Ruslan Vychurov, born in Donetsk Oblast in 1975, trained in France, became Pastry Chef of the Year in Ukraine in 2011, and is the pastry chef at Pizza&Grill in Odesa.
One might think that Pizza&Grill serves only pizza and grilled food, like the famous Burger & Lobster chain, where you can eat anything as long as it’s burger or lobster. But despite the simple name, at Pizza&Grill in Odesa I specialize in a completely different kind of food.
My name is Ruslan Vychurov. I’m the pastry chef of this chain in a city where people still dry their laundry on ropes in the courtyards of the central streets, and it is always multicolored. This is Odesa!
I was born in Donetsk Oblast in 1975. As soon as I grew up a bit, I started showing my mischief and my artistic skills. I’m not sure my parents considered my drawings on the wallpaper and on the mattress in their bedroom artistic, but I was definitely sure they were.
My love of sweets goes back to my childhood. Granny says that when I was 5, I was quite inventive about stealing candy from a vase (remember those crystal vases we used to have?). I would reach for a candy frightened to death that I might be punished, but my passion for candy was stronger.
My professional path began in 1997, when I entered the Kramatorsk Food College. I remember being a group leader at a summer camp and drawing sketches of pastries and cakes while the children were having fun.
When I got my first serious job as a pastry designer, I won a competition of well-known pastry chefs twice that same year. It was something special! The media took an interest in me, and for the first time I even enjoyed basking in fame.
When I felt I didn’t have enough room, I realized I wanted a breath of fresh air in creativity, knowledge, and skills. That’s why I moved to Kyiv. I lived there from 2001 to 2013, and then I moved to Odesa.
Speaking of interesting moments in my career, I trained in France three times, learning from such maestros as Patrick Chevallot, Patrick Casula, Bruno Pastorelli, Jean-François Langevin, Arnaud Gautier, and Bruno Curet.
In 2011, I became Pastry Chef of the Year in Ukraine and was among the three winners of PinchukArtCentre, and my chocolate clocks were exhibited all over the world! And in 2012 one of my creations became Dessert of the Year in Ukraine. I just felt, “Wow!”
My favorite cuisines are Italian and Georgian. I like simple, plain, natural food, and as for sweets, I love French ones: they have great pastry! My hobbies are traveling, photography (especially macro!), esoterics, cycling, skating, and mountain hiking.
The dessert in the photo is Tiramisu. It’s an old and well-known dessert, but I showed that it can be different: young and versatile. Everything depends on your imagination…
