Do Not Disturb - an original bar with a concierge in the center of Moscow

Today we are at the Do Not Disturb bar with bar manager Evgeniy, who will tell us about himself, the concept of the bar, teamwork and the cocktail list.

- Let's start with your story: what was your path before meeting the Do Not Disturb bar?

- My name is Evgeniy, I am from Yaroslavl. This is the capital of hospitality, you definitely need to know this! I advise everyone to visit this city.

I, like everyone else, went to work in catering while studying at university in order to earn money. He worked as a waiter for quite a long time and successfully. I started this profession at the age of 18, and I really liked the work. He started his career in catering as a banquet waiter. There were grandiose services for the top officials of the state. The entire state elite that came to Yaroslavl passed through the banquet complex in which I then worked. All my inclinations of hospitality came from banquet service. Then I started working part-time in another restaurant, and I realized that for me banquets are no longer so interesting, I need live communication with people. And it brings in more money - tips and all that. That’s how I started working part-time in restaurants as a waiter and at the same time receiving a higher education in economics.

And, at some point, in the wonderful restaurant “Mamuka”, where a bar manager from Moscow, Artem, came, the guys began to do some incredible things: for some reason they put sous vide there, although then for the whole Yaroslavl there were three of them in total, and then half of the cooks were afraid to touch it. And then some guys at the bar make liqueurs using sous vide, and just infuse them in a jar. At that time it was something incredible and unique. It was a breakthrough in the industry!

All my friends worked as bartenders, and I walked around as a waiter, looked at them, and they were like: “That’s it, that’s it, go already, we need to sort things out here.” Naturally, I felt offended, became interested, and I also became interested in the bar theme.

At some point, I decided that it was time for me to plunge into it, retrain as a bartender, and went to the bar. Yes, I got so carried away that I was expelled from my fourth year at the university, from my last year. Because working in a bar and studying at the university at the same time is difficult. When I was at university, I worked as a waiter only in the evenings, but here I had to concentrate all day long. I dropped out of the university, but did not lose heart. I realized that the remaining period of time before my reinstatement at the university is precisely this handicap, the time during which I can learn the basics of bar.

I traveled a lot to Moscow, watched bartending competitions, got acquainted with the bartending community. Fortunately, there was a bar manager in Yaroslavl, and the guys got trained during the time they worked there. In general, they quickly took me into their group and began to teach me something too. By the way, almost all of these guys are already here in Moscow, bar managers in successful establishments.

- How did you get into this bar?

- Then I moved to Moscow. I went back to university, in short, I left the bar and got a higher education to make my parents happy. After all, there was only a year left, and I was used to finishing things.

And I went to Moscow for an interview at a bar, instead of my graduation. I passed this interview and spent two and a half years working in the bar at the Severyan restaurant on Bolshaya Nikitskaya.

The Severyanye restaurant is a wonderful place where I learned a lot and became a generalist, because absolutely any industry is developed in the bar. If it’s coffee, then it’s really good coffee, if it’s juices, then it’s not just fresh carrot and celery, but microgreens from a direct-press auger juicer with a huge amount of useful microelements, if it’s a cocktail card, then it’s certainly the author’s, about 50-60 signature cocktails. And now we have our own mini-laboratory.

Having acquired a wealth of knowledge and skills there, thanks to that place I was invited to teach at the Roman Toroschin training center, where I have already been a trainer and speaker for the past two years, raising a fresh new generation of bartenders. I take guys from scratch who have nothing but the desire to become bartenders, and for 5-6 days, throughout the day, from morning to evening, we work with them. Let's look at: how to position your hand, how to pour correctly, in which hand to hold the bottle correctly, how to froth milk correctly for a cappuccino, how to brew espresso, how a coffee machine works, in short, everything, everything, everything. The full immersion course, all the knowledge that I am sharing, I acquired at the Severyanye restaurant. By the way, while I was working at Severyany, we received the “Best Restaurant Bar in Russia” award from Barproof.

- Which one is this?was it a year?

- 2019, it seems.

Then, with a guest shift, I came to the Do Not Disturb bar from the Severyane restaurant.

I was inspired by the concept of the establishment, I was inspired by the people, the team that worked here. And in principle, after 2 and a half years I decided that I needed to move into some narrow direction, to develop in something more specific.

I thought: why don’t I try myself in a cocktail bar that is open only in the evening? Stop spraying on the fifth or tenth. There is also direct contact with guests, which attracted me. I was also attracted by the presence of a laboratory in the S.I.D.R. holding. Group” - here there is one of the most modern and equipped laboratories in Russia, with a fermentation room, with several rotary evaporators. All modern bar technologies are supported here, and the team creates original cocktail menus. I love the concept of inventing, producing, and telling guests about it. Because such a symbiosis works much better.

You receive feedback directly, sincerity appears, and the drinks have a soul. That's how I ended up on this team. At that time I met the bar manager, Artem, now he is the manager of this establishment.

- We have come to the concept. Let's talk about what is the main feature of the Do Not Disturb bar?

- There are quite a lot of chips. Starting from the ground floor, the first concept of the establishment is revealed. Do Not Disturb is a hotel bar, but without a hotel. At the entrance on Thursday, Friday, Saturday, all guests of our bar can meet the concierge. A real concierge who can perform any concierge service, like in five-star hotels around the world.

Where did this concept come from? One of the co-founders of the Do Not Disturb bar, together with Vasilisa Volkova, is Andrey Korystov, head of Golden Keys for the CIS countries. Golden Keys are such guys, I always draw the following analogy for guests with Michelin chefs: if a chef has a Michelin star, he is rated all over the world, also if the concierge has a Golden Key, accordingly, he is also rated in all over the world. Such a Golden Key concierge can perform almost any service within the framework of the legislation of the Russian Federation or another country. For example, finding tickets to the Bolshoi Theater on December 31st for “The Nutcracker”, although everything was sold out for the year.

- Is this really possible?

- Of course available. The Golden Keys are all-powerful guys. They can arrange a photo shoot with a cheetah within this establishment, practically here and now, and find tickets for concerts, musicals, and productions when they have been out of stock for a long time. Bring a Gucci bag from Milan, of which there are only fifteen in the world. Due to the fact that these Golden Keys are listed all over the world, they have communication with each other.

The Golden Key can call the same Golden Key from Italy, and there, at the level of his connections, he can resolve the issue and help the Golden Key from Russia. There are not many such Golden Keys, about 60-70, I won’t tell you the exact number. There are not many of them in Russia, and they all work at hotels. Downstairs, at the concierge desk, we don’t have the Golden Key, because requests like this don’t come in as often as in five-star hotels and inns. But there is a concierge who strives to receive the Golden Key in the future. This is like practice for him, where he can perform simpler things for guests.

If the request is some kind of supernatural, which only the Golden Key can handle, then Andrei Korystov himself will be with us remotely. He says to call any time of the day or night. This is not a fictional story, and guests, no, no, do use similar services of our establishment. About “The Nutcracker”, a photo shoot with a cheetah and a Gucci bag - these are actual cases from our concierges from Golden Keys.

Just like some bars have guest shifts with other bartenders, bar trainings are like that, we also have them. We have events where the real Golden Key walks around the bar, talks about his work and presents his craft to our guests.

This is the first floor, there is a concierge desk, a red counter with keys from the movie “The Grand Budapest Hotel”, rooms 101 and 102 are our restrooms, there is a robe hanging there, disposable utensils, like in hotels: a toothbrush, disposable shaving utensils, disposable soap.

Also from the hotel theme on the second floor, in the main hall, these are our tables. Tables that we call not “tables”, but “rooms according to comfort level”.

We have seven rooms according to the level of comfort: deluxe room, president room, king royal room, deluxe room and daylight - they have the same level of comfort, and they are called that because one is on the left and the otheron right…

- Are you and I sitting in the royal room now?

- Yes, we are talking now in the royal suite. Next: near the window there is a suite with a view of the city, where you can open the window slightly and there will be a luxurious view of the Petrovsky Lines, and then there is a dating room, behind which young couples who want privacy are usually located. But, to be honest, they are not very good at it, and they begin to be distracted from each other and look at what is happening behind the bar. The most exciting process is making cocktails because it happens right in front of them. While guests in a suite can watch what's happening on the street, guests in a date room tend to keep their eyes peeled for the bartenders. More about the second floor. As I said earlier, this is the Russia of the future, as the guys and I call it among ourselves. Here the Russian theme, a la russe style, can be clearly seen everywhere. The first thing that catches your eye is the three stained glass windows of Gleb Solntsev, a Russian cartoonist, you can find him on Instagram, he has a lot of interesting works. There are a huge number of Easter eggs in these cartoon stained glass windows! You can trace the progress of Russian ballet, the revolution of Belka and Strelka, the instachika that does not hold hands with everyone else. You can look out for such small details a lot and for a very long time. Again, the star on the bear's hat and the iPhone's apple are swapped. On the second stained glass window are stereotypes ridiculed by foreigners. This is a bear in a hat with earflaps, policemen with a TV on their head showing a man who looks like Putin, balalaikas and everything else. Social subtext, Russia through the eyes of foreigners. Next is the eye of Sauron - Moscow City. This is the future through the eyes of Gleb Solntsev, one might say. Next is an amber bar counter, made as a reference to the Amber Room. Then the ceiling is a patented fresco, we also have one in the Armory Chamber, it was painted by hand for several months. You can take a closer look at the other details: the DJ console in the form of a cart from the hotel. Below is an insta zone where everyone takes pictures, with an elevator from the Grand Budapest Hotel. In almost every detail one can trace a Russian or a separate concept. And we smoothly approach our main concept - this is, first of all, a cocktail bar. With an author's unique cocktail menu that can only be tried here. It is updated every 3-4 months, but not completely; the classic Do Not Disturb remains, which stretches from one card to another, and is somehow, perhaps, modified. 6-7 cocktails are always completely updated. In accordance with trends and trends in the bar industry. The bar community is developing quickly, we have to keep up.

- What bar trends have you noticed that can be traced in Russia or around the world, and how does the Do Not Disturb cocktail menu respond to these trends?

- Latest trends: low ABV cocktails, clarification is still in trend, this is when the cocktail is transparent, beautiful, aesthetic and highballs are used for serving. We have quite a lot of highballs in our cocktail menu, we don’t lag behind. These are balanced drinks, light, aesthetic and laconic. A distinctive feature of our cocktail menu is that the alcoholic heart of each cocktail is not mass market alcohol, but distillate. Some kind of authentic distillate from local Russian products.

- Do you produce it yourself?

Yes, in my laboratory. There is a distillate of smoked paprika, fresh bell pepper, dill, fermented baked milk, cumin, coriander, halva, and cocoa. For almost every taste. The distillate is strong, 40% ethyl alcohol content, like vodka. It no longer contains taste, but aroma and aftertaste. In cocktails we emphasize them with other ingredients, we try to use hand-made ingredients. Fermentation was recently introduced. We have opened a fermentation room in the laboratory, so in the future we will use fermentation products.

- Tell me a little about this?

- There will be 6 new interesting cocktails that will replace drinks from the current cocktail menu.

- For our readers, tell us when you can come and try new cocktails?

- The cocktail menu has already been fully developed and brought to mind. All that remains is to launch the guests and try.

- What role does glassware play in preparing a cocktail menu?

Now there will be a small lyrical digression.

We have 7 establishments in our holding, and there are establishments whose main concept is serving drinks. For example, “Schrödinger's Cat” are simple, balanced cocktails with a great emphasis on presentation. There you can drink cocktails from crumpled cups thate are inserted into the Hulk's hand, the Hulk's hand is put on your hand, and you walk around the bar with the Hulk's hand with a crumpled glass and drink a drink. There is a drink in a bong, there are drinks that feel like lightning bolts are thrown at you if you touch something with your finger. There is a Burger cocktail, which is served between burger buns, warm, which you can actually eat. There, the flight of bartenders’ imagination is revealed precisely in serving cocktails.

There is a bar called Neon Monkey, it has a Thai ghetto concept, there are about 40 types of liqueurs, almost every liqueur has its own serving.

Our concept is more about taste. No matter how hackneyed it may sound in the bar community, we are some kind of mixologists who achieve subtleties of taste, reveal and emphasize distillates. Our story is more about the taste of the drink. And beautiful dishes made of beautiful glass, beautiful transparent ice, minimalist, laconic decoration - just emphasize this taste.

Serving cocktails should not distract from the essence of the drink, which is in the taste and aroma. Guests often say: “Wow, almost all your drinks are like water!” or: “Did you bring me a glass of water?”

And I tell the same story: that this is necessary so that nothing distracts from the taste. To get away from external stereotypes and pay more attention to the drink itself.

- We have already discussed that highballs are in trend, and that low-alcohol drinks are in trend. What do you think are the trends in Russia?

- Russia is huge. What is happening in the regions, even those close to Moscow, is one thing. What is happening in Moscow is different. The engine of progress for everything, not just the bartender community, is Moscow. You can focus more on it in analyzing trends. Here, almost all the bartenders in all the cocktail bars have learned how to make delicious drinks. Whatever bar you go to, it will be delicious. The vibe is trending right now. If the bar does not maintain the concept, there is no certain soul, there are no people... and people go after people, if the priority is not on guests, but on some drinks, earnings and everything else, then nothing will most likely work out. The main thing in the establishment is the guest. Since people go out to see people, it is important to create an atmosphere and tell an interesting story about the drink. The guest begins to like the cocktail from the moment the story is told. From the moment the bartender starts talking about him. I think these kinds of things are more in trend now. More communication, human, atmospheric, so that people can feel relaxed. We have a friendly service at Do Not Disturb. We can chat with guests on almost any topic, we can sit down with them, have a drink with regular guests - this is not forbidden, as in many strict stereotypical bars. We do not adhere to ossified service standards, when you need to stand toe and never bend towards the guest. In general, we no longer welcome stereotypes, we are for the atmosphere. Firstly, it’s difficult to find us - we are located in the yard. It rarely happens that a guest was walking by and stopped by. We still need to try harder to find us. Secondly, we have an experimental bar, where there is no tea, no coffee, and practically no soft drinks. These are only alcoholic cocktails; we hardly prepare classics either. We insist that our guests try our cocktails. If a guest comes here, he is probably already ready for some experiments. Working with such guests is easy and pleasant. Our most important task is to surprise guests, all sorts of rotary evaporators, dill distillates are just tools with which we can do this. Like the interior with Lenin, ballerinas and everything else - just tools to surprise the guest.

- Where is the Do Not Disturb bar located, and how to get there?

- Bar Do Not Disturb is located at Petrovka 20/1, if you go by car...

In general, it’s better not to come here by car, because here we only have alcohol. But if you take a taxi, the navigator will take you to Petrovskie Lines. There is no need to turn onto Petrovskie Lines, before turning there there will be an Aeroflot office on the left hand, next to the Aeroflot office there will be a black metal gate, which you need to drive up to, stop, and enter the black metal gate on foot.

After that, you will see our beautiful red door with the inscription Do Not Disturb and you can enter. The door will most likely be magnetically locked, and there will be a bell hanging that you need to ring. Our concierge will open the door and begin a tour of our wonderful bar.

I also haven’t fully answered the question: how are our cocktails created?

Online S.I.D.R. In the group, I am the bar manager, Artem is the manager, further down the hierarchy there is also Andrei Kornilov, who is worth mentioning, this is our father, grandfather, one might say, a dragon. He is our spiritual guide for all cocktails.

Basically, he'll come soonerwashed drinks in all establishments as a brand chef-bartender of the entire S.I.D.R. chain. Group But over time, the holding began to grow, and there were more and more bars. In this regard, Andrey decided to create a community within our S.I. D.R. A group called “Eight Wasps”. It includes guys who have a flight of fancy and want to participate in competitions. Once every six months a competition is held within S.I.D.R. The group and the guys who win this competition are about 5-6 people, they are part of the “Eight Os” community - they gather in the laboratory on their weekends, lock themselves in and develop drinks for the entire network.

- Are you going in there?

No, Artem, the manager, comes in from our bar. I’m already here, inside, leading the team. I am responsible for the cocktail component in this particular establishment, and they are coming up with something all over the chain. Some unique presentations in the form of a bong, the hands of the Hulk - they also gather and come up with these. I only have enough time to establish order here. In the future, when the Do Not Disturb mechanism starts in full mode, when no lockdowns or QR codes will stop us, when there is a constant flow of guests, then I will have free time, and I will also be happy to join this coalition. And while people are in their places there, I am in my place here. Sometimes I take part, of course. Each establishment has a bar manager, and when “Eight Wasps” make a decision, they, of course, consult with the local bar managers. Because I, like no one else, work directly with this public. Our team has four people who are engaged in service. That's four bartenders, and that doesn't include the cook, the concierge, or the cleaning lady downstairs. These are the only people who are not bartenders in our establishment. The cook prepares the food, the cleaning woman monitors cleanliness and order, the concierge fulfills various requests, greets guests, takes care of reservations, and so on. On the second floor there are all the bartenders. The manager is a bartender, the bar manager is a bartender, and the two bartenders are bartenders. And we rotate. Coming on Friday, Saturday, any day when we work, you can meet me as a waiter, also at the service station I will silently prepare drinks for the room, I can also stand behind the station where they communicate with guests. With us, everyone can perform any function. Bartenders can go out into the room, like waiters, to take orders and talk about drinks.

Artem, the manager, can stand behind the bar and prepare drinks. We have guest shifts in various bars, we strive for international listing. Recently there was a trip to the Bubble Room in Greece. This is a bar that is included in the top 50 best bars in the world. Artem went there because he knows English better than anyone else on our team. It was necessary there, so by common opinion we decided to send him there. I was in charge here then. Our organization is in all these international stories. Therefore, my team and I are studying English with all institutions, too, so that in the future everyone can travel, and not just those who know English. And inside Russia, a manager, bar manager or bartenders can go to guest shifts, so each of us can perform any function.

- That is, you have a very friendly team, thanks to which you continue to develop!

The most important concept and technology is the team that can create an atmosphere for its guests. This is what I strive for when I select bartenders here.