Sergey Savenko, chef at Marokana in Kyiv, began his culinary career in 1999 and spent a year in Japan studying its cuisine. He calls himself a gastronomic cosmopolitan.
Do you know who the most honest food critic in the world is? A newborn baby who has just been fed milk. The baby is happy with life, has received a colossal emotional and physical boost and is ready to tell the world about its good mood.
I think I absorbed the desire to cook tasty, delicious dishes in early childhood. Perhaps that explains why I can't recall exactly when I first felt it. It is a part of me that never fades and only grows stronger when I create a new dish or serve a well-known one. My name is Sergey Savenko, I'm the chef at Marokana restaurant, and I love cooking.
I was born in 1979, and there was a lot of Soviet mentality around me as I grew up. But I don't think it was bad. Yes, there were difficult times. Yes, we had to invent lunch for a family of five with only potatoes, a glass of flour and eggs, but that lack of choice made us create and discover something new in the culinary world.
I clearly understand that I enjoy cooking for others more than for myself. To be honest, I'm an ambitious person. Sincere admiration, a pleased smile and a quiet smack of the lips motivate me to new culinary feats.
I began my culinary career back in 1999. At that time, I was learning at one of Kyiv's cafés about teamwork, discipline and a number of important details that are a must for becoming a professional chef. Later I started working in restaurants that are still well known.
Tokyo and Hokkaido marked a new turn in my career. I realized that the East was a delicate and extremely interesting matter. I lived in Japan for a year, absorbing its culture and studying its cuisine.
I learned a lot from the Japanese. Besides a culture of communication, behavior and perception, they taught me that tender attitude toward products. To become ideal ingredients, products must be high-quality and fresh and must combine color, aroma and texture.
Now I'm the chef at Marokana, and I'm really proud of it. What I do here goes beyond cooking food, because I create pleasure for my guests. I don't like questions about my favorite dish or cuisine, because they set too many limits.
Fluffy French baguettes, the head-spinning paella of Spanish cooks, homemade Italian pasta and the astonishing combinations of exotic fish in Japanese cuisine: I love culinary masterpieces from all over the world. I'm a gastronomic cosmopolitan, pure and simple.
