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INTERVIEW WITH SERGEI KOROLEV,
General Director of Camelot restaurant,
and Echo Moskvy radio correspondent
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Saint Petersburg, April 27, 2000, live |
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Part I
THE CASTLE, ARTHUR, HIS WIFE AND HER LOVER
Part II
ALL WAITERS ARE MEN BUT NOT ALL MEN ARE WAITERS
Part III
IMPERIAL SALAD, DUKE'S CUTLETS
AND HEAVENLY MUTTON
Part IV
FOOD IS MY PROFESSION
Part V
INCOGNITO WITH A SECRET INSTRUCTION
Part VI
TOO MANY NUANCES |
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 The life of the knights of the round table was full of luxury and death, blood and passion, songs and wounds. By day they encountered fierce arrows and heavy swords, rode on heavy steeds with merciless hounds, and by night they preferred wine, women and song. Any knight loved to be honored, and all the ladies and fine beauties sought his protection, but a fallen knight was like a nice day; everyone soon forgot about him.
Camelot Restaurant, 14 Bolshaya Koniushennaya |
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On that note, we'd like to start our interview with restauranteur Sergey Korolev, one of the owners of Camelot restaurant. Hello, Sergey Alexandrovich. |
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Good evening. |
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We just heard an advertisement for your restaurant with merciless hounds, women, intrigue... Let's get this straight; do you have all these things at the camelot restaurant? |
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Well, we don't have any hounds, but we do have women... although not in the same sense as in the advertisement. The restaurant is most popular for its food and wine. Here the wine accompanies the meal, and not the other way around. |
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THE CASTLE, ARTHUR, HIS WIFE AND HER LOVER |
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I've already heard that your cuisine will amaze even gourmets. We'll talk about that later. So, why Camelot? I asked around and most people thought that Camelot (by analogy with Lancelot) was a knight. Not many know that Camelot was the name of a democratic state in the 5th and 6th centuries. |
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I don't know how they mixed democracy with a king, although that's the way many European countries work today. Yes, there was a king. Camelot is the name of the castle he ruled from. The king's name was Arthur. His wife's name was Guinevere. Guinevere had a lover... |
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A Beloved! After all, a knight can't be a lover! |
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Okay, okay. So she had this man she was in love with. Actually, all the legends and tales claimed there was nothing going on between them, so I guess the term "beloved" is appropriate. But I don't really buy that. |
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So there was nothing going on between them and King Arthur worked on reforms and gathered his knights at the round table. |
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Yes, Arthur gathered his knights, the knights accomplished various feats, fought with dragons and all kinds of evil beings, set out to find the Holy Grail... They're probably still looking for it. Maybe they'll find it. |
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Maybe. |
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King Arthur was the number one knight. According to popular opinion, there were three great knights: King Arthur, Richard the Lionhearted and Gotfried of Boulogne, who conquered Jerusalem.
All waiters are men but not all men are waiters |
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ALL WAITERS ARE MEN
BUT NOT ALL MEN ARE WAITERS |
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Sergey, you are so steeped in chivalric history. I guess there was no question in 1998 when you founded Camelot restaurant that it would be a knightly place. |
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Actually, I did have other ideas, but I was really struck by the idea of a medieval place... I re-read everything, from the books I read when I was kid, like A Conneticut Yankee in King Arthur's Court and Ivanhoe to academic editions of the Songs of the Niebelungen and The Death of Arthur. Now I've already forgotten half of it... |
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You have a wax figure of King Arthur at the restaurant. |
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It's not just a figure, it is King Arthur. He's like a relative now. We're always together. And our guests really love him, especially the ladies. They always try to sit on his lap, embrace him, and really love to have their pictures taken with him. |
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Is there a round table at Camelot? |
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No. We don't have a round table. We have oak tables, medieval and chivalric tables on heavy legs. Of course the chairs are also made of oak. |
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Gothic... high-backed? They're probably not very comfortable. |
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Actually, the chairs are very comfortable. I know it's hard to believe. When the designers showed me the drawings I had my doubts that anyone would be able to sit on the things. But they said "give it a try." I sat down and was amazed. |
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Most of your clients are men? |
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Yes, men. But what's a knight without his lady? |
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Do you accord your female guests any special welcome? Is there any chivalric address? |
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All our waiters are men and are very gallant. |
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So you don't hire women? |
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Our servers are men, but the hostesses are women. They're real mistresses of the house.
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IMPERIAL SALAD, DUKE'S CUTLETS
AND HEAVENLY MUTTON
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Let's talk about the menu. I'll admit, the editor-in-chief of Echo Moskvy, Alexei Alexeevich Benediktov, visited Camelot restaurant a week ago and was really amazed... The next day he came over with TV news anchor Svetlana Sorokina. By the way, do you remember what Benediktov ordered? |
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I can't say what he ordered, but I believe that all our dishes are worthy. It's really hard to choose when treating a friend. You offer them the menu but they ask you to just give them the best... |
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Sregey, do you have any favorite dishes? |
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I love mutton so we have mutton dishes. One of them is called "God Bless the King." |
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So even the names of your dishes are "titled"? |
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Of course. The second mutton dish is called "The Duke of York's Trefoil." |
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Who thinks up the names? |
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Usually me. |
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FOOD IS MY PROFESSION |
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Who makes up the recipes? |
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The chef and restaurant manager. His name is Vlad Atlas and I'm sure he's the best chef in town. If there is anyone better, then he's at leas the third best, I'm sure of that. |
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Has he ever invented something you've tried and not liked? |
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No. I never go into the kitchen. But I'm do eat at my own restaurant. |
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That's a really great job! |
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Yes. If the journalists at NTV say "news is our profession" I can say "food is my profession." |
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Do you always order first and second courses? |
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We have large servings, even for a man my size, so three courses can only be managed by the really "starving." Usually two is enough. |
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My colleagues from Echo Moskvy, including Alexei Benediktov, were just amazed by the reception you arranged for them at Camelot. Was this just due to the image of a well-known figure, or do you always treat guests that way? |
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Of course, we try to treat everyone the same. But, you understand that a prominent figure is important and such people get special attention. But in general we try to make every guest feel important. I don't think you'll find any flaws in the quality of service at Camelot. We pay a lot of attention to service. |
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INCOGNITO WITH A SECRET INSTRUCTION |
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The restaurant received some awards this year. |
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Yes, we won the high class restaurant professional competition. Independent competition. No one knew who would be checking the restaurant or when. |
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So they came to the restaurant incognito? |
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Precisely. In addition to checking out the menu and wine list, they also needed to provoke a conflict situation to see how the staff would handle it. The conflict situation was based on the complaint by one of the guests (there was a representative of the British Consulate in the party and they were sitting near the statue of King Arthur) that the King was staring. |
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How did the waiters react? |
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They just turned the statue away. |
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Turned him around? |
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Yes. |
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TOO MANY NUANCES |
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Let's say a few words about the wine list at Camelot. How many labels are on the list? |
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I think there are about 100, but the list is always changing. We always have new wines coming in, new years... one kind of wine will run out and we get another in its place. Sometimes we're not impressed by a particular year and we send the wine back because wines of different harvests have different properties. For example, 1985, 1989 and 1990 were very good years for French wines, especially for Bordeaux. But it's hard to just say a few words about the wine. There are too many nuances. |
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Do you have live music? |
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We do, and it fits with the interior. We have guitar music, flute music, violins and even bagpipes depending on the day. |
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Doesn't such a classical repertoire get boring? |
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All the songs are short and full of emotion, everything is based on contrasts to round out the overall impression. |
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Sergey Alexandrovich, I can see that our time is running out. I'd like to talk more about the wine and the menu... |
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Time flies when you're having fun... |
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I'd like to remind our listeners that Camelot Restaurant is located in St. Petersburg at 22 Nevsky Prospekt. Enter from 14 Bolshaya Koniushennaya. Sergey Alexandrovich Korolev is at the restaurant three times a week. You'll have an easy time recognizing him with his knightly bearing. |
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