Adventures of the year?

The Olympics! We built two restaurants in Sochi and spent the whole winter there.

The best place to have delicious meals?

I don’t remember the name. In an old Hong Kong quarter there is a street with houses without numbers. You will find a restaurant without a sign there. I ate noodles with beef, hog casings and dim sums. It left me with very bright impressions.

How about sleeping?

An abandoned pioneer camp “Ulybka” (“Smile”) near Arzamas. Thereis even no mobile network there.

Entertainment?

White Rabbit’s kitchen and the Bar Moet & Chandon that has recently been opened as part of the restaurant which we visited some time ago?

I am back from Copenhagen. Chefs from all over the world were discussing gastronomic trends there, at the Mad symposium, and they decided that those will be set by Latin America. In April I visited London where they announced Top 100 world’s best restaurants. Our White Rabbit is 71st!

Advice from an experienced traveller?

Try local fish. Abkhazian stream trout baked in leaves is certainly out of the ordinary!

Your plans for the winter?

I am going to the Italian mountain ski resort, Alta Badia. The world’s best chefs gather there every year in St. Hubertus restaurant for Chef’s Cap.

The most unusual place you visited?

Il Canto restaurant in Siena. All the dishes there are bitter. Bitter taste is given by bottarga, anise or celery.