
Originally Posted by
ezik
First of all: thanks for taking the Hot Seat. You've been a member forever, probably one of the most respected people on Expat.ru.
Some questions:
- What type if cook are you: experimental, fusion, classic, traditional?
while i like to esperiment, in the end i want my guests to be able to see what they are eating without having to consult the mendeleev tables.
also i want to leave the restaurant happy and sated, NOT stuffed, and not having to go to a McD because they are still hungry.
and we all know, special russian diners, are very fickle, one moment yo uare in and after 6 month you are out with you fusion and molecular cuisine, but good, clean trafitional cooking will always have aplace.
as my signature says, and good fresh products, and yo uwill ahve happy clients for a long time to come.
- What do you enjoy the most in your profession?
i think the answere would be more appropriate, what did i enjoy most. i started young, left home when i was 22 and besides South America and down under i have worked all over the place. i am still in contact with guests, ex colegues or just friends and aquaintances. seeing the world also has told me and thought me to be tolerant towards the weakness and cultural habits of others. what might be 'normal' for 'us' might be totally not understood by us and the other way around.
- I don't know any cooks who made it to being a World Leader in politics. Yet, I think that cooks in general would be good political leaders, as their disposition is all about making people happy. Do you agree or disagree?
yes indeed i do, because it would be much easier and definitely more enjoyable to discuss the worlds problems over a good steak and a nice glass of wine.
- What is the best market to get fresh food and the best herbs?
always good but pricey and they tend to cheat, Dorogomilovsky market, behind Kievskaya /Evropeisky shopping center. special if you do not know the language and products.
for herbs, any open market will do, for instance we ahve in Strogino, and every other rayon as well, the farmers market, lots of products not from the Moscow region, Lipetsk is big here, they can make double the money in one day, what they do back there in a week. the best and FIRST strawberries, freshest milk, yogurt made from 33% cream, fair enough for a price. because these little traders have to sell more or less in one day, cold storage over night is expensive, the prices there are hard to beat.
- After a long winter, soon I'm going to kick off the datsja season. Main ingredient is going to be, of course, the apple/onion/pepper marinated shashlik that they do wonderfully in Bykovo. What side-dish would pleasantly surprise my guests?