At the end of 2013, the Severyanin restaurant reopened in St. Petersburg , where Yevgeny Kozyrev was accepted as chef , having, despite his youth, a solid experience in the restaurants of the Astoria Hotel, Ginza Project and Piano Piano.
About the institution
The team headed by Aram Mnatsakanov, a famous restaurateur, TV presenter and chef, had a hand in the project of restarting this classic Petersburg restaurant.
A cozy restaurant on a quiet street, departing from the Griboedovsky Canal near Sennaya Square, is tempting with northern cuisine and traditional hospitality inherent in northern European cities. The interior inside is quite intelligent, but warm at home.
Aram Mnatsakanov saved the general concept of retro style with Russian cuisine, updated by a young chef, a fresh team, a more refined menu and an attractive interior.
The original menu has a lot of classic dishes inherent in Russian northern cuisine in the modern author's version.
Restaurant visitors, for example, can:
- order a Ladoga whitefish, slightly smoked on alder sawdust;
- taste stroganin from venison with which soaked lingonberries are served;
- pamper yourself with lamb tongues stewed with meat sauce, where pickled green peppers, cream and wild mushrooms are added.
A significant contribution to the promotion of the restaurant was made by Evgeny Kozyrev, the chef of the renovated establishment.
The name of the restaurant "Northerner" - on the one hand, embodies the concept of the cuisine of the northern peoples, on the other - recalls the poet Igor Severyanin, a prominent representative of Russian literature, who worked in the Silver Age.
Kozyrev Eugene: biography
As Eugene talks about himself, he ended up in the profession by accident. His grandfather, who worked as a professional pastry chef, advised him to try himself in the cookery for the first time.
The young man was fascinated by this craft, he soon mastered the specialty of a technologist at Kingisepp Vocational College. After completing military service, he worked in several catering establishments in order to gain practical skills.
To date, Evgeny Kozyrev masterfully mastered his profession. He is skillfully engaged in the development of the menu, created an effective team of high-class chefs, working in the right working rhythm. He is very good at communicating with visitors in the hall.
He gained invaluable experience while working as a chef in a boutique restaurant of Italian cuisine "Piano Piano". There Kozyrev Eugene was able to offer restaurant visitors dishes of high-quality Italian cuisine, with a complete absence of products from Italy.
From an interview with a chef
Restaurant "Piano Piano" was opened before the introduction of sanctions. As soon as it became clear that many imported products would soon be inaccessible, the cooks of all restaurants quickly had to buy all their leftovers.
As Evgeny Kozyrev recalls, his team had only a couple of months to work out a new menu, until the remnants of the previous products were “eaten up”. It turned out as if from scratch they opened a new institution. Of course, the practical experience gained during this period was pretty decent.
Evgeny Kozyrev, whose photo today can be found on the pages of some glossy publications, tells about his cooking school that he was lucky to take the position of cook in the restaurant "Francesco", owned by the Ginza holding company. Until that moment, he had to change a lot of establishments.
In the Ginza holding, he not only significantly improved his professional skills, but also passed a good school of discipline. He managed to become a shift supervisor, after which he was invited by the chef to a restaurant according to the profile of Russian cuisine.
After that, he happened to work in the restaurant of the famous Astoria Hotel.
Priceless Italian experience
Kozyrev gained enormous experience while working with an Italian chef in the Piano Piano restaurant. He managed to visit Italy, when the owner of the restaurant sent him to the town of Castello de Bossi, where the partners in the castle were supplying wine.
There, Eugene learned to cook dishes from simple home-made Italian cuisine. There was a home oven in the castle in the huge kitchen, where pigs were baked, pizza and pasta were prepared. In a short time, Eugene managed to get the necessary information more than many receive over the whole years of training.
He skillfully puts his Italian experience into practice.
After the imposition of sanctions, many products had to be replaced by ours. For example, Kozyrev’s friends learned how to make ricotta at his farm. He himself produces a good dried beef - bresaola. Eugene made good acquaintances with the butchers, found high-quality meat, dried it, kept it in the necessary conditions and served it to the visitors of the Piano Piano restaurant. The reviews were only positive.
More from the experience of import substitution
Kozyrev recalled how sharply increased in price seafood - sea bass, sea bream, lobster. Having understood the situation, Murmansk and Far Eastern entrepreneurs began to open farms.
Kozyrev's friends rented a large room, which was equipped with a life support system for marine animals: lobsters, crabs, mussels, oysters. They deliver them alive and grow up already in St. Petersburg itself.
Eugene developed a recipe for his own bread, called "Morbido", which translates from Italian "soft". It contains red sun-dried tomatoes and red onions.
Visitors are very satisfied and leave only positive reviews about his dishes.