BARBAPbI

Anatoly Komm is a genius. A man overrun with gifts and an iron will. A visionary, an idealist ready to die for his cause: to become the international number one and to headline the Russian gastronomic revolution. And he is plainly conscious of the fact that both elements go inseparably together. For now, while managing several restaurants, he raised a banner of his own over the last two floors of a skyscraper in Moscow, the decoration of which, in 2008, cost 4 million euros, in what was to be known as an exaltation of culture and luxury in the country of “Czarist” proportions. Whatever you imagine is not even close… It is one of the most sumptuous and best serviced locales on the planet.
Anatoly has a great deal of pride with regard to the fact that he is the only Russian chef who also happens to be in charge of his business. He dedicates himself to the rings after studying chemistry and succeeding in the fashion industry, which helped him to import the finest Italian labels. His latecomer vocation has turned into a sickness. His intelligence, supernatural; his aptitude for studies, scientific; his organizational capacity, unshakable; his ambition, unlimited… so many qualities that in a single blink of the eye enabled him to become a refined culinary artist. A visionary who practices the only groundbreaking cuisine in Russia. Striving to influence his compatriots to make a transcendental qualitative leap forward. Persistent on forming an elite that admires avant-garde cuisine. With this mission mind he employs more creative concepts and techniques. He absorbs universal culture to then capture it with a very personal vision and give it a heavy dose of Russian identity. The most common ingredients, the most traditional dishes… history is tasted. He is reinventing what up until very recently was the typical fare of his fellow city dwellers. And he does it with a patriotic fervor. Any triviality is projected in galactic proportions: clarity, erudition, supreme refinement, infinite contrasts and admirable design. An astronaut of the rings striving to discover a different culinary planet.
The modest, daily “boronvinsky” barley bread takes the form, thanks to a daring approach and precise technique, of a liquid sphere over its base and of a spectacular crispy spiral of sunflower oil. The low-temperature quail egg yolk with smoked mackerel, cigarette bread and summer borsch is another elegant and consummate articulation inspired by traditional motifs, prepared with highly innovative criteria. The delicacy of the king crab is expressed in all its splendor: offered in a salad with a daring ice cream from the shellfish, celery jelly, sunflower aioli, poppies… utter audacity.
The adigeyskiy cheese with black salt, tomato jelly, breadcrumbs, sprouts and flowers stages images that are as evanescent as they are colorful. The snowy interior of the chicken with salsifies, beet, beet foam and microvegetables is another display of technique, complexity, beauty and, above all, good taste. A reborn good taste. Spicula anadara: the indigenous scallop all trumped up, flaunting all the textures present at their most sublime without losing a shred of its natural purity: a jelly made from its coral along with a lemon air. Purity and magic: mushroom consommé with spaghetti (minus the pasta) of white truffle. The ice fish, barely cooked, coiled up into a cylinder, is truly immaculate, adorned and dressed with a sculpture of eggplant paper, radish emulsion and vegetable mousse. The kalmikia lamb bone with harcho foam (an ancient cous cous soup with lamb, cilantro and pomegranate) and Jerusalem artichoke represents the transformation of indulgence into exquisiteness and absolutes. And the images go on, convincing us that as long as this fiery restaurant continues to solidify itself, it will shortly be receiving very high marks, and it will be soon–very soon. It’s just that Anatoly Komm is a genius. An illuminated character called to the helm of a new gastronomic Russia.