How lavish servings of rich poultry pleased Putin's palate at Sofia's Russian restaurant.

Vanya Rainova

Veal Orloff, beef Stroganoff, Sharlotka (Charlotte russe), cutlet de volailles. Considered in the West to be traditionally Russian, these dishes actually hail from the Franco-Russian cuisine of the 18th and 19th centuries, with origins leading directly to the court – or kitchen – of Catherine the Great.

Royal food should feel at home in Sofia's Moskva restaurant, which opened about a year ago at Lege Street. The interior, designed exclusively and lushly in burgundy, gold and mahogany, with lavish chandeliers and starched white tablecloths, manages to  recreate the courtly atmosphere of a bygone era. If one thing contrasts with the classy opulence, the Russian pop music notwithstanding, it's Luyboslav Merdjanov, the chef.

A small-framed, lively and casual man with a quick smile, Merdjanov stands in charming discord with the grandeur of the restaurant. Yet he seems perfectly at ease, as he walks through the swinging doors separating the dining room from the kitchen and delivers a  steaming cutlet de volailles to table 11, one of the most private seating options in an establishment that clearly respects personal space.

This breaded chicken roll, stuffed with cream and mushrooms, was first prepared by Catherine the Great's French chef, Merdjanov says. An example of the enlightened despots of her era, the Empress of Russia earned a reputation as patron of the arts, literature and education during her 34-year reign in the 18th century. But she's just as responsible for introducing European cuisine to Russia. From her time on, every family of influence imported both products and personnel – mainly German, Austrian, and French – to bring the finest, rarest, and most creative foods to their table. This is most evident in the elegant and decadent repertoire of the Franco-Russian chef.

More than two centuries later, cutlet de volailles is still the favourite meal for Russian heads of state, it seems. It's what Merdjanov prepared for Russian president Vladimir Putin when he visited Bulgaria in January. (I'm sure neither Catherine the Great nor Vladimir Putin had to settle for frozen fare, but you might; some meals need to be prepared in advance because the five kitchen staff can't always keep up with diners' requests in a 120-seat restaurant.) 

“We prepared six of them for Putin,” Merdjanov says. When asked about the quantity (could Putin have such a prodigious appetite?), he shrugs and says, “Protocol.”

Does Merdjanov have an off-the-protocol secret ingredient or technique to make this dish truly outstanding? Not really, he says. “Russian cuisine isn't as complicated as it is heavy; make sure you have butter, cream and mayonnaise in abundance, and you're set.”

Well, protocol may call for six portions of cutlet de volailles for the Russian president, but if Merdjanov had to choose from his own menu, he'd take six of the duck Magret (grilled duck breast with morello cherry sauce and vegetable ratatouille). The chef also recommends the black and red caviare and the selyodka (marinated herring), both imported from Russia. “Plenty of selyodka is sold here, but we still can't get it the way Russians do it,” Merjanov says. The sturgeon and salmon are delivered fresh from Metro.

Those looking for traditional Russian fare should try the pelmeni, usually made with minced meat filling wrapped in thin dough, or the Russian version of Chinese pot stickers, Tibetan mo-mo and Italian ravioli. Also on the menu are pirozhki, which are filled with one of many different fillings and are either baked (the ancient Slavic method) or shallow-fried (a method borrowed from the Tatars in the 16th century). One feature of pirozhki that sets them apart from, for example, English pies is that the fillings used are almost invariably fully cooked.

I've yet to talk to a chef who says he likes to cook at home, and Merdjanov is no exception. Though he has a full-size kitchen, he feels tight on space, he says, and he doesn't like things getting stained and sloppy, which is inevitably the case. So where would he like to cook, other than in Moskva, of course? He doesn't hesitate for a second: Italy. “It's just the abundance of fresh products that makes it such a unique cooking experience,” he says. “It's challenge to get fresh herbs in wintertime in Bulgaria, for example, while there it's all at hand and all fresh.”


Chicken cutlet de volailles

250g chicken breast
100g button mushrooms
50g onion
50ml cream
50g flour
50g bread crumbs
1 egg
cooking oil
salt and pepper
mashed potatoes, cherry tomatoes and rosemary for serving.

Julienne the mushrooms and onion and sautй lightly. Add cream, simmer until it thickens and remove from stove. Tenderise the chicken breast, stuff with the mushroom-onion-cream mixture, and roll it. Coat in flour, dip in the beaten egg, then coat with bread crumbs and fry over medium-to-high heat. Serve on a bed of mashed potatoes and garnish with cherry tomatoes and rosemary.