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Evgeny Vikentev set up his St Petersburg restaurant, Hamlet + Jacks, in 2015.
Photograph by Sergei Misenko
“Have I helped to change people’s understanding of Russian flavours? Yeah, I think so,” says Evgeny Vikentev.
“I’ve had a lot of people come up to me after dinner and tell me, ‘Evgeny, that was super-interesting. We thought Russian cuisine was just pelmeni [dumplings].’”
The chef set up his St Petersburg restaurant, Hamlet + Jacks, in 2015, with friends Evgeniy Litvyak, Evgeniy Khitkov, Evgeniy Tonkov and Hamlet Movsisya. He’s part of a new generation of chefs spearheading a movement in Russian gastronomy, using local ingredients and modern techniques to push boundaries and change perceptions of the country’s cuisine.