see part one and two
Should one day the people from Gazprom decide to sponsor national food and wine festivals, on top of ballets and classical music concerts, the merit will also go to some thoroughbred chefs who challenge the wind of flat tradition blowing against them.
Among these chefs there’s one who is beautifully moving forward, namely Vladimir Muhin – this includes a possible place in the next S.Pellegrino World’s 100 Best (and perhaps even in the 50 Best). Thirty-one years old, since a few months ago he’s at the helm of the White Rabbit, in Smolenskaya square, a restaurant overhead with a thrilling view of at least three of the Seven Sisters – the skyscrapers in Gothic-Elizabethan style, wanted by Stalin to compete against those in New York at the time.
The dome inside the White Rabbit, behind it, one of the 7 skyscrapers called the “Seven Sisters”, wanted by Stalin after the war
While in the closest of these sisters, the headquarters of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, matters are decided about which we would also like to hear, here
Muhin writes his very personal Russian campaign in his dishes, a journey mostly based on earth products since the sea from which to catch fish is either freshwater (namely the Caspian Sea and Black Sea in the south) or is very far away and inhospitable (that is the Barents Sea up north). In a surreal setting, clearly inspired by Alice in Wonderland – hence the name of the restaurant – guests happen to start right from the beginning with a delightful amuse bouche of
Duck and apple, an important pairing in Russian tradition (as proven by many novels by
Tolstoy and
Chekhov).
We still pleasurably recall the elegance of the Soup of Mushrooms from Sochi – where the chef was born, a region that when in season provides porcini and chanterelle mushrooms – finished with a French-style egg yolk. Soups are the most typical Russian dish, even when they take an unpredictable Japanese-Italian turn (the delicious Cold soba with black truffle from Tuscany), demonstrating that, if a true Russian tradition is yet to be written, it doesn’t necessarily need to be on this side of the border.
Black forest, with a spicy cherry, chocolate and cream, a dessert by Dmitry Zotov (photo facebook)
A second thoroughbred is called
Dmitry Zotov and controls various restaurants in Moscow. We have tried
Antrekot out, next to the Metropol hotel, in front of the shiny
Bolshoi Theatre. His specialty: meat from the most precious breeds in the world with some truly pleasant local creative intervals. When seeing a delicious and syphoned
Mushroom cappuccino Alajmo came to our mind, together with his squid with squid ink: «
Massimiliano spent a week here with us. And with
Lorenzo Cogo we prepared a magnificent four-hands dinner»,
Zotov reveals. Interesting discoveries, the same goes for the flavour of the beef, also locally bred. When Russia will discover that its infinite stretches are good for more than drilling but also for cattle pastures or for growing fruit and vegetables, the West will have to seriously worry.
3. the end
