Nikita GavrilenkoCommunity profile

A childhood dream that became a lifelong pursuit. It's amazing, but from a young age, I dreamed of having four professions: architect, sculptor, chef, and actor. Yes, pastry chef wasn't on the list, although my favorite show was "King of Pastry." The first dish I ever cooked myself was scrambled eggs. My dad and I were planning to go fishing at 5 a.m., and I couldn't fall asleep all night. At 4 a.m., I felt compelled to cook something, even though there was plenty of food in the refrigerator. I heated up a frying pan with oil and, from a distance, cracked an egg. All the hot oil splattered onto my stomach. Breakfast was accompanied by blisters on my stomach... Later, I started learning recipes from famous chefs on TV. I remember going to the central market with my grandmother to buy marbled beef. The meat vendors looked at us like we were "idiots," but my grandmother managed to find some. I also didn't give up on the dream of becoming a sculptor, always sculpting with whatever I could find. After the 9th grade, I wanted to go to a culinary school, but everyone who couldn't get into other universities ended up there, and my mother said that "we need" a higher education. After a failed attempt at being a good student, I returned from the army and firmly decided that I wanted to do something that would truly make me happy. The person who helped me realize my dream is my friend, German. Moreover, he gave me faith in myself. Under his guidance, I first worked at a local cafe in the "Pить кофе" chain, and then bought a plane ticket to Moscow. German was the head pastry chef there, and as soon as there was a vacancy for a pastry chef in his cafe, he invited me to join him. German believed in me then, and he still believes in me today! Over those months, he tried to instill in me everything he had learned over many years! And of course, he demanded a lot from me, more than he did from others. Only a month after arriving, through endless hard work and emotional turmoil, did I realize that this was my life's calling. Later, German sent me to work at the international "Four Seasons Hotel Moscow." At first, I wasn't trusted with anything more complicated than making cupcakes. There, I met a person who became my idol and the embodiment of a dream I had since childhood: sculpting. But only with chocolate! The first task I received at my new job was to cut a honey cake into even pieces. Of course, I failed, and I wasn't allowed near the "real" ingredients for a long time. This continued until the arrival of a new head pastry chef, Igor Melnikov. I didn't know that he was one of the best chocolatiers in Russia, or even what a "chocolatier" was. It wasn't until two weeks later that I realized how lucky I was to be working with such a talented person, and that chocolatiers weren't just people who dipped strawberries in chocolate, but true sculptors. Igor impressed me with his dedication to his work: everyone else went home, but he continued to create. I would go to his workshop and learn how to work with chocolate, staying at the hotel for 12-15 hours instead of the usual 8. Igor gave me a huge foundation in working with desserts, chocolate, and flavor combinations, and he became a role model for the kind of pastry chef I wanted to be! This continued for about a year! It wasn't about the money; I was driven by an insatiable thirst for knowledge. And it was worth it! It was a wonderful, albeit challenging, time of my development as a professional. I still remember how I got my first internship at the White Rabbit restaurant. It was a Saturday. The restaurant is located in the Smolensky Passage on the 14th floor, and as I climbed the stairs, I heard very loud noises and shouts. When I opened the door to the kitchen, it was like stepping into a movie. Have you seen "Chef Adam Jones"? That's what I saw before my eyes. Perfect plating, speed, teamwork like clockwork: check after check, flying plates. My eyes were wide open. And this went on for the first three months. By the way, I came in as a sous chef, but after a couple of days, I realized that I wasn't ready for that yet. So I worked as a pastry chef and chocolatier.