We often discuss ambitious and interesting start-ups looking to make their mark in the UK. Today we would like to introduce you to an unusual restaurant service – Maison d’Entremets.
Let’s say you wanted to start your weekend with a leisurely breakfast or to surprise family or friends with some wonderful baked goods and exclusive desserts. Perhaps you were looking to organise a family picnic and wanted to surprise them with delicately smooth pates, mousses and fresh bread, all you would have to do is place your order with Maison d’Entremets and voila!
Early on a Saturday you will receive all that and more, prepared the day before from the freshest local ingredients and delivered to you in elegant and eco-friendly packaging.
Founder, Sergei Zhogota tells us about his project.
“Maison d’Entremets is a virtual gastronomic restaurant. The only difference is that the dishes are presented in a glass container and that they may be eaten wherever is most convenient for you: at home, during a picnic, for breakfast, lunch or with a glass of wine for dinner. The only thing that is left for you to do is to place the order.
The basis of my cuisine lies in simplicity and using only the highest quality products. Modern cuisine develops owing to the constant experiments with products, preparation technologies, and above all, the combination of culinary traditions of different countries. I am constantly experimenting and would never ‘bring a dish to life’ which I do not personally enjoy.
I am not trying to simplify food – I look for opportunities to make it more unique. I do everything from scratch, starting with labour-intensive bread and finishing with desserts. It is important for me to create with new tastes and by presenting a new menu every week is a great opportunity for that.”
Sergei’s clients are people who like to constantly try something new. His menu currently contains more than 30 items and as yet, his customers have only seen half of them!
With an ocean of ideas, Sergie knows that it is impossible to please everyone, however, he also knows that by creating new combinations of flavours in each dish, there will always be new delights to discover.
Take for example, chickpea hummus with antipasti of sun-dried tomatoes. This Middle Eastern dish is known to many, almost everyone has tried it, however, the devil is in the detail – the kind that Sergei provides, you will not taste anywhere else.
In addition, special attention is paid to the presentation of the products. Glass jars are the oldest form of packaging, which through Coronavirus has demonstrated other advantages, being both safe and ecological. The outer packaging can be collected to be re-used or recycled, as everything is made from natural materials.
Want to WIN your own selection of Masion d’Entremets – then why not enter our competition!
We wanted to know more about Sergie and his business.
H&N: Sergie, you are not a professional chef. Why did you decide to dedicate yourself to cooking and why now?
Sergei: Sometime in the mid-2000s I was a director and one of the founding members of a Latvian Chefs and Confectioners Association ‘Restauration Professionnelle’. At present, the organisation no longer exists. Simultaneously, I organised a professional exhibition HoReCa Riga and competitions for Latvian and Baltic chefs. I think that my interactions with the best chefs of the region had a significant influence on me as well as my predisposition to food. My mother is a great cook and my early skills were fostered in the family kitchen, whipping cream for cakes using old hand-mixers. As a reward, you could lick the remaining bits of the cream from the mixer.
In 2004 I arrived in England. I worked with several different catering companies of the highest level. Some of our clients were members of the royal family, the Getti family, Boris Berezovsky and British aristocratic families. As you can imagine, this was a remarkably interesting and enlightening experience.
In 2007 I left to work in the Investor Relations sector and I set up an events agency in 2018, which provides a service for organising financial conferences for a limited number of clients, with whom I had established good working relations over the previous 10 years. Then coronavirus happened and everything ground to a halt. Following this, I began to return to my roots and to what I enjoy.
Fascination with food has always been close. At each one of my conferences, food and drink were allocated the utmost attention. It did not matter where the event was held, in the middle of the Siberian tundra or a 5* hotel in London; the quality of food, service and drinks was always of the highest level.
Once I had to transport a whole wheel of authentic Italian cheese in my suitcase as well as 16 litres of Pimms from London for my clients’ event in the middle of Siberia!
It seemed to me, that the dream of every chef was to own their own restaurant. I am not a chef by profession; however, at heart I am sure I am one.
At the moment, I am simply doing that which I like to do, pushing for the highest level that I can achieve. Done in a format which satisfies all my expectations of what a quality product should be. Due to the difficulty of processes and the quality of ingredients, my products are closer to fine-dining, however the pricing and accessibility make it comfort-dining. I am certain, that there is a demand for interesting and intellectual food and I want to satisfy that demand in my own, perhaps unusual way.
H&N: Why Maison d’Entremets?
Sergei: Everything has to do with quality. A large percentage of well-known chefs, working all around the world, at one point or another were training and being inspired in France. Europe and France in particular still remain the cradle of high gastronomy. For this reason, the association for me is natural. However, high-end cuisine no longer belongs only to Italy or France; it lives everywhere thanks to chefs all around the world. Thus, Maison d’Entremets – my tribute to high cuisine.
H&N: What do you enjoy most about Maison d’Entremets?
Sergei: Firstly, it is a constant source of positive energy. I have always loved to cook for friends, to surprise and delight them. Secondly, it is an opportunity to interact with many interesting people. After all, food is something that genuinely interests everyone.
H&N: What inspires you to create new dishes?
Sergei: The scientific journalist Bob Holmes has a book called ‘Flavor’. If you haven’t read it, then you definitely should. I think that this book should be the tabletop Bible for any experimental chef. The foreword contains a certain phrase:
Enjoyment from good food is rated higher than the enjoyment received from sports, hobbies, reading or recreational entertainment. The only things to rate higher than food, are time spent on vacation, sex and family. When people are asked for the reason why good food provides them with such enjoyment, the vast majority reply that the main reason is the taste.
In this hides the answer to your question – I like to make people happy. For me cooking is both an instrument for learning and for enjoyment. I see food as something more than calories, as the ancients used to say: we are what we eat. Additionally, the opportunity to create is a fundamental requirement, I find it necessary to be constantly creative. Cuisine is a craft; however, it contains an element of creativity. This is something that becomes apparent over time even for those that cook according to the recipes of others. That is something great.
Try Maison d’Entremets products yourself, you can view the full menu on the website. You also need to follow their Facebook and Instagram pages for all of the latest news and taste sensations created by Sergie. Let us know what you think:
