Restaurateur
Saveliy Libkin

Waiter from Funchal

Surrealistic notes of the businessman

Jokes about  struggle against corruption became boring.

Each new politician including half-educated policemen and educated economists consider it to be his  duty to struggle a little against corruption…

You bet!…How can he doesn’t struggle. Because everyone earlier have struggled and have lost. Now they struggling in vain. Struggle is the process. And at that without result deliberately. Even the most brave fighters at the evening tea joke about corruption. Something like I will get more one or two thousands of votes under this reed and obligations are absent absolutely.

Always zero from all political obligations, but I don’t want to speak about politics.

Because my post is about double standard.

It would be perfect just to change the names of positions…

Тhen everything will fall into place and even old women wouldn’t have any doubst. Everything is precisely, honestly, surely.

Head of regional trafic police-  Sales director of trafic police in Perm region

Governor - General Sales Manager in Kiev region

Head of regional police station- Sales manager of Malinovsky regional police station

Head doctor of SES of Suvorovsky region – Sales manager of SES of Suvorovsky region

Line employee of SES – associate officer of sales department  etc.

All officials without exception occupy themselves with sales.

Just somebody sells laws, someobody sells lands, somebody sells power, somebody sells security.

In any case all these just sales.

And the struggle for the postion of President of the country goes on  just from the point of view how to become a leader of the sales department of the whole country. Then to nominate the authorized delegate as a premier,so that to sell by himself less and to travel a little more and to meet with the sales managers form other countries. Premier is also a human and he wants the glory also, so he nominates many different sales managers calling them ministers. But in fact ministries are just specialized sales departments… no more that that.

And if to use these names then new wholesale depatments, retail departments and barter departments will appearе…There are a lot of versions in business… You just need to admit that the most quick of them sell more and correspondingly they are called sales directors and less quick of them sell less and they are called line sales managers.

And you always have a chance to grow.  Everything is possible. The possibilities are equal. The democracy in its pure form. And the main thing that there isn’t any double standrd. They work-sell just like they are called.

In some countries that state things which can be sold, has been sold ages ago.

And in this way these contries got the name the developed countries. In our country development is not far off also. But they will have enough state things for sale for at least 5 years.

So the time of new grandiose sales and talented, mature sales managers comes. And  it doesn’t matter to what party he belongs… Веcause party is also just the subject of trade.

If you click on photo, you can have a good look at the Sasha’s hospitality in a larger size.

Photography carries away in a moment . In our office 5 cameras have been bought by the employees within rather short time. All of them are Canon. Almost full line: 500D — two cameras , 50D — one camera and one camera 5D and 5D Mark II. I do not count simple hand-held cameras and cameras with unchangeble lenses because every employee has it. The self-training goes on so fast, that not so long ago Каtya confused the exposure with aperture and today her photos sometimes more interesting and more emotional than the photos of some local professionals. The shades can be cleaned and softened, to  correct a little the back and the photos can be send to Russian Gastronom when we will obtain their assent to publish Ukrainian authors…

What observations do you have about creating of tourist corporation in Odessa, which will include city authority and businessmen who are interested directly in the development of tourism in the city?

The offer was voiced by Мihail Freidlin  within the framework of the project The strategies of sustainable development of Odessa. The author’s direct speech: «There is a unique opportunity to consolidate society, authority and business»

Mihail Freidlin is known as a organizer of annual Jazz carnival in Odessa and by many other initiatives and projects.

Within full 17 years of the ownership and managing of the restaurants  I have passed several periods of my attitude to the people who write. Everything has began from the lack of understanding, something like, how they can write about things if they do not have any idea about it… because often the writers even do not eat in the restaurants. They may to drink a cup of tea or coffee and to turn over the pages of menu, but they won’t spend money for the rest,… and why… everything is quite clear for the person who write. Because he writes and it means that he knows about what he writes. That is why people have special confidence in the scribble. People of the elder age still use the turn of speech «I have read about…» If I have read then I believe. If I believe, then everyone also must believe. I wish we could have such a naivety in the political technology. Then any plumber could have a chance to become a deputy or president. However he has a chance even now. But he must to spend a huge amount of money so that the message can reach every trusting person. Therefore money is the barrier between a plumber with ambitions and elected representative of the people. O.K. with politics… there are only bare promises there. Sometimes it can happen in the restaurants also, but people vote there by money but not by papers and the confidence in the written things is tattered gradually, from coffee to coffee, from soup to soup. But I had this attitude to the persons who write rather long ago…

Then I have met some interesting and carried away people. As a matter of fact these people also get money for their work but they will never write that black is white. They do their best to take care of their honour. And by the way, I would like to say many thanks to them for this. There are not so much such a half honest-half principled persons and not in the capital. What edition will stand that the potential advertisers and dealers will know the truth about themselves? They are not enemies for themselves. On the other hand such writers won’t praise in the magazines. Something like we will keep silent… and in this way we will please our own half principle. I do not speak about direct advertising as everything is simpler here. Almost every edition will place on the cover the photo of meat dumplings from the dive with large print «Very delicious in the Dive», if only the financing allows.

Today restaurant criticism is absent also. To be more precise the columns in the different editions are present and people read them. Sometimes people even trust the opinion of the journalists who write those columns. But the criticism is very delicate matter. And the border between the splashing out of your own irritation caused by the conflict in your family or on your job and the reflection of the restaurant and in that way so you will be able to see the restaurant as alive behind the literary sugariness and euphonious stock phrases and more complex tokens, so that you can see it with all its special features and embellishments, with all its system and situational failures, with all its real victories and small godsends. It happens but unfortunately not often.

I would like to read the sharp and highly professional criticism. Such criticism which will make you to think over and to turn back, which will help you to notice one more time that things which are suppressed and hidden unconscientiously, which will help a guest to orient between glamorous interiors with dumplings and sushi from the supermarket, which you will read several times and every time to learn something new.

Мy recommendations to the first-time critics

First of all you, before you will sit down to write you should to talk with the staff about very different things. By all means you should pay your own money for the lunch or dinner. In this way you will feel better the reality. If you have noticed a small failure then it will be important to check is these failures are the system. It would be nice to reach the kitchen and also to visit those corners of the restaurant where the guests can’t get. Then you should to talk with chef and manager and in the very end with the owner. Invite your friends in the restaurant and listen what the will say. And also don’t be shy and appraise the service, the cuisine, the interior, the atmosphere, the quality-price ratio, the wine etc. according to the five-grade scale. Never show honest criticism to the owner before the publication. And also the most important thing: don’t be afraid to write the truth because the restaurateurs and the gusts want to know it.

Concerning that fact that the restaurant business of Ukraine is only 16-17 years old we can’t expect very much that  the food writers, restaurant critics and columnists of the level of those who works for The New York Times, The Guardian, Robb Report, BBC or International Herald Tribune. And also like for The Prague Post  with weekly budget $400 only for the payment of the restaurant checks.

If in Russia Dmitriy Alekseev, Aleksey Zimin, Zhenyz Kuyda and Svetlana Kesoyan write for a long time and seasoned then in Ukraine I recommend to read works of Alla Zakonova, Valeriy Polyakov and also maximum several journalists from Afisha Kiev, Kommersant, Harper’s Bazzar, Time Out and Delovaya Stolitsa who write and know about food and restaurant simultaneously.