Badma AducheevCommunity profile

Badma Aduchev, a native of Kalmykia and a student of renowned Japanese culinary masters Munetaka Bana and Toshikazu Kato, is a proponent of refined Asian cuisine, enhanced by the genuine Southern hospitality.

Badma Aduchev was born in Elista and developed an interest in gastronomy at a very young age. One morning, he helped his mother prepare a homemade pie, and he became captivated and passionate about cooking from that moment on. His first experience in the kitchen was extremely successful, and his loved ones encouraged his passion.

Badma was also inspired by stories from his brother, who studied at a culinary college in Elista. After graduating from high school, Badma eagerly applied to the city's culinary school, which he graduated from with honors in 2010. A year later, in 2011, Badma moved to Moscow, where he continued his education at the Russian State University of Tourism and Service.

While studying part-time, Badma honed his practical skills and mastered his craft in leading Moscow restaurants, starting his career in 2011 at the sushi bar of the "Yakittoiya" restaurant.

Later, Badma Aduchev worked at the Nama restaurant with Alexander Levchenko, at the Azia restaurant in the St. Petersburg Grand Hotel Europe under the guidance of Larisa Kordik, and at the Megumi Lotte Hotel St. Petersburg restaurant under the direction of Munetaka Bana.

In 2022, Badma Aduchev joined the team of Toshikazu Kato at the Asian restaurant and bar Sintoho in the Four Seasons Hotel Lion Palace St. Petersburg, and in 2023, he became its head chef. The name of the restaurant, Sintoho, is formed from the first letters of three cities – Singapore, Tokyo, and Hong Kong – whose gastronomic traditions set the tone for the restaurant's menu. Badma Aduchev prepares dishes in the izakaya format, demonstrating creativity, inspiration, a fresh perspective, and a sensitivity to the culinary cultures of the regions that are important to the project. Among Sintoho's signature dishes, prepared by him, is a juicy and crispy Peking duck, which combines several traditional cooking methods: the duck is aged in a drying chamber for three days, and the overall preparation process takes more than five days.

"Our Asian cuisine is juicy, spicy, and vibrant, but not overwhelming. It doesn't assault the taste buds," says Badma Aduchev. "I enjoy exploring various ways of working with ingredients, understanding their nuances in different combinations, textures, and temperatures, and then observing how guests perceive the interplay of these elements. At Sintoho, we strive to reveal familiar ingredients from different perspectives: for example, we offer both bluefin and bigeye tuna, as well as akami (the back) and toro (the belly)."

Japan holds a special significance for Badma Aduchev. He considers Munetaka Bana, the former head chef of the Megumi Lotte Hotel St. Petersburg restaurant, and Toshikazu Kato, who headed Sintoho in 2021-2022, to be his main mentors.

In 2023, Badma Aduchev embodied the inspiration of Japanese culinary traditions in a kaiseki-style tasting menu, where he brought together a palette of Japanese flavors – from the laconic and perfectionist style of Edomae, born three hundred years ago, to modern Japan, where the art of Nobu Matsuhisa and his students sets the tone. The nine courses of the tasting menu create a gastronomic journey, gradually immersing guests in the world of Japanese cuisine, moving from simple to complex, from subtle to rich, and from traditional to contemporary.

For Badma Aduchev, personal interaction with guests is of great importance. The chef strives to offer guests an immersive and multifaceted gastronomic experience and to share knowledge about the culinary cultures of the regions whose names have given the Sintoho restaurant its name. This is how private dinners in the elegant "Teppanyaki" room came to be part of the restaurant's offerings, where seafood, fish, meat, and vegetables are grilled on a special flat steel panel in a hot teppan oven. This traditional Japanese cooking technique has gained popularity beyond the Land of the Rising Sun.

Teppanyaki is not only a unique flavor of familiar ingredients and an ancient Japanese culinary tradition, but also a bright and memorable visual aesthetic. As guests watch Badma's confident and skillful movements, they become spectators of a captivating and colorful gastronomic performance, during which Japanese flavors play in new and unusual ways.

Especially for the tenth anniversary of the Four Seasons Hotel Lion Palace St. Petersburg, Badma Aduchev created an immersive author's tasting menu called "Ice & Fire." This inspiring gastronomic experience unfolds in a striking contrast of opposites. In front of the guests, the chef prepares hot and cold dishes in the Asian style and in the signature concept of Sintoho in different rooms of the restaurant, creating a true feast for all the senses and allowing the flavors of familiar ingredients to reveal themselves in surprising and unexpected ways.