Restaurateur
Saveliy Libkin

exchanged letters with the concierge of  Hôtel Plaza Athénée where situated Alain Ducasse’s restaurant  La Cour Jardin.

The question was very simple, to inform about interesting events for the sake of which we could plan the visit. One of the events which recently took place at the hotel seemed to me a large-scaled one according to the description.

Ducasse invited the sellers of distinguished appellation products which are bought for the restaurant and organized mini farmer’s market directly in the yard of the hotel. Unfortunately, one could  just to taste the products but not to buy.

If to tell more specifically, this event includes more then 15 suppliers of  Alain Ducasse au Plaza Athénée who showed their very seasonal products (asparagus, wild strawberries, cheeses, foie gras, fish, poultry, wine, etc) to the public.

They don’t answer will this event bepermanent… On the other hand there are many other no less pleasant places at avenue Montaigne near the hotel… And one more interesting detail the site of the hotel is translated from French only into Russian.

On the motorway Оdessa-Kiev I saw an interesting sign: restaurant Hata Karasya. 30 kinds of  vareniki. Sushi bar. Ukrainian cuisine.
By all appearances it is one of the renamed projects of Poplavsky.

It isn’t easy to be a chancellor, to sing and to be a restaurateur and especially simultaneously.

Neon advertising of the restaurant is seen at a distance of approximately a kilometre.

I didn’t take along my camera… what a pity!

Today I saw the copy of new catalogue 100 best restaurants of Ukraine.  In comparison with the catalogue of last year the edition became much more presentable, with hard cover and it has suitable  book size. They write that number of printed copies is 15 000. There is enough of interesting information except the raiting in this edition.  And particularly the statistics of national research within the framework of the project, and also the basic restaurant trends from the viewpoint of editor’s company. If to print  for example 100 000 copies of such edition in the basic European languages then we have the real chance to get additionally a few tens of thousands of tourists which are really not enough in Ukraine and in Odessa specifically.

The word restaurateur  is absent in the encyclopaedias, only Dal explains that it is the owner of the place where the food is served.  Аbbreviation HoReCa in Wikipedia determines the enterprises according to the belonging to the market of hospitality industry.

The definition of what is restaurant business is absen.  At least my employees and I were unable to formulate it definitely, specifically and precise.

Maybe someone have seen more or less precise and clear definition? Please, share.

Besides I offer the award in the form of once-only certificate for the dinner at any restaurant of our company on the ammount 500 UAH  to the person who will offer the best definition — undoubted and  reflecting precisely the main point of what is RESTAURANT BUSINESS.

Do not offer the wordings „public catering“and other abstract or soviet wordings or any other wordings which do not fit because of different sense. Also I ask do not use Internet materials and resource  Russian and any other.

I have come accross by accident an «interesting» report under the name

Мarketing communications in the restaurant business
as a model of the most effetive influence on the consumer

Below I give one paragraph from the list of tools in marketing… and the most brilliant solutions I have set off in grey color. Of course it will be better to read it in the original.

• Оrganization of the special party in honor of celebration of the St. Valentine’s Day.
• Оrganization of the party in honor of implementation of the menu for pets;
• Оrganization of art exhibition.
• Оrganization of the flower feastival and the photo exhibition.
• National feast.
• Оrganization of the fasion evenings.
• Оrganization of the festivities in honor of celebration of young wine.
• Оrganization of the Feastival of national cuisine.
• Оrganization of the literary and theatrical evenings.
• Оrganization of the special programs in honor of celebration of Christmas and New Year, beer feasts, orthodox feasts (for Ukrainian restaurants – Easter, Pancake week, Makavey etc.)

reference to all the material And THIS was reported just 5 years ago… and not in the village near Ceadîr-Lunga but in Yalta. And the most interesting thing is that this is the report of one of the consultants in the restaurant business(of course if the mistake wasn’t crept in).

When I return from the next gasto tour I want to repeat some things which have stayed in my memory. Sometimes, especially when the products allow, it comes out almost as original.

In the restaurant LaLibera, in Alba, I have especially remembered the dish offered by the chef. Marco was brief, but he has specified that Batsua is simple dish  and it reflects the cuisine of Alba the most precise. If you have a desire to spend a few hours in the kitchen then I recommend my recipe of this dish.

For two pork knuckles of a young pig you will need one onion, one carrot, one egg, a little flour and dried breadcrumbs. And a little oil for the frying fat. To cook separately  the onion glazed in balsamic as  a bottom layer for the fried knuckles.

To pour the knuckles with cold water and boil them within 5 hours with vegetables. To salt and pepper the wated and add the bay leaf. Then pour out the broth and to cool the knuckles.  To dice carefully the boilt soft  cartilages with size about 1.5 sm. Then to marinate a little the cubes in the vinegar with salt and pepper and to dry them. Then to roll them in the flour,egg and in dried breadcrumbs. To fry witnin a few minutes in the frying fat. To put the ready knuckles on the glazed onion and to eat them fast together.

Specification. It is preferably to cook this dish for lunch. Before to cook such dish at home you must understand firmly that this is very simple, rather rough and public food. The taste is very peculiar but it stays in memory.