Most Moscow restaurants, as time and statistics have shown, were able to cope with the consequences of the lockdown and restrictive measures rather quickly: according to Mosstat, the turnover of public catering in January-February 2021 amounted to 34.6 billion rubles, or 99.8% against January. – February 2020
“Looking back today, we understand that the restaurants got off with a slight fright,” says restaurateur Alexander Rappoport. All the strong players survived the pandemic, and at the same time got rid of the ballast – from restaurants with an indistinct concept, agrees Maria Tyumeneva, director of the Appetizing Marketing communications agency, which specializes in restaurant promotion.
In general, looking at the filled rooms, at the updated menus, at the verandas under construction for the summer season, fears of 2020 really seem to be exaggerated now. And further evidence of the stabilization of the market situation – the visit to Moscow in December of Gwendal Pullenek, director of Michelin Travel Partner, who came to announce the release of the “Red Guide” in 2021.
Restaurateurs are always ready
Igor Bukharov, President of the Federation of Restaurateurs and Hoteliers of Russia, recalls that Michelin has been eyeing the Russian capital for a long time, since 2012. “Initially, Michelin was a reference book that existed through circulation sales. But when it became possible to get any information about a particular restaurant using the Internet, such a guide became meaningless.
Then Michelin changed policy and entered Southeast Asia. Singapore became the first country to pay, it is said, about $ 5 million for the arrival of inspectors to evaluate local restaurants according to their internationally recognized standards, he says. – This is a serious job: inspectors undergo advanced training, sign confidentiality papers, write reports on the institutions visited. Each is judged according to more than 200 criteria, but in the end it all boils down to four: the cuisine, the accompanying wines, the service in the restaurant and the general atmosphere. ” However, one must understand, Bukharov continues, that even for money Michelin will not go to the country without seeing its potential. Michelin is not just a reference, it gives its own recommendations and is responsible for them. “It is impossible to inspect the country for the sake of a dozen restaurants – there must be a general picture that allows us to offer the world a new point of international gastronomic tourism,” Bukharov sums up.
So far, there is no talk of restoring the tourist flow from abroad, and speaking of the “Red Guide”, all participants in the process understand that this is an investment in the future. “For foreigners, Moscow is a wonderful city, with low prices and a high level of service,” notes Tyumeneva. – For example, in “Beluga”, a restaurant of Russian delicacies overlooking the Kremlin, the average bill per person is 2,500 rubles, which is about 30 euros. What will you eat for this money in Paris? In addition, Russian people are very hospitable – unlike the average European service, our guests are received as friendly as possible, and the guest is always right. “
Restaurateurs are unanimous in their assessment of Michelin’s arrival in Russia: glad, it’s high time, this promises new tourist flows. At the same time, they assure that they will not do anything special for the Michelin star. Boris Zarkov, the owner of White Rabbit Family restaurants, says that “by opening a place, we immediately create value for our guests, so we did not do anything special and will not do anything.” Restaurateur and chef William Lamberti continues: “If you change something, it is only for the sake of our guests, and not for the sake of the prize.” “The problem in Moscow is that everyone here is stewed in their own juice, so the outside view and new evaluation criteria are very important,” Rappoport notes. – Michelin standards are not disclosed, but everyone knows that they are, that they are strict and strict and that this is the way to real gastronomy. At the same time, you cannot create a restaurant specifically to receive a star – it will be something artificial. “
Chefs are getting ready
Chefs, as befits creators, are much more emotional in their statements than business representatives. Artem Estafiev, the chef of the new restaurant of Arkady Novikov ARTEST, who trained in Paris at the restaurants Alain Ducasse au Plaza Athénée and Le Meurice Alain Ducasse, just says: “Many people treat our restaurant with a complaint: they say they want a star – and even condemned for it. Why not want and dream something? I set myself the goal of becoming the best chef, and if you don’t think about it, it just won’t work. ” Vladimir Chistyakov, the chef of Buro TSUM, has an eye on fire as well, who enthusiastically declares: “Let’s see who will get a star and who will not. It is incredibly interesting to learn from an independent, internationally recognized expert who really deserves what. And then draw the appropriate conclusions. “
By the way, Chistyakov recently presented an alternative green menu – dishes made from vegetables, cereals, fruits and herbs, in which gluten, lactose, sugar and animal proteins are excluded. The menu is quite extensive – about 35 items that are suitable both for an ideological vegan (for example, lentils with caponata or buckwheat with black chanterelles and morels), and for a person who is not going to give up his usual tastes (pepper stuffed with vegetable meat or even lula kebab from that the same vegetable meat). Particular attention should be paid to desserts: eating banana pudding with strawberries and chia seeds or truffle tart, you get the necessary portion of seratonin with a minimum amount of sugar. Well, in the main menu of Buro TSUM – solid European classics, Lyons grill, a lot of fish and seafood, a light Asian accent and completely unexpected dishes, like baked cabbage in truffle sauce, which simply must be included in the gastronomic set that Chistyakov prepares for May.
By May, Evgeny Vikentiev, the new chief of Beluga, also promises to prepare his set. He is known to many for his Petersburg projects hamlet + jacks and Wine Cabinet, but Vikentiev also trained in the kitchens of the 41 Degrees cocktail bar Albert Adrià (Barcelona) and the restaurant Il Vescovado (Noli), which received a Michelin star. Already now the Beluga menu has more than 20 new positions, and in a month it will be almost completely updated. At the same time, the concept of the restaurant of Russian delicacies has not changed, just Vikentiev invited the guests to take a fresh look at this term. Delicacy is not only caviar, sparkling wine and crabs, but also unique simple products that can be found only in Russia. For example, potatoes served with sturgeon caviar and baked in the same land they grew up in. Or the usual Murmansk mackerel, transformed with pistachio sauce, pepper mousse and cilantro so that it suddenly begins to play the same role as the exquisite Sakhalin scallop with cloudberries or corn porridge with Kamchatka crab.
Sartoria Lamberti is also being updated. So far, the new chef of the restaurant is Thomas Kassa (his track record includes work with the famous Heinz Beck at Apsleys a Heinz Beck Restaurant, positions as a sushi in the Gold project of Dolce & Gabbana designers and a chef at Cecconi’s Cantina Flinders Lane, recognized as the best Italian restaurant in Melbourne) I have not touched the menu, and guests are still waiting for their favorite freshest crudo, buratto tonatto and cacho-e-peppe served in a head of parmesan with sweet shrimp. But such global rearrangements in the kitchen are not done just like that, changes will surely follow. In the meantime, it is worth paying attention to the incredible desserts of Naira Sosedova, who became the brand-chef of Sartoria Lamberti a few months ago. Prior to that, she worked at Cococo, in 2019 reached the final of the regional selection of S. Pellegrino Young Chef 2019, and also received an award as the best pastry chef. For the sake of her witty “Olives”, the “skin” of which is made of white and milk chocolate, the pulp is made of cream, and the “bone” is made of almonds aged in cherry juice, or served in a wooden box “Truffle”, one to one transmitting spongy the substance of the mushroom, you should specially go for coffee.
But it’s still difficult to get into ARTEST just like that – there are only 45 seats in the fine dining restaurant, tables for dinner are booked a week in advance. This is probably the most conceptual project of Arkady Novikov, created specifically for the chef Artem Estafiev, and every detail is thought out here. And this is not just a figure of speech: every element, be it an art object by Christophe Gagnon “The Mirror” made of glass, silver and gold oxide, or the uniform of the waiters, sewn by The Older, are pieces of the puzzle that is put together in ARTEST. On the first floor, where there is an open kitchen and a black chef’s table for nine people growing out of tree roots, it is twilight and mystical music is playing. On the second floor – full of light, with a pleasant, slightly perceptible smell of smoke from a transparent wood-burning fireplace and a carved brass ceiling – they offer to choose the first and second courses (about 25 courses) or give preference to a tasting set of four positions and select wine from more than 420 wines … Here you cannot do without the help of waiters. After all, ARTEST is not a simple restaurant, with its own laboratory, where they ferment, make vinegars and miso, “blacken” onions, and distil. And until they explain to you how the honey turnip turned out, in which the spicy sweetness turns into a slight saltiness, how did you get such a taste from the Jerusalem artichoke sauce, or what exactly is included in the hot and cold soups served with the spicy pumpkin and sea urchin, take it in your hands a knife and a fork seems to make no sense.
For unique impressions, it is worth going to the Krasota gastronomic theater, which opened in December 2020. Zarkov invested 100 million rubles in it. – and we have nothing like this place. And there are only two such immersive restaurants in the world – Moonflower Sagaya Ginza in Tokyo and Sublimotion in Ibiza. But unlike them, the creators of Krasota not only immerse themselves in virtual reality, but dramatically build the plot of the show around the history of Russia, evoking emotions in the guests, and not just surprising them. In the center of the hall there is a round table for 20 people, whom 10 waiters will take care of for an hour and a half (all handsome men speak English, have a lightning-fast reaction and absolute self-control), for the technical part – and this is a continuous stream of images from more than 30 video projectors connected into one network, transmitted to the walls and surface of the table, – four people answer, one is always in the room, the rest are online. There are two performances per day – at 17.00 and at 20.00, the entrance ticket costs 19,500 rubles. (drinks not included), but despite the high price, all seats are sold out a month in advance. They come here not only for new sensations: the gastronomic set of nine serves, created by Likarion Solntsev, famous for Chef’s Table, is complex, interesting and thought out. Our roots are not only runes and fire, they are also roots and mushrooms (morel stuffed with root vegetable porridge with a decoction of roots and juniper oil), and memories of the greatness of the empire are not only “Waltz of Flowers” and interiors of palaces, but also almond blancmange with smoked beluga and black caviar.
Strength test
In short, no one doubts that Michelin inspectors will have something to evaluate. “We have already shown ourselves quite well in the international rating of The World’s 50 Best Restaurants, when in 2019 it included five Moscow restaurants,” recalls Anna Tyurina, co-founder of the communications agency ProfCom Agency. – But Michelin has a big plus in front of this rating, it makes it possible to get a rating for a much larger number of restaurants. Our market needs an independent view and assessment, this creates healthy competition. And here she is not always healthy. “
Another thing is that Michelin is in any case a competition, and an additional intrigue is in how restaurateurs will react to the “Red Guide”. How will successful and self-confident entrepreneurs behave, in whose institutions are now packed, if they are not marked with a star? And the visitors? Will they stay committed to their habits or move to places rated by international experts? Let’s see.
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