INTERVIEW WITH SERGEY BORTSOV, Azimut Smolenskaya Part 1.

INTERVIEW WITH SERGEY BORTSOV, Azimut Smolenskaya

Part 1.

For our interview, we met with the chef of the Azimut Smolenskaya Hotel, Sergei Bortsov, and talked about the special energy of the hotel industry, the thrill of extreme working conditions, the role of creativity and imagination in creating dishes and, of course, about tableware.

Hello, Sergey. Tell us a little about yourself. How did your career path begin? How did you end up in Azimuth?

- It all started with studying. Without even expecting it, I became a food technologist. In fact, I didn’t understand why I needed all this. And after graduating from college, conscious age began and I had to think about work.

After ninth grade, I immediately went to college, finished my studies, and it so happened that I ended up working at a four-star Eco hotel. He was located outside the city in the Kostroma region. A wonderful place: the largest log hotel in Europe. I got there, one might say, by accident. They invited me to try. I found myself in a hot shop and immediately tried to get involved in the work. Despite the fact that it was difficult at first - after all, this was my first place of work, I realized that hotels are here to stay.

Almost 14 years later, I'm still in hotels.

After about a month, everything started to work out well for me. I worked there for two years and decided to try my hand at restaurants.

I came as a sous chef to a new restaurant, worked there for a year, and realized that restaurants, unfortunately, were not my thing. They don’t have the energy and large number of people that interest me so much.

– So hotels have special specifics?

- Completely special. Everything is different here.

After working in a restaurant, I returned to the same Eco-hotel.

At one point, I decided to try to go to Sochi for the Olympics. I called my close friend, we got ready and came to Sochi. At first, my friend and I worked in a good restaurant, planning to move to Polyana for the Olympics. But the move didn’t work out, and I filled out an application for the Mariott Hotel in Krasnaya Polyana. My friend and I were invited to work, and I took the position of senior chef. We worked through the Olympics and opened five wonderful hotels. After the Olympics, I was promoted from senior chef to junior sous chef, a year later my colleagues and I were promoted again, and so I became a sous chef.

After that, I decided to change my place of work and went to another hotel, already on the banks of the Adler. I worked there for two years, and I was invited to Azimut as a deputy chef. There was another chef here - Alexey. After 2 months, Alexey left to open a new hotel, and I remained in Azimut as a chef.

– How many years have you been in this position?

– I’ve been here for almost 4 years. Over these 4 years, I have seen many hotels in our chain: I traveled to Israel, Voronezh, Pereslavl, Yaroslavl, Kostroma, St. Petersburg, and visited many regions.

– At what point did you realize that you liked hotels more than restaurants?

“I realized this the first time I entered the restaurant. I saw monotony: there was no opportunity to change something, to do something fresh and modern. I realized that everything stayed in one place and that's why I got bored.

I decided to go back to the hotel because I was missing a lot of people.

I missed weddings, receptions, events and their special energy.

In fact, I really like the fuss and panic when there are a lot of orders. This is very interesting for me, but coping with it is always difficult. This is my outlet. I am happy in the moments when we have done everything successfully and the guests are happy. This is the best it can be.

– Tell us about your ideals. Who do you look up to in your work? Is there someone you look up to and want to be like?

– If it’s a similarity, then there is no such thing. Each person is individual, each looks at products, menus and work independently. There is someone I want to look up to. A wonderful chef - Andrey Shmakov, brand chef of Metropol and the SAVVA restaurant. Andrey worked at the hotel for many years and has a lot of experience. I like the way the work is structured, the quality and the visual component. There is something to look up to. Apart from Andrey, I cannot single out anyone from the hotel industry. There are also people in the restaurant industry who set a worthy example.

– What in your life was the starting point when you realized that you wanted to be a chef?

– We had a chef, a Frenchman. I noticed many times that he was doing something wrong and always wondered what I would do in his place. And it often happened that I thought about what I would do in the place of other chefs.

From that moment I decided for myself: I will become a boss and build a chain so thateverything would work and everyone would be happy. And the staff, and me, and the owner, and the directors. When this proposal came from Azimuth, it was very scary. First experience in a hotel of this scale, in the center of Moscow. But we tried, and everything worked out for us. Everything works, the guests are happy, and this is the most important thing

– Do imagination and creativity play an important role in your work?

- Yes, definitely! Someone draws each dish on paper, I imagine it in my head, it’s easier for me. I can roughly imagine the plate I see. Let's say it's a round plate with a side. I imagine how the tomatoes will lie there, how the stracciatella will lie, what I would put on the other side, on the side, how I would decorate it all. In any case, imagination is necessary. We constantly come up with something new, and it’s not just restaurant dishes. Both a banquet menu and a buffet menu. The last thing we thought about was amenitis for the guests.

There are guests who constantly come to us, we put different types of amenitis in their rooms. Now we have made a dessert in the form of our hotel, they made custom silicone molds for us, lolipops with our logos, hashtags, chocolate, almonds. We come up with new things to show that this is our brand, that only we have it. When ordering, we were told that this was the first time they had ordered a silicone mold for a hotel. This is usually what restaurants do.

– Why is it so important to bring a creative component to your work?

– Because people travel. A person who comes to a restaurant should see in it something that he cannot cook at home or can, but not so well.

Therefore, if we make pate, we make it with pomegranate glaze, so that the person will be surprised by the spectacle and think: “How did they do that?” We try to add unexpected flavors. When a person arrives, he takes his first look and sees the plate and the food: he eats the dish with his eyes, and only then comes the taste.

After inspection, he begins to taste, and after he has finished eating, he must remember this taste, leave, and then realize that he wants to come back and try the same dish again, of the same good quality.

– That is, first the idea of presentation arises, after that there are thoughts about the appearance and ingredients?

- Not really. I have a chart of seasonal dishes and produce hanging in my office. From January to December I see all the seasonal products and get an idea of what I can use.

First I look at the product and understand: what can I add to this product. After that, I have a rough idea of what plate I would like to see it on. I go prepare all my products, cook the dishes, and send them for inspection.

If there are any adjustments, I take another plate, a different color. A lot of dishes have the same shape, the same sides, but come in different colors. We are correcting these points. Then we try it all, we understand whether we like it or not. If we don’t like something, we finish it; if the dish is perfect, we leave it.

– How important is what the dishes are made of? Or are shape, color and texture more important than composition?

– In fact, it’s all fashion. She always comes back. I think that soon white will be popular everywhere again. It's already becoming popular.

I pay more attention to the fact that there are no scratches on the dishes, to the material from which they are made. Because sometimes you can use a plate, work with a sharp knife - and a scratch will remain - the plate will no longer be usable. I always pay attention to whether it is possible to use something else from the same line. I never take just one plate from a series. This is practiced in a restaurant: you can take one from different sets and use all positions.

Unfortunately, we cannot do this. It’s easier for us to buy in sets to make ordering easier, since our volumes are slightly different.

I also try to choose the right size dishes. We try to take dishes in a smaller format, because the tables are different everywhere. Somewhere they are large, somewhere small: so that it all fits.

– Surely, during your work, you have encountered various requirements for creating a menu. What are the requirements for creating a menu at Azimuth Smolenskaya?

– We are located in the center of Moscow, even in our hotel there are a lot of establishments. They are all different from each other.

For Azimut Smolenskaya, we try to make home cooking so that guests understand what they are eating. But sometimes there are products on our menu that guests come to us to try.

Hotels themselves always try to combine several cuisines. This is Italy: pasta, pizza - this should be a must. Plus some sandwiches. Russian cuisine, and, naturally, we take French cuisine. This is the basis for Europe, so without it we would notand where.

I care about my guys, and I also have to understand that not all restaurants can afford a large number of dishes. These dense menu books - we can’t do that. After all, in addition to this, we have a lot of work on buffets, banquets and coffee breaks. Standardization is needed: 5 salads, 4 soups 10-12 hot, pizzas/pastas 3-4.

– How do you approach creating such a large variety of menus?

- This has been going on for quite some time. At first we just sit, write, then we start working on it, taking pictures of each plate: what the dish looks like. We collect it all, put it together into one whole, calculate the cost and put it into operation.

We change breakfast regularly, once a month. Especially if these are hot, cold, bread or pastries.

Because guests stay with us for quite a long time, most of them return to us. So they see that we do not stand still, we move, we change something.

There is no way without this.

– Do you have any favorite dish from the menu?

– Actually, I tried a lot of things. I love both crabs and seafood. If we are talking about something standard, then I really love soups, I love borscht. We try to serve it in an interesting, tasty way, with tender meat. I also really love tom yam.

From Russian I prefer Kyiv cutlet. I’m not picky about myself: at home I try to cook more home-cooked food. The main thing is that it tastes good. For me, perhaps the presentation is not the most important thing, the main thing is the taste and its memorability. Get pleasure, pleasure.

– If you were a guest in your own restaurant, what dish would you order?

– I would highlight for myself a dessert that we have realized quite a long time ago. This is a pear cheesecake with pear confit inside. It looks very nice, very tender, tasty. I just don’t want to highlight hot dishes, soups and salads, because there’s a lot of it, I won’t be able to choose, desserts are somehow easier.

– You have a large team, and we have repeatedly said that we need to take care not only of the guests, but also of the work of the team. Please give some advice to a newbie who has just taken the helm?

– First of all, I would analyze what the guys are capable of. I would make some kind of list of people with notes for myself: who can do what. Due to this, you will be able to understand what you can cook with them, what opportunities you have. See what your equipment is capable of.

When a new person arrives and you see that the person is the leader in this whole kitchen story, you can try to highlight him somehow. If you see that he is really ready for this. There is no need to look for new people if there is an opportunity to appoint someone from this team. To start.

If you notice that you don’t have suitable people, of course, you need to look for someone.

It's better to give it a chance. I myself have done this more than once, and so far, thank God, no one has let me down. There is no need to keep everyone to yourself: if a person wants to change jobs, he wants to develop. I always try to let my people go because I understand that it will be better for them. Because these guys are young, they need to move on.

– How many staff do you have now?

– 36 cooks and 6 stewards.

Previously there were even more of us, now we are recruiting staff again. There will be about 48 people, including stewards.

– Each chef has his own unique style. Surely, you also have your own approach to dishes. How would you describe your style in three to five words?

– It’s hard to talk about it, because people don’t notice it in themselves. I would say: neatness, harmony on the plate, bright colors. For me, these are the ideal components of the appearance of the dish.

– Tell me, do you have a dish for secret pleasure, such a guilty pleasure?

– I adore Caucasian cuisine in this regard, I adore Adjarian khachapuri, I love cooking it myself. This is problematic to do here, since it is not always possible to find homemade cheese. When I lived in Sochi for five years, there were no problems with cheese. I found one or two establishments here where they cook it the same way as there. If possible, I try to visit them and eat khachapuri.

– Tell us which ingredients you most often have to work with, which ingredients are the most difficult for you.

– In Moscow in the summer it’s berries and fruits. Meat and fish are everywhere. The easiest thing for me is pasta and pizza. I like it. I love cheeses very much, in different types and their manifestations. I myself am from Kostroma, this is generally the capital of cheeses of Russia.

The most difficult thing in Moscow is finding good quality seafood. Because of the flight, they need to be delivered here somehow. It's difficult to get them fresh. It is still difficult to get good quality European products. That's not enoughwow parmesan. I love him.

– There is such a romantic image of a chef that we are used to seeing in literature and cinema. Surely, the work of a cook is not only romantic, especially the work of a chef. Can you share some real, real-life stories that debunk this romantic image?

– In fact, there are a lot of stories in the kitchen. There are difficult moments. We are all human, we all make mistakes. Something hasn’t been delivered, something needs to be done urgently, it’s always stressful. There are funny moments. Five years ago we were walking and discussing how the French chef once dropped a hairpin where there were snacks for the guests. There were twenty minutes left before the start of the event, we walked and discussed it, holding the same hairpin ourselves. And then we ourselves, together with a colleague, stumble and also drop a hairpin. We cut all hands because it is sharp. It seems funny, but it seems like panic begins. It’s good that we always have a lot of preparations. We ran to the kitchen, and, as always, we love - we did everything twenty minutes before the start. We did it, we did it all. We couldn't do it any other way.

– I wanted to congratulate you on the fact that you recently became a father. Tell us what kind of dishes you plan to cook for your daughter. What is your approach to baby nutrition?

“I’m ready to do the best for my daughter; my wife and I will keep an eye on this.” Now she is still very small, she is five months old while using this milk. Then complementary foods, these are purees. I will most likely do them myself. Let's finish with purees, then we'll start, in Russian traditions, going to my granny, her grandmother, we'll cook borscht, tararushki, pancakes, pancakes, cheesecakes together. Of course, don't overuse it, but it's delicious. It’s great when a child’s best moments are delicious pancakes with wonderful condensed milk that you cooked yourself.

– Did you eat such delicacies as a child?

- Yes. My grandmother and mother always tried to do the best. I have a lot of relatives in Stavropol, and there are fruits: berries, watermelon, melons, peas. Well, baking. It’s hard to imagine the Caucasus without baked goods.

– Did your childhood largely influence the formation of your tastes?

- Yes. It had a very big impact. It is very difficult for me to go to different establishments. All chefs see everything differently. When you come, you order a cod back steak with pistachio sauce, you sit and imagine in your head: now they will bring you a piece of fish, there will be sauce somewhere else. No matter what anyone says, all chefs are selfish, because they always see everything their own way. It’s beautiful for him, which means it should be beautiful for everyone. There is no way without this.

– They say that kitchen fashion is cyclical in one way or another. Are there any trends that you've noticed making a comeback, like now?

– If we talk about dishes... Nowadays, understandable food is very fashionable. Clear food with a clear name. You can use different cooking techniques so that, I don’t know, you get the familiar salmon steak with broccoli, but not just with broccoli, but from this cabbage you can make ice cream, a neat cream, some kind of dehydrated cabbage... well, that is, moments like these.

We say the same thing about dishes, white dishes are also coming back into fashion again, but not so white... I see it as more curved edges, raised... the plates are larger, like bowls, this is now becoming more popular. Then again, I think, this will go away, colored dishes will return to us again, as it was. This is all cyclical, and it will go on constantly.