With the grand opening of Siberia 2 in the Gyeongridan area I recently had the opportunity to pick the brain of Patrick Bergy who co-owns the restaurant with his wife Zhanna. Here my the Interview with Siberia’s Patrick Bergy.
Who are the people behind Siberia? How did you come together?
My wife Zhanna, whom has lived in Korea for over 11 years now, has had a dream of opening a restaurant for years. My day job limits my personal involvement, but I am very proud of what she has done and fully support her efforts to bring a taste of Russia to the area. Her desire was to have a clean, family style restaurant that offers affordable tastes of Siberia, which is where she was born and raised. Zhanna and I were married this past January 2nd while on vacation in the US. It was done with a very romantic proposal on the rim of the Grand Canyon, a place she has always wanted to see, and a less than romantic wedding over New Years in Las Vegas 🙂
How did you come up with the concept of Siberia?
I touched on the concept in my answer of the first question, and it is really just that simple. She wanted to bring a very clean, family style dining experience that showcased traditional Russian foods to an area with such a dynamic range of people and cultures. In the short time we have been open with the cafe, that dream seems to have been achieved. Her clients are from everywhere. Some have visited Russia and just wanted to remind themselves of the taste. We have people from Australia, Korea, Japan, America and all over Europe that are now regular customers. I would not be exaggerating to say that 85% of the people that come to the cafe were referred to us by friends who came in and enjoyed their experience so much, that they told a friend. Until this grand opening on Saturday, we have not spent a single dime on advertisements, but have already exceeded our capacity on several nights at the cafe and decided to expand both our seating and kitchen to the new restaurant.
What is your background knowledge of Russian cuisine?
Zhanna’s background in Russian cuisine is simple, that would be Babushka, whom we named a blini after. Babushka means gramdmother in Russian (that is what we all call her), but Babushka is Zhanna’s mother. I had the pleasure of spending much of last summer with her here in Korea, and she will be coming back to Korea to visit in November. Having tasted her cooking, it is not hard to see where she gets her cooking from (and also not hard to know why I married her). Although Zhanna has the final decisions as to what goes on the menu, Zhanna also has a long time friend of hers, Zhenya, and Angela, whom both have been with us since we opened. Together they came up with all the recipies, which are made fresh daily at the cafe, and now here at the restaurant with a much expanded menu.
Who is the Chef? Where did he or she learn to cook such great dishes?
The food is prepared by Zhenya, Angela and a new cook, Vlad. All are of Russian descent. Angela is from Uzbekistan (no relation to Borat 🙂 Zhenya is from Russia and Vlad is from Uzbekistan.
They are all very talented, and just have a natural sense for cooking. The meals are very simple, traditional Russian foods, with the exception of a few requests I made as an American to bring some additional cultures in.
How did you decide upon your menu? What dishes can we expect in the future?
It is the simplicity of the meals, and keeping with basic Russian traditional foods that allows us to offer many of our meals at such a reasonable price. Some items at the new restaurant, such as filet mignon, and lamb specials we are doing for our Sunday brunch, are simply going to be more expensive because of the cost, but we have been very focused on keeping our customers experience affordable. We have many new salads, as well as now offering new daily soups, along with our traditional Russian Borscht. Additionally, we now offer one of the only tableside preparations of Bananas Foster and Cherries Jublini (a take from Cherries Jubilee, only wrapping the ice cream in blini). These desserts are flammed right at your table and are truly amazing to taste. We have also focused on offering a huge selection of drinks, not to get drunk, but as a taste experience to equal that of your meal. With liquors such as Frangelica, Sloe gin and many other delicious selections we now have a menu of 50 absolutely delicious drinks, many of which are flamed tableside as well.
Why did you decide on Gyeongridan?
Really, it was the diversity of people in the area and all the different cultures. For sure, the fact I work here locally helped in her decision so as not be have a long commute. The hours put into a restaurant are difficult enough. In fact, we just moved from our home in Samgakji to just around the corner to cut down on travel time. It was a great decision.
For those trying Russian food for their first time what items on the menu do you suggest?
Believe it or not, even many Russians that visit have not experienced many of the traditional Russian meals we offer, or have not had some things for a while. Although most of our ingredients are purchased locally, a few things, such as good beets with a bright red color are not easily found here and we get those from outside of Korea. Other items are from places like Uzbekistan, which many Russians have not tasted as well. All the foreigners seem to absolutely love the blini, and many come just for the desert blini, which is actually an expensive process of reducing a lot of milk to a small amount of exceptionally delicious dessert filling. From the new menu, we have many delicious pork dishes, and have even added an American twist by taking a Russian breaded pork and preparing it open faced, served with meat gravy and mashed potatoes. It is awesome, and very reasonably priced.
There you have it! A thank you to Patrick for taking the time to answer KMK’s questions. Now all of you just have to go check out Siberia and report back here about your experience! Dosvidaniya!
