Vladimir Rumiantsev comes from a family of chefs, cooked at an embassy in Thailand and for the daughter of the King of Thailand, created a pan-Asian restaurant concept and became chef of Le Grand Café Bristol in Odesa. In his free time he composes music.
My name is Vladimir Rumiantsev, and I am the chef of Le Grand Café Bristol in Odesa. I come from a family of chefs: you could say I am a chef by birth. I gained my experience in the five-star hotels Baltschug Kempinski and National in Moscow, and in the restaurants Pushkin Café and Ginger. I was also part of the team that opened the five-star Bristol hotel.
My career began in 1991. From 1999 to 2001 I worked as a chef at the Russian Embassy in Thailand, and that is where I first got to know the country’s traditional cuisine. I catered receptions at the highest level and cooked for the foreign delegations the embassy received. I also had the honor of cooking personally for the daughter of the King of Thailand.
In 2001 I returned to Moscow, where I helped develop the Russian, French and pan-Asian menus of the restaurant Pushkin. In 2003 I created the concept of Ginger, the first pan-Asian restaurant in Russia, and put it into practice.
If you ask me about my favorite cuisine, it is certainly pan-Asian: a delightful combination of Thai, Indonesian, Singaporean, Malaysian, Japanese and Chinese cuisines. It allows endless experiments, and every time you cook you get a new, rich mix of flavors and ingredients. I especially like to cook fish and seafood dishes. But since I am Russian, Russian national cuisine is sacred to me.
In my free time I like to make music. I compose, and I play the accordion and the grand piano. When I want to be outdoors, I prefer trips to the countryside and fishing.
As a chef, I wish all readers only one thing: to go to the restaurants and cafés that suit your own taste, not your wallet, and to cook at home only for pleasure.
For the photo I made The Rise of Shanghai: a steak of Chilean sea bass with lobster tail and octopus, crab dim sum and spinach ravioli.
