Allen Dukas, Thomas Keller, Jose Andres…Don’t you know famous chefs with a worldwide fame? But Viktor Beliak, a chef of “Pleasantville” restaurant is well-known in Zhytomyr. It’s not a surprise: winner of culinary competition Battle Chefs in “The best professional chef” nomination, Member of Culinary Association in Ukraine, deputy head of creative association “Chef group” in Zhytomyr, a holder of international competitions and a holder of many other prizes has many fans and followers of his cooking talent. Even though we didn’t speak about tending to get worldwide fame, he has told us a lot of interesting things.
“I’m from Zhytomyr, I was born here. Everybody ask me why I am still in this city, why didn’t I move to Kyiv or abroad. Since the moment everybody decide to move, what will we do? It’s a native town and I wish to realize my potential here.”
“Cooking skills have been passed on from mom. She cooks very delicious. I modeled my first pierogi when I was four years old. Besides it was with blueberry, which is not very easy to make. I even asked to cook it, tried to eat it myself. Since school I’ve understood that being chef is my destiny. I was studying well at school and I knew that I’ll become a chef.”
“My wife cooks well and the only man she does it for is son, he is lucky I must admit! I like cooking at home: I prepare porridge and mashed potatoes for son, and dishes that my wife likes. I don’t have the only dish which I like to cook – I like making everything, e.g. desserts and sweets, borsch and broth. I like Italian cuisine.”
“Zhytomyr College of Trade and economics, nowadays KNTU unit, – is a pretty good place for studying, it gives a nice foundation. All students come well-prepared after graduating. There are a few of those who correctly work with beginners. I am personally graduating from Poltava University of Economics and Trade. As a member of Culinary Association in Ukraine I undertake a judicial internship where it is required to have a degree. It’s mainly for my personal development and personal growth”.
“A year ago we went to All-Ukrainian festival with a junior team, who won almost all golden medals. Jury was shocked, they were surprised by the fact that we’re from Zhytomyr. It was so pleasant! You start realizing that it’s time to compete with Kyiv! That’s who we are – we can a lot more than that!”
“Due to studying company gives a lot of opportunities to develop, even though courses are not the cheapest ones. That’s why we attend interesting and useful master-classes. We have bunch of plans! Sitting and peeling potatoes in the kitchen it’s boring.”
“Zhytomyr has new challenges ahead, despite that it’s hard to give people something new. Especially here people are afraid of new things and are very careful. However, there are culinary projects, e.g. “Master-chef”. People watch it and understand: “Ok, it’s popular”. They start consciously eating, but aware person knows what he pays for”.
“We would like to hold master-classes about cooking methods of steaks and grill, gather small groups of people. If you are a market monopolist and you know that you’re the best, you start relaxing within some time. We stand for positive competition; it has the right to exist. If a good grill bar opens, let it be! We will not relax and our aspiration will increase. I’m ready to battle, I even like when we are compared with someone.”
“The fact that Zhytomyr is close to Kyiv, it’s good. Once we had a situation that 50% of guests in Zhytomyr’s restaurants and cafes were from Kyiv. Nowadays people also come; recently we’ve had a drive-by-visit family from Kyiv. They liked everything and also were wondering: if a public place is good enough, it’s too expensive.”
“I don’t have any star-like sickness and I’ve never had it. When a person stops at what somebody has written or said about him, here the sickness comes and I find it senseless. There are people who stick clichés on themselves, but sooner or later you’ll be forgotten. Nowadays we are famous, we have guests. We should keep our heads above the water, go further, develop and be in advanced.”
“How do I rest? I cook. If I want to eat some tasty meat, I make it myself. When we have picnics, we take outdoors grill, cooking pot and cook something – whether it’s meat or chorba. We haven’t made barbecue for long time, it’s played-out. I also taught my parents to cook the same way.”
“What is a recipe from chef? It’s the simplest! What does meat like? It is salt, pepper, onion and some oil. Take a chuck or something not so fat. Even though everyone can cook a juicy chuck, but there is a secret: meat with onion must be left for at least 6 hours, and then you should take onion away. As easy as ABC! One may add dried sweet pepper and it is wow! Choose quality meat because everything depends on products”.
“There is a collection of Zhytomyr dishes, but I would call Zhytomyr cuisine something more special. Polissiia is a region full of mushrooms, so Zhytomyr cutlet is with pine bolete. Sometimes local citizens hear a name of a dish for the first time, even though local Zhytomyr zest is definitely necessary!”
“When I started working as a chef, my mom has told me: “Why do you go to work there? You’ll carry dirty pots. Why do you need it?” and now I face larger-than-life lack of good chefs. Professionals whether move somewhere or can’t get price together. I came to the first place and I even forgot to ask about salary: I just wanted to work and learn something. In general, for becoming a good chef one should just love his job. If you love what you do in any profession you come across, everything will be all right.”
“Zhytomyr has perspectives. We want to live in a beautiful city, there’s a need to make it real. I do everything possible for it. That’s why everyone should do their best and then we’ll have more perspectives.”
Translated by Aliona Matushevich
