The founder of the Probka Family Aram Mnatsakanov liked Levantine cuisine since childhood – the restaurateur’s grandmother perfectly cooked Armenian dishes just in the Levantine gastronomic tradition characteristic of the regions of the Eastern Mediterranean and the Middle East. Years later, Mnatsakanov decided to close the gestalt and open a restaurant, where his long beloved Italian and Levantine cuisines would be combined in one space. The MINA trattoria will open in May in Moscow on Malaya Nikitskaya, on the site of the Choice restaurant.
“It is interesting that after the concept had formed in my head,” says the restaurateur, “I was surprised to learn that since the 14th century, in the very heart of Lebanon, there has been a colony of Italians – a separate ethnic group called Italo-Lebanese. They are the literal embodiment of my DNA connecting Armenian, Iranian and Italian roots. It turned out that I first came up with a menu, and then I found a whole group with my own culinary tradition, in which, not thanks to the imagination of the chef, but historically mixed two great cuisines – Italian and Middle Eastern. “
It is not the first time that Mnatsakanov has created a restaurant concept in the dialogue of several gastronomic cultures. In his projects Mama Tuta in Moscow and St. Petersburg, which appeared thanks to his acquaintance with the chef Gia Khuchua, the traditions of Georgian and Italian cuisines were intertwined. The menu contains not strict national recipes, but, in the words of Mnatsakanov, “a tradition in evolution”: small khinkali in pepper sauce from Italian cuisine, for example, or Georgian tartar, lamb froth and a shotis puri cake, the dough recipe for which Khuchua invented together with the main pizza maker Mama Tuta Manuel Suraci.
Russian trends
More and more restaurateurs and chefs are betting on creative mixing of national cuisines. They are fascinated by the idea of creating new projects in the dialogue of gastronomic cultures, when not just within the walls of one institution, but on the same plate there are different tastes and traditions – Italian products, Scandinavian techniques, Asian spices. Such gastronomic interweaving is becoming more and more popular, especially during the period of shortage of impressions associated with closed borders, and restaurateurs willingly go to meet the public.
In February, the Abyss restaurant was opened in St. Petersburg, where Italy and Greece coexist on the menu; a little earlier, Gitano appeared with a Middle East-Indian-Pan-Asian mix. In Moscow, in Boris Zarkov’s She restaurant, Asia and Italy go hand in hand. And Dmitry Khashba opened the Riviera restaurant, on the menu of which the same Italy met with Abkhazia. Which, by the way, is no coincidence: “Riviera” arose on the site of the restaurant of Abkhaz cuisine “Black Sea Riviera”, which worked on Gagarin Square from 2005 to 2018, and the restaurant’s kitchen is now headed by two chefs at once: Eka Jikia is responsible for the Abkhaz, Vladimir Petrenko – for Italian. “These kitchens have a common emotion – both of them are associated with relaxation at the resort,” – comments on the new concept Khashba.
Andrey Zhdanov, chef of the Moscow restaurant Modus, is also an adherent of the idea of mixing cuisines on one plate. “I’ve been actively using this principle for a couple of years now,” he says. – I take European cuisine as a basis and accompany it with bright details from the cuisines of the whole world – Indian, Japanese, Chinese with their bright sauces and spices. For example, a bull’s rib with parsnip puree and Tasmanian pepper sauce is a dialogue of European, Russian and Pan-Asian traditions, and tuna spaghetti with guacamole with Japanese nettle sauce and spicy sesame seeds is a mix of European and Japanese. “
European trend
If in Russia mixed formats are most often influenced by Italian motives, then in Europe intercultural intersections in gastronomy in recent years are primarily associated with the East, in particular with Japan. Some time ago, a stream of students poured from this country to gastronomic schools in France and Italy. Some of the talented chefs remained in Europe, and the mix based on Japanese culinary traditions has turned into a European trend.
Indicative in this sense is the story of Yohji Tokuyoshi, who first became the right-hand man of Massimo Bottura in Osteria Francescana, and then headed the Tokuyoshi restaurant in Milan, which was awarded a Michelin star less than a year after its opening. “In my kitchen, Italian ingredients meet Japanese philosophy and a view of gastronomy,” Tokuyoshi formulates his principle. In France, among the most prominent representatives of the trend are Atsushi Tanaka, the chef of the Parisian restaurant AT. The Japanese was inspired to move to France by the book of his future teacher Pierre Ganiere, who after some time named Tanaka Picasso in the world of gastronomy.
Restaurateurs and chefs liked the opportunity to go far beyond the national cuisine. Stereotypes (since the cook is Italian, his role is pizza and pasta, the Japanese have a place in the kitchen of a sushi bar, and the lot of people from China is exclusively Peking noodles and duck) are long gone. The restaurateurs consider mixed concepts to be promising and put their soul into them. And in such cases, it turns out not just experiments for the sake of experiment, but a lively and interesting format for guests, with a single fascinating story.
“I am not a superstitious person at all, but I constantly meet confirmation of ancient wisdom in my life,” Mnatsakanov shares. “So when the next day after I began my acquaintance with the culture of the Italo-Lebanese, I received in the mail the resume of the chef – half Neapolitan, half Lebanese, I was not at all surprised and invited him to work.”
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