Taleon Club Master Chef Alexander Dregolsky
In his childhood, Alexander Dregolsky dreamt of sea. After he had failed to enter the Navigation College, though, Alexander decided not to waste time. He successfully passed the exams to enter the Leningrad River College where he acquired a profession of the ship’s cook. He had an opportunity to try the force of the art of cooking while serving for several years in the trade fleet.
Alexander went through a highly competitive school of the first floating restaurant in St.Petersburg - «Olympia» - which has formed many luminaries of St.Petersburg restaurant business. In the restaurants of the Grand Hotel «Europe» he started as a simple cook and became a Master Chef. After Alexander had won the city cooking contest in 1994, he was awarded the honor of presenting Russian cuisine in the restaurant of the French elite hotel «De Crillon». He participated in the preparation of dinner for the British Queen in the largest hotel of Banghok. The St.Petersburg restaurants «Flora» and «Antwerp» became his next steps on the way to the culinary Olympus. And one more time Alexander was given an honorable mission of presenting Russian cuisine in the hotel « St.James Court » in London.
Today Alexander is a Master Chef of the Taleon restaurant. His speciality is Russian and European cuisine, but for his gastronomic masterpieces Alexander derives inspiration from recipes of all nations. The ex-conqueror of the sea does not confine himself to the traditional genres of the art of cooking : breakfast, lunch and dinner. He gives free rein to his imagination while creating menus for the Sunday brunch. Performed by Alexander Dregolsky, this meal becomes a real ethno-culinary-cultural event. The Sunday brunch at Taleon Club is not just a simple meal - it is a pleasant, unhurried conversation in a circle of friends, an acquaintance with the new Club guests, with other cultures and with Dregolsky’s culinary chef-d’oeuvres. Particularly successful were Alexander’s brunches inspired by the recipes of Australian, Lithuanian, Georgian, Hungarian and Russian cuisine.
The membership in the St.Petersburg Club of Master Chefs allows Alexander Dregolsky to know all about the latest culinary trends and tendencies. He doesn’t follow the capricious gastronomic fashion though. Alexander is convinced that in cookery, like in any other art, one can experiment only paying tribute to traditions. Thus, the sturgeon in Russia has always been an indispensable treat for all the tzars’ feasts and merchant banquets. This royal fish, every time prepared according to a new Alexander’s recipe, is still extremely popular with the Taleon Club guests.
Not only the taste, but also the decoration of the dishes prepared by Alexander Dregolsky, inspire admiration in the most demanding gourmets. It is tempting to compare certain of his creations with the paintings of great masters.
Despite numerous victories in professional contests and regular praises from the members of the Taleon Club, Alexander Dregolsky is not infected with star fever. His self-irony, love for experiments and the constant desire to learn guarantee that the restaurants Taleon and Victoria will continue to amaze their guests by their exquisitive menus.