Artem Blauta

 Chef, and co-owner of four restaurants in Khmelnytskyi is Artem Blauta, an expert on the local cuisine of Podillia.

“I grew up in a family, where my mother, my grandma were good cooks and I have been eating great meals all of my life because of this.” He enrolled in a culinary school and began working in the field, starting

as a server in a cafe and eventually rising to the position of chef. He obtained his culinary arts degree at Turin, Italy.

Artem developed a respect for Paul Bocuse’. I’ve always admired his work because of “his classics, his simplicity...

Despite the fact that Artem already owns a number of restaurants, he wants to open more, with original, fresh designs. Although the chef is realistic about his aspirations, he thinks that many Ukrainian chefs will be in the TOP 100 Best in five to ten years, and he hopes to be one of them.

Regarding favourite ingredients, “Seasonality is very important to me... and this is reflected in our restaurants as well.” The primary menu of “Spiegel Restauracia” is updated twice a year, in the summer and the winter. In addition to the main menu, there are seasonal menus that alter up to 10-15 times annually.

Artem thinks that in order for Ukrainian food become a recognised cuisine we need to work more with the traditional Ukrainian cuisine as opposed to the tired Sharovar cuisine. “First and foremost, among Ukrainians, the love for Ukrainian cuisine will grow, and when it does, the rest of the world will share that love.”