Interview: Denis Fomin, ARTILAND

The hero of a new interview in the #CBfriends section is Denis Fomin, chef of the ARTILAND restaurant complex. We talked with Denis about the importance of love for your business, teamwork and delicious food.

Tell us about yourself: what did you do before ARTILAND, how did you start in this profession, and have you ever wanted to do something else?

If you had told me 10-15 years ago that I would be a chef, I probably would never have believed it in my life. My life path was completely different, and I never thought that I would become a chef.

My younger brother works as a chef, and it so happened that I started working with him at one time. It was 2004-2005, then he worked as a sous-chef at the Shanti restaurant (Myasnitsky proezd, Krasnye Vorota metro station) - I started working there. At that time, for a long time I did not understand how and what, it was hard to get involved in this process, but gradually everything settled down: I learned more, it became more interesting, my brother and I began to exchange experiences. Having gone through all the positions at “Shanti”, I realized that it was time to go to my own restaurant and follow my own path. I am a person who always looks forward, sets clear goals and objectives: what will happen in a year, in two. It is clear that we live for today, but for me the goal is important. I don’t even hire chefs like that who don’t have a goal - everyone should have a goal in life, a dream.

After leaving Shanti, I first worked as a sous chef, and in the first restaurant where I came, they made me understand that I was still raw in terms of skills, in terms of organizing work: a kitchen is a large organism in which you need to know a lot and be able to.

Why do we feed people? If a person does not eat for a long time, he dies. That's why we feed people, and it's very responsible.

I can say that I have been very lucky in my life: on my way I met one very great master, a very good chef. I started working as a sous-chef at the Georgian restaurant “Mamalyga”, and then I ended up at the “Empire” nightclub and worked there as a chef for 4 years. The club was located on Manutlinskaya Street, it hosted VIP guests, and the approach was very serious. Actually, there I met a super professional who gave me an idea of what a kitchen is. I went through a very good school with him; in those years, and even now, his school is in great demand. This is an Italian chef, his name is Bruno Marino . All of Moscow knows him, he is one of the first foreign chefs to come to Russia. Then he was a brand chef and at the same time ran the Peshi restaurant on Kutuzovsky ( now the restaurant is located on Okhotny Ryad ).

I worked with him for a long time and learned a lot: I learned what a kitchen is, watched how he organizes work, how he receives food, how he serves dishes - each chef has his own serving technique, his own hand technique, his own imagination, his own vision of flavor combinations . And I began to understand what taste is, what is compatible and incompatible, what is a beautiful presentation, how it should look on the plate, how fresh the product should be. And if at “Shanti” I learned more about cuisine globally, then at “Empire” I began to approach it more selectively - Bruno explained to me where it all begins. I still use those skills, and this colossal school gives results. I worked at Empire for a long time, offered my dishes, began to try myself, and began to understand that it was time to move on.

There comes a time in life when you start to think about what you want to do, and I can say that 75-80 percent of people living on planet Earth do not like what they do. They work because they need money. There are not many people who really love their profession. And to work in the kitchen, you must truly love this business, love and give your all: it is very important to serve dishes with love, guests love attention and feel this approach.

People go to a restaurant to eat, and a restaurant is, first and foremost, a kitchen. People go to eat - the food is delicious, they want to see good service, they come to visit us, so we must create comfort for them, we must present the service correctly, and I am very attentive to these things. We work with the guest from entry to exit, the entire evening when he is with us, and if there are situations when the guest is dissatisfied with something, did not like something, we must understand what is wrong. And I always check every plate that comes back from the hall - if a guest doesn’t finish eating, I have to understand why. Maybe he's full, maybe he's in a bad mood, there are different situations - for me any reviewYes, especially since we have a lot of regular guests, this is always a call. Most people say that the guest is always right, but here I can argue a little - guests are different, and yet they are guests, so we must make sure that they enjoy their visit to our restaurant. It is important that the person who comes to us comes back with pleasure.

It turns out that you used to work in restaurants within the city. Is there a difference in working with guests?

Undoubtedly. Restaurants are restaurants, it's a slightly different concept. This is a country club, a family recreation club, and the work is very diverse. First of all, ARTILAND is a hotel, so there are guests, there are guests who just come to the restaurant to have dinner, there are groups, guests of corporate events, and work with all of them is structured differently. This attracts me: this way I broaden my horizons - I’m interested in working in a hotel, studying the positions of the buffet... In addition, the site itself is interesting: a very beautiful area, we have our own farm - this is great luck, we planted our own vegetables there, We grow cucumbers, tomatoes, herbs, zucchini, pumpkins. We also have our own dairy products: we serve our guests homemade cottage cheese, homemade sour cream, milk, kefir, and fermented baked milk.

Of course, Moscow has its advantages, but I found myself here and don’t regret anything. I believe that I am in the right place.

ARTILAND offers different types of cuisines, how do you choose dishes for the menu?

Each restaurant has its own concept, according to which the menu is selected. I try, experiment and don’t stagnate - as soon as a person stops, he immediately dies. I try to make the kitchen diverse. My brother works with Pan Asian cuisine and we recently held a Pan Asian dinner here with sweet and sour interesting dishes.

With the ARTILAND team, we offer guests a separate buffet menu, a separate banquet menu, a menu for corporate events, and there is also an a la carte menu. So, in addition to the fact that we change the menu four times a year - winter, spring, summer, autumn, we also make seasonal special offers, in short, we constantly work with seasonal products.

How do you come up with dishes? Is there some kind of technique, or is this a flight of fancy?

Good question. When I was a chef, I looked at the chefs and often thought about how they put a dish together, come up with it, where it comes from. I asked the chefs questions, and one answered: “you know, I don’t even think, I take the products, I know them, what they go with, so I just start working with them, and it comes by itself.” Some are inspired by nature, some travel abroad, some visit other places, try dishes, emphasize certain tastes and think about what they could do in their restaurant. The same seasonality - you take strawberries, see what they go with... This is a very long process.

For inspiration, I often go to various forums, visit all exhibitions, watch, read, study every day, and communicate with other chefs. Sometimes I think for a very long time about what dish we will serve, it can last a month. But I’m not doing this alone, I have a very strong team. I can’t do anything without the ARTILAND team: a powerful, creative team gives ideas, and communication with them helps a lot. I communicate with the sous-chefs, they with the cooks, we get together, discuss, and try together. One person's opinion is good, but when people share their thoughts - you can accept them or not - it turns out good. We give tastings and try things. Moreover, not only our founders taste, but also waiters and managers. They share their opinions: tasty - tasteless, beautiful - ugly, what would they change.

We sharpen the dish so that it becomes a hit. There are such dishes - as soon as you remove them from the menu, people ask to return them back, so we work with the menu very carefully. We don’t often touch dishes that have already proven themselves well - there are guests who come for a certain dish.

Continuing with the cooking question: do you prefer a classic story, or do you like to follow trends?

Gastronomy is moving forward, literally every day something new appears, and we try to be in trend. We instill new things in ourselves and try to work with them: because if the whole world is working, it means it’s right. I work with sous vide technology, and it works well. We don’t make classic cuisine, but we make diverse cuisine, we experiment, tryWell, sometimes we even combine some things that don’t seem compatible at first glance, and start adding sauces to them... We work diversified, we don’t work according to the classics.

What do you think is the secret of success for a chef?

I want to emphasize that the boss is very responsible. There are creative chefs, and there are organizers. Not everyone can work as a chef: many want to, but some need it, others don’t. So the secret of success for a chef is love for his work. The boss is a fan, he must also understand that leading people is very difficult: a team of 40 people comes to me every day, and each with their own headache.

A kitchen is a living organism, and it is important to set it up correctly: the chef is the conductor. You need to understand that you have guests in the hall, track timely delivery, track quality - this is a very global, big job, at least for me.

Now there are a lot of good chefs in Russia, the profession is gaining momentum, and people are interested in what they eat. People have begun to understand food; many people are taking care of their health. When a person comes, he understands what he pays money for: he wants to eat fresh, he wants to eat tasty, he wants to eat beautiful. And we try to give it.

You draw the attention of guests to quality, but are there any other aspects worthy of attention?

There is such a thing as comfort food. And my position is that a guest who comes to our restaurant should not get his hands dirty. Here a guest comes with a lady, sits down, he has a fork, a knife, and I try to create a dish so that he is comfortable.

We sometimes take up to 2-3 months to prepare a dish for a restaurant, honing it to such an extent that this dish becomes popular. That is, we don’t make a dish just to make it: we collect guest reviews and, based on this, form a menu. People's opinions are very important.

The taste of a dish is definitely the most important part of it, but how important do you think the role of the utensils is in serving it?

10 years ago I didn’t think about this, to be honest. I thought food was all about taste. And now I understand that dishes are a very important point. When you grow up, you see what is happening around you: I can now say with confidence that dishes are a continuation of the chef’s imagination; based on the dishes, he selects colors and a dish. Let's say there is some kind of winter story depicted on the plate, bullfinches, and the chef serves a themed dessert or salad on it: sometimes looking at the plate, you get inspired for a dish or serving.

Sometimes I put a dish on 5-6 plates - it’s like clothes: the plate either fits or doesn’t. And when a guest arrives, he first of all evaluates the dish visually, begins to look and sees this beauty.

Do guests pay attention to the dishes?

Of course, very often - this is also important for them.

And if we talk about working in the kitchen, what equipment do you consider irreplaceable, apart from the basic ones?

The owners play an important role here, creating conveniences for our work. For me as a boss, it is important that the people who work for us feel comfortable. There must be good refrigeration equipment, good knives, good boards - everyone needs to look after this, mixers, blenders - a lot of things globally. In addition, new equipment appears: a lot of useful and interesting things that make cooking easier. The same slicers that speed up the slicing process. Although, as a chef, I cut more with my hands, because it can get rusty. If an athlete does not train regularly, then he does not get in shape, the same is true in the kitchen: I cook soup, make sauce, daily work. And I instill this in my cooks - love for their work. Kitchen is hard work, but if you truly love your profession, everything will work out - this is my firm opinion.

Who on your team is responsible for furnishing the kitchen?

The chef plans the dishes, the chef plans the equipment, and the chef plans the arrangement. We work closely with Complex Bar, we bought a lot of equipment directly for the kitchen - Vitamix, boards, knives... We bought a lot of equipment for the buffet, for serving. I go there myself sometimes. By the way, I was also at the opening of Complex Bar Nevsky - I came to St. Petersburg on business and stopped by at the same time.

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What's the most common thing your guests don't think about?

If you come to a restaurant, you don’t know how they cook there. The dish is brought out to you, and you eat with confidence: it’s beautiful, it’s tasty. And the chef must monitor the quality of the products and the timing of their implementation. Again, how do you wash fruits at home? Just rinse under water for sure. And in the restaurant we wash oranges with a sponge and wipe them dry. Why? Poisoning is very dangerous. The same with seafood: monitoring their freshness and quality is very important!

Restaurants are a very competitive environment, and I believe that where quality and good service are valued, there will always be guests.