Anatoly Ivanov started his career more than 20 years ago. He has added to his experience and culinary skills by working in the leading restaurants of Germany, France, the U.S., South Africa and Australia. Anatoly says the most valuable experience he has gained was from working for a year with the triple Michelin-starred French chef Marc Haeberlin. With the help of the master chef, Anatoly learned and perfected the nuances of French cuisine. Since 2006 Anatoly has been a professional member of the Chaine des Rotisseurs, the French association that unites connoisseurs of the art of cooking from more than 70 different countries.
Anatoly Ivanov is a true ambassador of Russian cuisine who has taken part in numerous culinary festivals at hotels in Greece and Thailand, and was appointed consultant at the Ciragan Palace Kempinski Hotel in Istanbul, Turkey, for a project to open a Russian caviar bar — a copy of the Caviar Bar restaurant at the Grand Hotel Europe.
As head of the hotel’s kitchen, Anatoly will be in charge of a team of more than 100 chefs, serving eight restaurants, of which the central one is the legendary L’Europe restaurant with over a hundred years of history. During his career, Anatoly has trained three young chefs to take part in the international final of the Chaine des Rotisseurs competition. He said that for him, “nothing makes me as proud as watching young specialists achieve their professional goals before your eyes, becoming head chefs at restaurants and winners at prestigious competitions.”
One of Anatoly’s trainees, Alexei Kostichkin, took first prize in the Russian final of the prestigious Bocuse d’Or competition last year.
Anatoly himself was awarded first prize in 1993 when he was named the best contestant in the city’s first championship of culinary skills. Anatoly says that the most memorable day of his career was 22 September 1993, when along with other chefs from the Grand Hotel Europe, he prepared a formal dinner for Queen Elizabeth II of England at the Mariinsky Palace. The menu of Elizabeth II included truly royal dishes: crab salad, pancake with black caviar, sturgeon in aspic and venison in vodka marinade. After dinner Elizabeth II thanked all chefs at Grand Hotel Europe for delicate dishes.
Now, possessing a wealth of experience, he says that the main characteristics of a head chef should be “responsibility for that which you do and for your colleagues, honesty in regard to one’s subordinates, insistence on high standards, professionalism, good communication skills and flexibility”.
