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From a Michelin restaurant to the harsh Moscow of the 90s, this is the story of Uilliam Lamberti (VIDEO)

How a foreign chef overcame market ignorance and decades of challenges to become the mastermind behind Moscow’s most iconic restaurant empires.

 

Уиллиам Ламберти - итальянский ресторатор ENG

Italian chef Uilliam Lamberti studied and worked in the best restaurants in the world. It would seem that his path in life had already been predetermined: a successful career in Europe in a Michelin star rated establishment.

But in 1996, he made an unexpected choice and left for Moscow. He went to a country where there is a different culture, different tastes and a completely different idea of gastronomy. Uilliam Lamberti started over almost from scratch and was faced with realities that would be impossible to prepare for in advance. A lack of understanding of local tastes, the need to literally "re-educate" the audience and at the same time learn for himself. But it is here at this moment that he found the biggest golden nugget for success: his culinary style, his beloved audience and his chef’s destiny.

Over time, Lamberti became one of the country's main restaurateurs, creating landmark projects that are changing Moscow's gastronomy: Uilliam's, Ugolek, Sartoria Lamberti. And the most important thing is that he has stayed the course. Not just for a year as an experiment, but he’s been toiling away for decades.

Why did a successful European chef choose Russia? What did he have to overcome to become aceepted in a foreign country? Was his success just dumb luck or a chosen path? This is the story of a man who left one day and found his home in a place he never expected to find himself at all.