Victor Beley

BRAND CHEF, UHVAT RESTAURANT

— How did you decide to practise Russian cuisine?

— I just like working with the Russian stove. When I was a child I had a stove in my dacha, and my grandfather dried, and tormented, and fried, and steamed everything in it, so this is familiar to me. However, at the time when I arrived in Moscow it was expensive to have a real wood-burning stove and no one wanted to bother with it. And then pizza from the wood-burning oven appeared, things went well, and over time this Russian cuisine appeared, which is now represented in our restaurant. We try to convey exactly the taste of the Russian oven and serve it in this format.

— What is your main achievement?

— If not professional, then this is my family, my two children. I am basically, a happy person. It is the most important thing. And workwise – it’s my winning in the Russian selection of the Bocuse d’Or competition – the most prestigious chefs’ competition in the world. Then it was the eleventh place in European semi-final and the thirteenth place in the world final – and this is the best result in the history of Russia. I really hope that with these achievements I attracted attention to this Chefs’ Olympics, which is not that well known here. When you say you won the national selection or even got in to the final of Bocuse d’Or when you are in France, you are accepted as a person who has a Michelin star. By the way, in 2021 Uhvat restaurant got a Michelin mark. National competitions are also gaining momentum and this is very important for industry development.

— But there is an impression that everything is developing very quickly in our country.

— Absolutely! In 2013, when I went to Estonia for an internship for the first time, we went to a restaurant called Art Priori, very expensive, with gourmet cuisine. We paid a hundred euros for the set, but when we got out, I had a headache because I just couldn't understand how they did it, what the ingredients were. Then we discussed it with a colleague for a long time, digested the information, so to speak - it was very cool. And today, if it were not for the pandemic, it seems to me that we would have already caught up and surpassed many countries in the number of excellent restaurants. Last year, four or five Russian restaurants were included in the 50 best world’s restaurant rating (it was not published this year). This suggests that we are growing and moving in the right direction.

— What are your ambitions?

— I want to continue my professional development, set new goals, enrich competences, for instance, to open a new project from scratch from layout, kitchen and restaurant planning to the grand opening, and so that in the end guests come in the chef’s name.

— What's your favorite restaurant?

— I have been to many places, but it was during my internship at the Frantzén restaurant that I understood why they received three Michelin stars - because this is a family. Waiters, managers, sommeliers, the chef, the cook – they all work together as a whole and they really work for success. There are no people there who came there by accident, just to make money. And that's really cool.