Semyon Kolesnikov: “I prepared salty cottage cheese instead of sweet cottage cheese for pregnant women. And he won
" on REN TV, which lasted for several months, was Semyon Kolesnikov from Bryansk. He came to the project modest, quiet guy, and left it as a confident leader who wants to open his own “special” restaurant and make people happy culinary delights. What's interesting is to conquer big cities he doesn't strive. " I want to live in Bryansk until the end of my days“says Semyon. Upon returning home, he shared his impressions and plans.
- You are a modest, measured person. How did you decide to join a project like “Hell’s Kitchen”? Here the name alone speaks for itself...
I learned about this project from our chef Elena Ivanovna at the establishment where I work. And there were also people who told me: go try it! And without a second thought, I sent the questionnaire to the site, where only 120 people were selected from hundreds of thousands of people, including me. In Moscow, 17 main participants won the casting.
- Was it difficult at the casting?
Very! This is probably the most difficult test that we have ever had. Well, one of the most difficult for sure. You sit in a darkened room and questions are thrown at you from all sides. Such a psychological assault. Like being interrogated by an investigator ( smiling). Then they took measurements for sewing the uniform and released me.
- How did you become a chef?
I entered after school technical university, but didn't pass.
- Is it fortunate?
- (Laughs.) Now it turns out that fortunately. But then it was perceived as a misfortune. I also tried to enroll in other universities, but it didn’t work out either. And out of necessity, I had to go to a culinary college. Nice establishment, but all young people must not forget that it is necessary to educate themselves in modern cooking.
- Do you think “Hell's Kitchen” as a cooking competition will popularize the profession of a cook?
Certainly! I receive so many letters to me and other project participants with questions - where to go to study, where to get interesting books, correct information on the Internet...
- You said that in France there is a completely different attitude towards cooking.
French cuisine is recognized throughout the world as the most exquisite. And there is respect for chefs in society. They communicate with politicians, their opinions are taken into account, they are given orders. This is a different level, we don’t have this yet.
- You are calm. And during the project, your boss often cursed and commanded. Was it difficult to accept this?
I remember it was incredibly tough at the first dinner. A lot of things didn't make it to air. Everyone who could shouted at us. And when I came out of there, I wanted to break all of their faces, to be honest. And then we realized that the boss is an authority who must be listened to. After all, we couldn’t give the guests unknown food to the hall. And then at the next dinners this was all perceived simply as criticism of us, and not as insults.
Olga Medvedeva from Saratov. It's a shame she wasn't in the final. I, however, nominated her for elimination twice during the project. But only because in the kitchen, as a cook, she worked slowly. And as a leader, I’m sure she has a lot interesting ideas. Still very strong man- Evgeniy Barabanshchikov. He left the project quite early, but everything he did was done with soul. He is very smart, worked in Spain and Moscow in good restaurants.
- Chefs often praised your dishes not only for their taste, but also for their presentation. Where did you get the ideas from?
From the head most often. Almost all the participants, after receiving the task, immediately grabbed the food, and I could walk and think for 5-10 minutes. Well, and of course, experience. When I attend exhibitions and competitions, I always remember all the most interesting things. We were stewing on the project in own juice, and drew ideas only from their luggage, so to speak. On the first day, our phones were taken away; there were no televisions. That is, there is no opportunity to spy. Moreover, conversations from a landline telephone were monitored when you call your family or friends every three days. And if the topic of cooking suddenly came up, the line was switched off.
- Aram Mnatsakanov once said that he wouldn’t mind hiring you to work in his restaurant...
Yes, we visited him in St. Petersburg the other day, his restaurant is very popular now, a similar project will be implemented in Moscow. And he said, if you want, come.
- What is unique about Moscow restaurants that is not found in other cities?
In Moscow there is more variety, interesting things that make you feel at ease as soon as you enter the restaurant. I would like to come there again just because, let’s say, there is some special detail in the kitchen or interior. But in the provinces this is not so developed. IN lately visited many restaurants in many major cities, people come there to enjoy food and sit for their own pleasure. There is no restaurant culture in Russia yet. In Bryansk, for example, a restaurant is often a place for parties and show-offs. Jumping, music, swearing... Terrible.
- How did you think through the menu for the finale and the design of your restaurant? Where did you get the ideas from? Was it hard?
At the end of the project I was very tired. I wanted something light. Therefore, the idea of a country restaurant arose - relaxation, a minimum of details. So the idea was born within a day. The menu had to fit into the concept of the restaurant, so everything was light: ripe ???, Odessa cheese, Danube herring, Black Sea mullet...
- Probably Crimean wine was also used?
Especially Massandra port wine. We often made sauce from it, we could bottle it and take a sip. This was necessary, because the roof could move from strong psychological stress.
- So, apparently, you will remain in Bryansk, and Aram will not lure you away?
I already have a lot of offers from other cities, but for some reason I want to stay in Bryansk. This is the city in which I would like to live for the rest of my days.
- How did you feel when in the finale you were waiting for the door to open for you or not?
And nothing else. It turned out that we finished the final, and Zhenya and I were placed in a room. We sat there for one and a half to two hours. During this time I drank four cups of coffee, my head was empty and indifferent. Zhenya was nervous. And when they opened the door, I didn’t come out right away. We hugged Zhenya. And only then Aram said: go already.
- Are there any plans to study cooking further?
You need to learn the language, and then go to Europe. France, Italy, Spain or England. We definitely need to go.
- Are you a gambling person? Did you play slot machines?
Yes, I played once. But within reasonable limits. It didn't suck.
- Girls are probably showing affection towards you now. special attention. Are you a romantic man?
I'm rather not romantic.
- What wishes do you have for those guys who don’t yet know where to go, but love to cook?
Our profession is good, so we don’t have to stop developing to begin to comprehend it. Prepare different dishes more often, improve yourself. Study world cuisines, delve into every little detail. Only in action can you achieve success. The good thing about cooking is that it is still an unplowed field for self-expression. Millions of tastes, millions of looks. You just need to keep going and do it.
“, but I saw familiar faces in the kitchen, and the question disappeared.
- Two people, but both probationary period. Alexey (Gnitienko, dropped out in the 11th episode. - Note ed.) as a sous-chef, and Zhenya (Nyrkova, finalist - Note ed.) in a confectionery shop - just a cook.
— How many people came to you based on the advertisements you placed in magazines?
- Not so much. People come, we sift out - there is a lot of impossible trash. But they came not only through magazines, through other channels. It’s very difficult in Moscow with staff. About twenty percent here are my St. Petersburg staff, and we rely on them.
- What does it mean to have a lot of slag? Excessive demands?
- I have?
- Not really. Even if you make them rich, they won’t be able to do anything. It’s just, probably, against the backdrop of the very large Moscow labor market, people who can do at least something already consider themselves professionals and evaluate themselves a little inadequately. Not in terms of money - at all. It is almost impossible to find people who know how to cook. All they do is repeat knowledge acquired fragmentarily in different places. There is no basis, they do not understand the essence of the processes that take place in the kitchen. No one can explain the boiling of water. And let’s be honest, you and I will go through twenty Moscow restaurants, order twenty carbonara pastas - and get twenty different dishes. Not only are the cooks idiots, but their owners are idiots. Because they buy a page in the magazine and write: our chef Denis Batareikin has prepared for you a fantastic gazpacho with crayfish tails, mousse I don’t even know what, and some kind of tartar. But there is no gazpacho either with mousse, or with tartar, or with any necks. Prepare this for your mother and let her kiss you. In France, in any restaurant, ask for tartare, they will give you tartare. Our tartare is always a surprise. This is how our restaurant community is structured, and this is how our chefs are trained. Recently I asked in one rather expensive Russian hotel rice porridge. They cooked me rice porridge, and there was this ketchup on top ( depicts a curl). So how to react to this? The cook decided that since a famous chef came, he couldn’t just give him porridge, he had to do something to make the chef stunned. And the boss was stunned. It's all related to general condition culture and everything in the country in general. In the minds of Russian people, a cook is someone who is incapable of anything else, cooks for pennies and steals. And I’m trying to make this profession prestigious. We have, apparently, the only restaurant in the country where the whole team dines in a common room. Everyone sits together at a certain table. So this restaurant is the quintessence of my thoughts about restaurant life.
“There is no gazpacho with mousse, or with tartar, or with any necks. Prepare this for your mother, and let her kiss you.”
— The chefs eat in the hall, but banquets are prohibited at Probka and your other establishments?
- Not that they are completely prohibited. But the restaurant is designed in such a way that there are tables in place for two, four, six, eight and twelve people. If your event fits into this format, we will be happy. We will not move tables for anyone. Theoretically, you can imagine that people could book all the tables three months in advance, that they would have a regular menu and no one would say anything into a microphone. But practically this is hardly feasible. The maximum format in which you can hear your interlocutor and enjoy the food and atmosphere, for me, is determined by the table sizes that I told you about. If there are more than seven people at the table, misunderstandings will begin. But we, Russians, - broad people, I made big tables. And it turns out that we seat three different companies of two or three people at a table with twelve seats. And everyone is happy. Five years ago this was impossible. People are slowly socializing and enjoying it.
— Why did you open a restaurant in Moscow right now?
- And this is a chance. If such a premises with such conditions as I received had not come to me due to life circumstances, then there would not have been a restaurant here. I immediately declared that this was my first and only restaurant in Moscow. There won't be a second one.
— Will the menu in “Traffic” change?
- Only seasonal changes. The menu should not change.
- What if something doesn’t work out?
- What do you mean it won’t work? Here are the dishes that I love.
“But suddenly they will order something two or three times a week maximum.”
- This means that the staff is not working well. I believe that a menu should be made to last. I don’t want to do it, as is customary in Moscow, but I can afford it. And not only that. We may be the only restaurant—well, maybe there are others, I don’t know—that doesn’t have a single product, not a single drink, not a single refrigerator that was supplied to us free of charge as part of the marketing budget. There is not a single item on the wine list that I personally don’t like. All the equipment in the kitchen - the most modern - belongs to me. It’s not like people come and say: here’s your coffee, we’ll give you a car for 10 thousand euros, but for that you have to sell 60 kilograms of our coffee a month. And this is the case in ninety-nine percent of the restaurants you know.
— Are the relationships between people in your company the same as in Hell’s Kitchen?
- Of course not. The tasks are different. Hell's Kitchen is competitive. Chefs are created extreme conditions so that they show their best qualities. You come, they give you semolina and say: you have half an hour, surprise. If you just cook semolina porridge, then you won't win. You need to use your imagination, remember everything you can, understand what kind of product it is and what it goes with. And it turns out that the strong suddenly turn out to be weak in spirit, and someone, gray as a mouse, was a bad cook, but suddenly found the strength in himself and began to do things that really amaze you. This is not a culinary program at all, it’s practically an army. And in my restaurant I must create a team in which people work in the most comfortable conditions. So that everyone loves each other and sings in the kitchen.
— And what the chefs cook in the first episode “ Hell's Kitchen" when introducing yourself - is it really that terrible?
- Yes. You know, in my company I also hold a competition once a year - cook what you love. The first prize is 50 thousand rubles. All chefs participate. So, in my company it happens that mother is dear. The chefs prepare pasta with vongole in the restaurant, and then come home and make meat for their family in French. Something the French have never seen in their lives: mayonnaise, cheese, tomato, eggplant, cheese on top - and into the oven. Same thing in Hell's Kitchen. A man could come from Siberia and say: I always ate fried mushrooms with potatoes, I'll make them. But ours is carp with foie gras, baked peppers, shallots and carom sauce. Where do they get this from? Now I have a second show coming out in Ukraine, “On Knives,” about how I remodel restaurants. What Ramsay calls “Kitchen Nightmares”. And you're in nightmare You won't see such heroes. Their restaurants are going under, they are in the red, their apartment is mortgaged, their family is on the verge of divorce. But what do people do in their restaurant, what kind of know-how do they use... You can imagine: a person leases his restaurant to his own employees and pays them five or ten percent for what they do. The whole kitchen is divided into sections: people are fighting over tiles and pans. There are restaurants where the chef does not taste the food. I ask: why? And he: I’m doing sports now, counting calories, and in general I don’t eat this kind of stuff in the summer. Well, I tell them: well, that means you are assholes, life is punishing you correctly. And then they don’t believe me that my reaction was not faked.
— Do restaurateurs come to you themselves?
- Certainly. They have the program stuck in their heads " Housing issue“When they come to your home and say: Vasily Alibabaevich, go away for two days, we’ll sort it out ourselves.” And then they come - and they have a luxurious apartment. But they don’t understand that our conditions are different. I come, watch how they work, catch up with people to see how restaurants cope with a full house, start rummaging through refrigerators and find this... And then I take them by the scruff of the neck and show them what’s wrong. My chefs are running straight from the set, followed by operators with cameras, and I say after them: for you not to be here, you are a disgrace to our profession. The owners, of course, after some time suddenly realize that they are being undressed in front of the whole world, and begin to yell at each other. There was a case - two owners took out money on credit, created a monstrous place, one thinks it should be done this way, the other thinks it should be done differently. They don’t know how to come to an agreement, they hate each other, they can’t buy each other’s shares because there is no money. They are forced to exist and decided this: one month runs the restaurant, another month the second. Once a month they transfer cases to each other. The one who takes over dismisses all those whom the first one hired. And the first one immediately steps in and fires them. They almost got into a fight with me on set. People forget about microphones and forty-eight cameras. Life as it is. I think this show will be more popular than Hell's Kitchen.
— By the way, what did “Hell’s Kitchen” give you as a restaurateur?
- First of all, new life experience. I've never worked as a chef. That is, I could go into the kitchen in my restaurant and prepare Armenian food for guests, for example. And here I was forced to become a chef in the kitchen. And it was so presumptuous because I had never managed two kitchens of eight people. But everything seemed to work out. And I think that as a chef I have become an order of magnitude better over the three “Hell’s Kitchens” that I went through. He turned from just a restaurant manager into a real kitchen manager. Secondly, I got to know a huge number of people. Plus, as they say now, he capitalized his personal brand.
— And that’s why you write on the window of Probka “Aram Mnatsakanov’s restaurant”?
- Yes, that's probably why. Now, after all, people understand what Mnatsakanov is.
— What happened to Semyon Kolesnikov, who won “Hell’s Kitchen”?
— He is at home in Bryansk. Some people with money entrusted him with a restaurant. I met him. He tells me: “They told me to do whatever you want with the restaurant.” And showed photographs. My hair stood on end: what is this? He says: “The restaurant is called Grishka Rasputin.” I say the first thing you do is change the name. “No, the name cannot be changed.” Damn it! There are simply no words.
Two years ago Bryansk cook Semyon Kolesnikov became the winner of the first Russian season of the culinary show “Hell's Kitchen”. How his life turned out after the show and how to become a good cook - in an exclusive interview with Woman’s Day.
Semyon Kolesnikov in the dining area of the Chester restaurant
Now Semyon is the chef of the Bryansk restaurant “Chester”. But Kolesnikov did not immediately find this worthy and beloved work.
– After the show, there were a lot of offers. But everyone offered to work according to their own rules, without taking into account my opinion. But the chef is the boss in the kitchen. And what a restaurant will be like depends largely not only on his ability to cook, but also on organizing the entire process. For the chef it is simply necessary that his wishes be taken into account technical support, furniture arrangement, personnel. I was offered to organize work the way I, a chef, see it only in the new Chester restaurant. Before that, I managed to work in several restaurants and undergo training and internship in Italy. Trained in one of the castles of Turin. It was very useful and interesting experience.
– What do you remember about this Italian story?
– In Italy they highly respect their cuisine. And that's very cool. 99% of them are Italian restaurants. The cuisine in each of them has the characteristics of its own region. Italians eat little meat. Mainly seafood, cheeses, pasta. During the internship, I mainly memorized things that might be useful to me. For example, I learned a secret that no cream is added to real carbonara pasta, and it is prepared with two types of cheese: Grano Podano and Pecorino Romano. I dream of opening my own Italian restaurant. But in Russia. I don’t want to leave the country, or even my city.
– Are you a picky eater?
- No. I eat everything. All the food is delicious. When I'm having dinner at a restaurant, I never ask my wife to cook something special for me. I eat whatever is served on the table.
– Do you cook at home?
- No. I can only help my mother or wife on holiday. But just help! My wife is a good cook. She is especially good at noodles with chicken gizzards and liver in cream sauce. And of course, I still love the most delicious borscht in the world – dad’s!
– I don’t have time to watch TV series and shows. In the morning I go to the market and shops to select and buy products for the restaurant, and in the evenings I supervise the work of the cooks. Although I have seen several episodes of “Kitchen”. The series is good. But I immediately noticed that the boss was holding the knife unprofessionally,” Semyon laughs. – In general, I love cooking films. I like, for example, “Taste of Life”, “Julia and Julia: preparing happiness according to the recipe.” The film “Spice and Passion” is currently playing in cinemas – a must see!
We have already written that 27-year-old Bryansk chef Semyon Kolesnikov won the show “Hell’s Kitchen” on the REN-TV channel and received main prize- 3 million rubles. And now he dreams of opening his own restaurant in our city.
ABOUT HIS PARTICIPATION IN HELL'S KITCHEN
I sent the application form and got to the casting. There turned out to be about three thousand people there, then 120 of them were left, and at the last stage there were 17 of us left. Filming ended in December last year. But the intrigue continued until May 31.
There were different people, some deliberately played for the camera, tried to curry favor with the chef, and pretended to be great chefs. But there were also normal, adequate people who clearly knew why they came and understood how to behave. A
I simply did not interfere in conflicts, I tried to stay calm.
The first days were the most difficult and difficult - just some kind of nightmare! No phone, no TV, no Internet. We had a landline phone, and we could use it to call home about once every three days. This was the only connection with the outside world.
At the very beginning I didn’t think about winning at all. In one evening everything could turn upside down. You could have several excellent dinners, but fail at one - and that’s it, you could just be thrown out. The boss was very strict. In the final I was already thinking: if I win, if I don’t win, it doesn’t matter...
I always tried to do things differently from everyone else. It seems to me than simpler recipe, the better it is. In French and Italian cuisines, nothing is invented. I remember that during the project, 36 pregnant women were invited to one of the competitions. It was necessary to prepare something for them from cottage cheese. Everyone started preparing sweet dishes, and I decided to make savory ones. In the end I won.
And once I won a competition where they prepared semolina porridge. I prepared it in the form of an eclair, the chef didn’t even immediately realize that it was semolina.
ABOUT THE PROFESSION OF A COOK
My father and mother are civil engineers and wanted me to follow in their footsteps. After school I tried to enter BITM, but failed in the exams. I was late to submit documents to other universities, so I had to go to the Trade and Economic College. Before this, I couldn’t cook anything other than scrambled eggs. My older brother is a chef by profession, but now he is doing something else. You can say that I followed in his footsteps.
I think that the main thing for a chef is to constantly cook, to love cooking. The more experience, the more the taste and culinary culture develop.
ABOUT TASTY FOOD AND YOUR FAVORITE DISH
The most important thing for me is delicious food. My favorite dish- tuna steak, Chinese style, I am ready to eat it all the time. The most important thing about it is the sauce. Although in fact I am absolutely a “meat person”. If there is no meat at home, then there is nothing to eat (laughs).
I also really love Italian cuisine. I like mixing, I like experimenting. For example, molecular cuisine is now popular (“Molecular cuisine” is called fashion trend in cooking, denoting various dishes with unusual properties and combinations of components. - Approx. Auto). They do such things there that take your breath away!
And my mother cooks at home, and she makes it very tasty. In general, the most delicious food for me is my mother’s. I can cook something special, but she almost always cooks. In my family, my wife will also cook, and I will help her if necessary. I'm single for now, but I have a girlfriend...
ABOUT THE FUTURE RESTAURANT
After the show, I was invited to many restaurants, including Moscow and St. Petersburg. But I want to stay in Bryansk. I'm just looking for a place for a small restaurant. But the problem is finances. I can’t yet find people with the same culinary views as mine.
I would like to make a place where people can come and try not “like Italian” or “like French” cuisine, but really Italian or French. I want visitors to come to relax and enjoy, and not stupidly “fill their stomach.” But most of all I want to change the culinary culture itself in Bryansk. I generally have a lot of different ideas, I understand that it will be difficult to implement them all, but I am ready for difficulties and I feel that everything should work out for me. I want my restaurant to be absolutely different from those that now exist in Bryansk. I'll reveal the secret and say that there won't be huge amount dishes on the menu, it will not be bloated. But everything will be of exceptional quality and exclusive.
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