Ilya Kokorowski about the first real vegetable garden at the restaurant.

Having worked with the best chefs of the world Ilya Kokotovsky can be estimated not so much by the taste combinations of his sets (which does not detract from them), but by the number of new ideas implemented since his return to his native land.

Therefore, when we learned that Molto Buono had a plot of land, we hurried to ask him about how the chef can combine work in the kitchen and in the field.
And also about culinary expeditions, domestic winemaking, Russian gastronomy and plans for the future.

How did you come up with the idea of cultivating the land?

First of all, I must say that I was taught this. But it is not always possible to do everything at once. I arrived more than one and a half years ago and since then I carry out some points. At first it was just a menu, then it became more complicated, then it was a set menu, then we introduced new technologies and ingredients. And now the logical continuation was the most time-consuming and rare that can be found in principle: it is its own economy. We have 9 acres.

How did you become farmers?

We needed a result, and fast. We searched for a long time, and time was running out. We were helped by acquaintances. We found a huge space that has not been cultivated for three years. The land rested. It is impossible to take and solve in the middle of winter to create a kitchen garden. As much as you want to, time can't stop. And at the time when we wanted to make a garden, it was too late to plant some kinds of plants. So now there are only about 17. Some of us just didn't have time to plant, but we'll fix it next year.

Who cultivates the land?

Naturally, we took this burden on ourselves. Vanya-our main founder-and me. We go there constantly-about three times a week. We are lucky at least with the rains that they are. Otherwise, we would go every two days to water. Now what we do is we take care of the plants. Standard weeding and thinning. Because if you just plant everything — it will grow, but will die in a month.
And so it is very interesting. The plant develops depending on how you care for it.

What's growing?

The interest was in whether to plant something the others don't.
There's no potato field. There are no cucumbers or carrots. A wide variety of non-trivial salad cultures. Oil radish, white radish, mustard, buckwheat-it is actually very tasty leaves. They go great with the salad. It seems that next year half of the garden will be just planted with buckwheat. Because you don't have to take care of her. Nasturtium is growing. She didn't grow up here in our restaurant. And then we just threw the seeds, and after a week or two rows of nasturtium. Rose kervil, the two amaranth species. Will give not only the leaves but also the fruit - buds of the thousands microelec. Lots of radishes, lots of peas, Portulaca, Kale, mustard, borage, which gives awesome hand sized sheets. And they're delicious, they smell like cucumber, of course.
We tried to plant more trivial species, but they need to be planted from seedlings, they did not survive.
By the way, growing simple sprouts, which in Russia generally, in principle, no. Grunkohl or Kale. That's it from us does not grow, although it is very cool.
Grows all the unusual, and the usual does not take root.

Important was the moment not only to plant and photograph that it came to an end in a week. We not only loosen and water, but also plant new types of plants so that we have uninterrupted production.

How many gardens do you think it'll be in a year and a half?

Definitely more than one.
We kept it a secret so as not to be unfounded.
There will definitely be more gardens, but next year it is too late to do anything.
It was pretty hard, but nothing worthwhile comes easy.

What do you plan?

There will be no animals, but there will be more serious plants. We have planted all annual crops, and we plan to plant seedlings of shrubs and berries: black and red currants, gooseberries will definitely be in place. And we would not miss the moment of the appearance of the kidneys, which are also very tasty. In fact, you can use everything, just need to know when and how to handle.

And to cooperate with farmers?

Yes, it is simply not very interesting. First, we have no control over what they do there. It's funny if a person says they sell it in large quantities and it's all natural. That isn't possible. Everything that is done naturally, is not designed for large volumes. This applies to both plants and animals. Animals are new compound feeds and vaccinations, and plants are a huge amount of pesticides. We didn't just have to plant a bunch of plants. We had to make them organic. Now we have planted half of the garden. The second will be planted in late summer, and the first will rest.
With the vegetable garden, we learn long-term planning.

Something already used in the menu?

Four days ago we had a salad with organic herbs on the menu: 11 kinds of plants, smoked sour cream and lime juice. Three components. And that's all . But its main criterion of quality is that we have grown, collected and made. And it's delicious. It's not a salad from the store. Here each blade of grass has its own taste.

How do you feel about gastronomic expeditions?

You mean, to go somewhere on the edge of Russia, to ask my grandmother: "What are you cooking?"yeah? Now is not a problem to learn it, and without a trip. But some super specialties-of course, Yes. They are stored in memory and then the unique recipe disappears. That's how we lose our culture.

Where you going?

on South. The closer to the South, the greater the diversity. Farther North is the poorer. It all comes down to three sets of berries.
If we talk about the expeditions, it was not quite culinary, but approximate. I went to the p-s fishing, the westernmost point of Russia, not counting Kaliningrad. And there was silence. no sound whatsoever. Zero. The sun did not set for 12 days. There are moss, rocks and several kinds of berries. Nature is specific. Amazing king crab, just incredible. 20-liter bucket phalanges-500 rubles. This is heaven and earth compared to what we sell.
You need to go only to find out what can not be found on the Internet, what is already slipping.

Tell us about Russian gastronomy in Molto buono.

If we do not shout that we use Russian products, it does not mean that we do not have them. 99% are produced in our country. The economic situation is such. But even if it was different, little would have changed. That doesn't make sense. Everyone knows the rule that on its territory the products are more delicious for its residents. This is the basis of the locality rule. It is, of course, we in Russia are very formal, because the locality is 900 km max. Within the European country-this is normal. There locality. And here the other end of the country is almost the other hemisphere.
We have a big role played by the fashion factor-a lot of people just blindly follow it. Now it is very fashionable to say that there is some Northern cuisine, although it is mildly ridiculous. Northern cuisine has become fashionable, but no one understands what it is in General and how to cook it. But some argue that doing it my entire adult life.
I think the most important thing is that you just have to be true to yourself. We're not into fashion because it's pointless. Fashion goes and comes, a matter of six months. So we're not saying we're a Northern restaurant or anything.

Especially with Italian wines.

Well, the wines are mostly French.

And with the domestic wine did not work?

Of course not. Yes, just because we do not know how to make a normal wine. And will not be able to. But that doesn't mean I'm not a patriot.

About salad from 11 ingredients. Some may find it unnecessary.

Well, the main ingredient we have one herbal. Although there a large number of halftones. This is what we love to do here. We have no dishes, brightly saturated 15 flavors. There are several ingredients that set off and reinforce each other. It took a lot of time for people to understand the meaning of all this. To go with the hamburgers in the kitchen of tones is very difficult. We learn to feel again
food.

Who comes here?

We have people who like good wine. Good wine by definition is quite expensive. And it imposes certain obligations. They don't just eat some food, they want to accompany good wine with good food.
On this and was made the main concept. Accompaniment and full symbiosis of wine and food, very good quality wine and very good quality food.
Around the food built a large number of algorithms: the creation of each dish — it's quite a long story. But be sure that it is not created in two hours. It's weeks of thinking about the ingredients and a lot of work in the kitchen. Everything has to be perfect or it doesn't make sense.
But when we bought a huge Board, everything became much easier. It's our memory pool. Keep in mind a lot of information — unbearable. We have a lot of boards and they're all busy. It's also a diary. You see the idea and go to it. So it is faster.
When it all began with the inscription of the Garden. And that's all.

What's next?

We may open a secret bar, which will logically continue this story. For which we will create something interesting. But this is in the distant plans.

There will be more internships?

I want to go somewhere, but definitely not now. I spent four years on the trip. And now there is a clear understanding that something needs to be done. And we are working hard on it. And it seems to be something happens. Maybe somewhere we are slow, but it happens.

Do you ever rest?

Yes, I have a vacation soon and I decided to spend it non-trivial. After 20 days, I leave for Elbrus, climb to the top.

Try to cook pasta in a pot.

Necessarily)