moscow and have not had time to meet everyone yet. Isaac Correa was on Omnivore after me. He is an energy man. I visited him yesterday at the Upside Down Cake Company and . I actually got a little upset. This often happens: he is alone and cannot break into all his places. This is a network problem, a problem of large establishments. Shishkin had some time ago, in Delicatessen. At first we wanted to go to Gifts of Nature, but I finish work late. We are friends with Shishkin only in absentia - on Facebook. But I want to get along with everyone. I also ate at White Rabbit - Mukhin is generally well done. He is now one of the most advanced young chefs, I think. One can only rejoice for such people. These are people who promote Russian cuisine.

I really want to call Vanya Shishkin and just sit with him because this person is also simply phenomenal - thoughts, ideas. I want to communicate with everyone, but at the same time, I want to first get everything right here, at 13/22, and find my niche, my guests, who will be interested in eating my food. I think I can find. My cuisine does not scare people away, even in spite of difficult things somewhere, if a person is open to something new.

I bow before
What does Zimin do? He did a great job for
to raise the culture of food

I was at the Barbarians when they first opened. It was great, very tasty. Anatoly Anatolyevich Comm is also super simple. This is the only chef who originally represented us on the world stage. He punched a hole in the wall, and we all started using that hole. It doesn't matter what they say about him - he did a lot and, I think, deserves respect for that.

I would like to establish contact with all the chefs with whom it will be interesting to communicate. On the day of our performance at Omnivore, we arrived at 11 am to make all the preparations. The first were Zimin and Shalev. We didn't get to talk much. I bow to what Zimin does. He did a great job in order to raise the culture of food in Russia and in Moscow in particular. That Zimin gathered everyone in this way, that Akimov - only in part of the farmers.

It's strange that I always expect more from Ragout than they end up giving. When I went there for the first time, out of six courses, four had minced mushrooms. I don't understand why they put it everywhere. I'm not saying it's tasteless. I just don't get it. Either I'm not mature enough, or something else. I never want to offend anyone and do not overestimate myself. It's not up to you to decide who is cooler than you, who is not cooler. You need to find your niche and do business, proving with actions, not talk. But I'm talking about my experience. I went and said: “I didn’t understand” or “It didn’t taste good to me”, “I didn’t understand, I won’t order this dish.” But I will eat carrot soup there. And I can go to the grill bar too.

Photos: Olya Eichenbaum

ANTON KOVALKOV, CHEF OF RESTAURANT "BELUGA"

Anton Kovalkov - chef of the restaurant "Beluga"

Alexandra Belitskaya, journalist

About myself. I was born in the city of Sarov, Nizhny Novgorod Region, where I lived until the age of 15. In general, 15 years for me is a kind of starting point. That's when it all started, and it's still going on.

He entered the cooking college, to study as a pastry chef and graduated with honors. As one of the best students, I was sent to practice in a restaurant. It was my first real job. The day before going to work, I studied all my notes and cookery books in order to once again refresh my memory of what and how to cut and not lose face at the crucial moment. But as it always happens, in the first 5 minutes I cut my hand badly, so my work for the next two weeks excluded the use of piercing and cutting objects.

Tartar with smoked beluga and yellowtail (1200 rubles)

Of course, at first it was difficult to work in the kitchen. I didn’t have a clear idea of ​​what a team was, I didn’t know how to start a conversation, how to behave properly in an environment of people I didn’t know well. In general, there were clearly problems with social qualities, but on the other hand, this helped not to be distracted from the process of learning how to cook.

After some time, a restaurant was opened in the city, owned by a Moscow group, most of our team from the restaurant moved there, and they invited me along. There was a completely different level: the food was more difficult to prepare, the discipline was tougher, the products were of better quality. After 2.5 years of work, I became a sous chef.

Summer beetroot with vegetables

The learning process is endless. If there is a desire, then after work you can hone your technique or cook new dishes at home, read literature related to gastronomy, there are many options, the main thing is to want. This is exactly what I did in my free time. Then I began to be interested in Italian cuisine, and after some time I found out that an Italian restaurant was opening in the city and the chef was also Italian. Almost the same day I went to them for an interview. Italian cuisine seemed to me something beautiful and refined, but in fact Italian cuisine is quite chaotic. However, it was a good experience. After Chef Angelo left, I stayed in the restaurant for the eldest. I say “senior” because I was only nominally a chef. It was then that I realized that I wanted to move on, I was 21 years old. Starting to earn other amounts, I began to save about 60% of what I received for the future, and I went to train on them.

Potato noodles with fried chanterelles and dill cream (780 rubles)

Internships. There were no problems with choosing restaurants for an internship: I just opened the ranking of the 50 best restaurants in the world (The World's 50 Best Restaurants) and started sending resumes for internships to each of them. In general, nothing should stop you on your way to your goal. What's the difference "what will someone else's opinion be? The main thing is the result you get. At that time, I did not know English, so I asked my sister to help me write a cover letter correctly. So I sent letters every week, and if the restaurant did not respond to my request in any way, then After some time, I received another letter.

As a result, I got answers from New York (Gramercy Tavern), London (Hibiscus) and someone else from Australia, but since the ratings of the first two were higher, I chose from them.

As a result, I chose Hibiscus, at that time they occupied the 48th place among the best restaurants in the world, had Michelin stars, and the chef of the restaurant, Claude Bozy, was a student of Alain Ducasse.

Veal tartare with black garlic cream and pickled black currants

After the internship was approved for me, I took a week off and sat down for textbooks. You can't survive in the kitchen without knowing the language, especially if you want to not only watch how others cook, but also learn something. Therefore, I learned the names of almost all kitchen utensils, products and memorized the sound of the most common phrases that I could hear. Of course, it was a different world, I didn’t even fully understand where I was going. Nobody needs you there. You're in the way, so just be thankful that you're allowed to be here. Until you prove yourself, you are an empty place. It has its own laws, its own micro-world. The working day began at 06:45 in the morning and ended at about one in the morning. The loads were enormous. This whole process can be compared to a train. A locomotive that rushes forward, and you are trying with all your might to stay on it.

Tomato salad with stracciatella, cherries and shiso sauce (630 rubles)

noma. Omnivore. Then, I went for a month to train at Noma, then the best restaurant in the world. The most important thing that I gained on this trip is an understanding of the philosophy of gastronomy. What is the highest goal, why do we do all this at all. In addition, I began to look at the product in a completely different way. The stereotypes that, for example, a cucumber is cut only in a salad, were destroyed, the realization came that a dessert can be made from it, etc. The boundaries of the familiar disappeared, I saw how deeply people understand food.

I absorbed information like a sponge and the more it became, the more I wanted to receive it.

Then I found out about the Omnivore festival and sent my application for participation to the organizer Natalia Palacios - she was exactly the person who brought this festival to Russia. As always, I took this matter seriously and spent a sufficient amount of time working through the dishes. He prepared “liquid potatoes with mushrooms” and also the “Spring Boat” dessert, based on my childhood memory: when I came to my grandmother, we launched paper boats on the first streams. In this dish, the ship was made of white chocolate, other ingredients were birch sap, baked cottage cheese, chocolate ganache.

Beluga restaurant chef Anton Kovalkov

Moscow. Initially, I did not like Moscow at all as a city. It seemed that it was great to come here for the weekend or to visit friends, but to live in such a rhythm - no, thank you! At the same time, I really liked Moscow gastronomy, the opportunities that opened up here. A large number of talented chefs, completely different formats. There was so much of it, and everything was collected in one place. You have breakfast in "Paris", you dine in "China", but in general, you yourself are Russian and in Moscow just passing by. Such international and affordable cuisine. This was not the case in my city. In Moscow, I worked in various restaurants, from the main ones - Maison Dellos (a group of restaurants of Dellos), the Fahrenheit restaurant, which we made from scratch. This place gave me a lot of experience and knowledge in building working relationships with people. I always fondly remember the years I spent there.

The interior of the restaurant "Beluga"

"Beluga". I have always loved Russian cuisine, and this restaurant also focuses on local specialties and delicacies. We often do not see what is before our eyes and all the time we are trying to look for something new outside of our country. This, of course, is all right, but we must not forget about what we can be proud of. These flavors can and should be shared with guests: smoked sterlet, caviar, South Sakhalin oysters, scallops, porcini mushrooms... In my work, it is important to emphasize the product, distinguish it from others, and at the same time preserve the gastronomy of the dish. After all, the “Russian delicacies” format is much wider than we used to think. We try to keep the classics of Russian cuisine, because the guests of our restaurant expect to see these items on the menu, but this is a classic in a modern interpretation - the way I see it. It turns out delicious!

Chief recommends. What should you try in Beluga? The most popular dishes in the restaurant: scallop carpaccio with pickled apple and cherry (670 rubles), Olivier 2018 with stewed sturgeon, baked vegetables and herb mayonnaise (860 rubles), warm rye brioche with black caviar (1200 rubles) .), duck fillet with baked young carrots, peach and sorrel (1100 rubles), beef tenderloin with baked cabbage and wild garlic (1200 rubles), strawberries with baked cottage cheese, tarragon ice cream and milk mousse (570 rubles).

If a person is very hungry, then you need to take at least two dishes. Where are the restaurants now where you can satisfy your hunger with one dish? And why? The restaurant gives the guest the experience of eating. A person takes an appetizer and a main course or a salad and a dessert, combines, tries and thus discovers tastes, combinations - in general, gains experience. My food is for a guest who is ready for gastronomic discoveries and new experiences. You can just eat food everywhere, but not all restaurants can get emotional saturation.

How much creativity do you allow on the menu?

In the main menu - 10-15 percent, in desserts - a little more. But I'm talking about creativity just for the sake of taste. The guest should not say about the dish he has eaten: "This is interesting", he should say: "This is delicious."

Fast food and street food dishes have actively entered the restaurants of the middle and high price segment. And in your menu, I see, only a craft sandwich. Are you against the trend?

The kraft sandwich was not invented because of fashion. Just fried bread is very tasty, it will always be ordered. I deliberately did not put burgers and bruschettas on the menu, because I think that Moscow has already had its fill of burgers.

But Arkady Novikov does not believe that the boom in burgers has passed ...

Novikov has a lot! #Farsh is his nod to more affordable democratic restaurants and products. But Novikov does not say that he has opened a trendy burger restaurant, he says that he has made a mono-concept - and this is a trend!

What product would you make a monoconcept with?

I would open a restaurant with some grains. The mono concept is a very interesting topic, it is a challenge for any chef, a test of his creativity.

Monoconceptual restaurants need the right suppliers.

In this sense, sanctions are an incentive to create high-quality domestic products. And for chefs, this is an incentive to look for new solutions. If earlier we put asparagus in many dishes, now, when it costs more than meat, we have to look for new options. But there is a problem - Russian farm products cost inadequate money.

The sanctions have aroused a frenzied thirst for profit in our producers.

Domestic goat cheese - 900 rubles per kilo! We used to bring it from France, and it cost us much less than buying it from Russian farmers today. I understand that our agriculture does not have such state support as in Europe and the USA, nevertheless it is very difficult to explain to guests why a farm chicken in a restaurant costs a thousand rubles.

What is your tasting menu?

It is valid only on Thursdays, from seven in the evening. Chef table for four people. In the hall, on the left side of the distribution counter, a table is laid for four people, to whom I serve a dinner of 14-15 courses. The guests eat, and I communicate with them - I talk about the features of the products used, about flavor combinations, about cooking technologies. For people, this is a very interesting, useful and unusual experience.

For 5,000 rubles, a person gets a wonderful gastronomic dinner with an educational program.

This is not a master class, I do not teach guests how to cook, it is like a gastronomic theater, quite in the spirit of Dellos. And for me, the tasting menu is an opportunity to experiment, a kind of laboratory of taste.

What restaurants do we lack, in your opinion?

Gastronomic, which operate five days a week, close in the afternoon and open only for dinner. In such restaurants, guests sign up well in advance.

Such a concept will burn out with us, I'm afraid ...

It is the matter of time. The appearance of such restaurants is associated with the development of gastronomic culture in general. Ten years ago, Fahrenheit also seemed like an impossible project. We have a lot of good restaurants of different segments. "Fahrenheit" is a restaurant with casual gastronomy. Kitchen for every day, but with a gastronomic touch. My food is easy to understand, I don't make dishes that are oversaturated with ingredients. And if the guest wants serious gastronomy - please, there is a Chef table on Thursdays.

We are now booked two months in advance.

It is especially pleasant when colleagues come - chefs of other restaurants. When a familiar chef comes to dinner or you go to his restaurant, then a professional dialogue arises.

Elena Anosova, editor-in-chief of the Restaurant Vedomosti IG, spoke with Anton Kovalkov