Sochi's Celebrity Chef

Martial Simonneau the owner and head chef at Brigantina Cafe and Brasserie, took time this week to talk to me about his restaurant, his service ethos and the arc of his life from Normandy through Nice, Paris and Moscow to Sochi, where the Brigantina is the only French-owned and operated restaurant in the city center. Martial learned about the restaurant business from his parents' restaurant in Normandy.  He lived in Nice and and later in Paris, where he worked at the famous De la Paix Cafe for several years.  Eventually, Martial was hired to run the kitchen at a casino in Moscow.  In 2002, he came to Sochi to manage a restaurant in Krasnaya Polyana, where he worked for several years.  After this, he detoured to Yekaterinburg to run a casino.  Two years ago, drawn by the promise of Sochi, he moved back and opened Brigantina Cafe and Brasserie next to the seaport. His son, Bastien, a graduate of business school in Paris, has come to Sochi to help.  Martial and Bastien have opened a second cafe, Napoleon, a few blocks away on Vorovskovo Ulitsa, where they offer French baked goods. Theirs are the only locations in Sochi where one can buy a genuine French croissant.

The Brigantina, as evidenced by the photo, appeals to celebrities and political leaders visiting Sochi and is noted for offering the best and most consistent cuisine in Sochi.  Martial and Bastien are ever present, seeing to the needs of diners and assuring that all runs smoothly.   Martiall's ethic of attention to detail and, above all, the customer, is reflected in the well-trained staff.  I asked Martial, who was recently profiled in Forbes Russia, about his experiences with restaurant ownership in Sochi.  Martial said, with a laugh. that "in Russia everything is difficult, but nothing is impossible."  Martial and Bastien are planning to expand their operation to include other kinds of food service, including a bar/ cafe that will be designed to appeal to the underserved professional clientele seeking a place after work and in the evenings.  

Specialities at Brigantina include steak frites, mussels, escargot, oysters from France and live crab flow in from Canada.  The menu also offers several pasta and pizza selections and the wine list ranges from inexpensive local offerings to several very expensive Bordeaux wines.  The Brigantina stays open 24/7 and has both indoor and outdoor dining areas.

Sochi Builds Hotels

Rendition of the Hyatt Regency in Sochi

Today, I looked at hotels in central Sochi.  The new Hyatt Regency is being built in the vacant lot between the Park Hotel and the Primorskaya Hotel.  The site is great, with a park-like walkway about 50 meters between it and the bluff and then just below the boardwalk.  The Hyatt is quickly coming out of the ground and next door the Primorskaya is beginning renovations.

Statue of A.C, Pushkin and the construction site of the new Hyatt Regency, Sochi

The adjacent Park Hotel has been the preferred spot for business travelers because of its quality and location. Just across the street from the Park sits the new Bounty Boutique Hotel.  

 Park Hotel, Sochi

The Primorskaya has a great location and a beautiful facade.  However, the aged Soviet-era rooms are currently very substandard.  It will be interesting to see the result.  Despite the room quality, Primorskaya has had one of the friendliest and most helpful of the hotel staffs in the city.  Of course, the Grand Rodina has the most professional staff in south Russia.

 

Rendition of the remodelled Primorskaya with the hotel in the background, Sochi

The Park has 447 rooms  and the Bounty Boutique Hotel 27 rooms.   When the 350 room Primorskaya has been remodelled and the Hyatt Regency (200 rooms) has been built, Sochi will have 4 quality hotels with over 1,000 rooms within 2 blocks in the very center of the city.  This is only a small part of the total, with thousands more rooms being constructed in the city center, at Adler (Olympic Village) and Krasnaya Polyana (alpine events).

Russian Wedding

Last week, I attended a wedding in Sochi.  Russian weddings last two or even three days.  The first day the bride and groom had a civil ceremony at ZAGS and afterwards had their photos taken at the nearby fountain and several other places around the city.

Later on, they made their appearance at the restaurant where the reception was held.  When they arrived, Pavel and Alexandra were presented with a tradtional loaf of bread to symbolize health, prosperity and long life. Russian weddings usually include a master of ceremonies who guides the evening through toasts, speeches, dances and games.  There is a copious amount of liquor (mostly vodka in this case) and food served.

Presentation of tradtional loaf of bread

Dancing and drinking game

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Babye Leto

The early part of the week in Sochi saw very warm temperatures, dry air and sunny skies.  Daytime highs were between about 28- 30 degrees (82- 86 Fahrenheit).  The weather changed on Wednesday and several days of rain and cooler weather followed.

Fall days with summer weather is referred to as baby leto in Russia.  This means grandmother's (or old woman's) summer.  The phenomenon is known as indian summer in the United States.  One day, as I walked along the street in central Sochi, I heard music coming from underneath the trees of a nearby apartment block.  I stepped inside the yard and saw a woman dancing to Soviet-era popular music.  When I asked her if I could take her photograph, she agreed and told me a little of her history.  She studied dance during the Soviet era and on warm fall days loves to perform for her friends and passersby.  

Cultural Olympiad

Sochi continues with the Cultural Olympiad this weekend.  Performers from all over Russia are in Sochi, with concerts at Administration Square on Friday, Saturday and Sunday.  The point of the Cultural Olympiad is to show Russia at its best, promote Russia's cultural heritage and to work towards preservation of the legacy of more than 100 indigenous groups in Russia.  

Sochi is the center of a great deal of cultural activity in the period leading up to the Winter Olympics. Celebration of the Cultural Olympiad began in Russia in 2010.  That year, film was the focus, this year is the Year of the Theatre, next year will be the Year of Music and in 2013, the Year of Museums. There are thousands of events taking place that Russians can take part in.  As I sit in Sochi, I see a large number of handicapped children who have been brought here to enjoy and take part in the performances.  Russia and Sochi 2014 are making an extraordinary effort at inclusion, so that as many as possible of Russia's citizens can participate, learn and enjoy about their cultural patrimony.