Our film crew is in the country house of the restaurateur Mikhail Zelman, the general manager of Arpicom, which owns Goodman steakhouse, Filimonova and Yankel fish house, Kolbasoff beer restaurant, Le Gato cafe and Mamina Italian restaurant Paste". Michael says: "We will not listen to the horrors early in the morning", turns off the morning news and invites us to the table. At breakfast our conversation about home, about business, and about the restaurateur's hobbies began.

SALON: Michael, please tell us about this house. What did you think when it was built? What were the requirements for the architect?

- I built this house three years ago, the project was developed by an architect Михаил Даутов. I imagined that the house would be a mixture of a Swiss chalet, a seaside house and our reality. From the Swiss chalet here is the shape of the roof and the decoration of the walls with natural stone. The feeling of a seaside home arises from the large open space. A reality outside Moscow is manifested in the fact that the walls are painted in bright colors.

S: Is this a house just for you or for the whole family?

- For the whole family. Parents live here all the time, me and my brother and my family come here from time to time. On the second floor, each of us has its own block. The space was designed so that no one bothers anyone. Each expressed his wishes to the architect. For example, I wanted a balcony in my bedroom - I like to breathe fresh air and sunbathe. We decided that the rooms should be cozy, that is, small in size, but with high ceilings, so that the rooms were bright.

S: How do you spend your time here?

- We are going to the whole family, preparing kebabs. More precisely, I cook. In my family, they love to eat, and I love to cook. When frying kebabs, meat, we take in the restaurant Goodman.

S: Why there?

- I am a meat man - I love meat. And I can definitely say that in our country there is no better meat than in Goodman. Before opening a restaurant, our managers have long looked for suppliers and found the best. We do not disclose the names of companies, but I can say where we buy meat. The best beef is produced for export to the countries of Southeast Asia, where they are willing to pay a lot for good meat. Therefore, the best beef producers are located in Australia, New Zealand, Argentina and the USA.

S: For you, a restaurant is first of all the quality of products?

- Of course. When restaurateurs pay attention primarily to the interior, to the scenery, there is a profound lie in this. All over the world, gastronomic restaurants are born on the basis of products. In Russia, it is still difficult to make a real gastronomic restaurant, because there is no culture of producing ingredients. Recently we opened the Fish House Filimonova and Yankel, began to choose suppliers. Paradox: we have a beautiful cold sea, but the Kamchatka crab or fresh scallop of such a quality that we need cannot be found.

S: How do you feel about molecular cuisine - in particular, the work of Anatoly Komm?

- I was in Spain, at Ferran Adrià in El Bulli, and in England, in the restaurant Fat Duck, tried the originals. I don't like the molecular cuisine itself, but I respect Anatoly Komm with great respect. He managed to convey the main thing in molecular cuisine - the feeling that food intake can be an unusual life experience.

S: You are going to open Goodman restaurant in London this summer. What for?

- Just this year, England lifted restrictions on the import of Australian beef, and now you can bring into the country beef of excellent quality from the same suppliers with whom we work. We will make in London the same revolution in the culture of meat consumption, which made in Russia.

S: By the way, which restaurant in London do you like more than others?

- Hakkasan by Alan Yau. This is a man who has managed to create a new image of Chinese and southeastern cuisine. He is a truly creative person who can not only express his inner world in cooking, but also bring this cup to the viewer without spilling on the way. Alan creates his every dish so that the idea is not lost.

S: Besides London, where else do you go?

- In the winter I go to Thailand, to the island of Phuket, I stay there at the Banyan Tree hotel. In the summer I rest on the Cote d'Azur, in Sardinia, in Tuscany. Last year, in the summer, I rested in Monaco. My friends and I rented a five-deck Big Aron yacht. Unfortunately, my business is not related to oil, so spending so much money alone is hard for me. (Laughs)

S: Among your friends are the metallurgical king Iskander Makhmudov and the oligarch Mikhail Friedman from Alpha. What is your relationship with them?

- Mikhail Maratovich invited me as a consultant when creating the Piano bar at the Patriarch's. Ural Mining and Metallurgical Company does not participate in our business. But the shareholders close to UMMC really bought out the controlling stake of Arpikom. I want to believe that they saw the economic viability in this business and believed in me as a manager. But maybe they did it simply because we are friends and they want to help me realize myself.