Executive Chef of restaurants Anchor, Lomonosov and cafe Mozart, Michael de Wildt, 39, has been working at the Sheraton Palace Hotel for three years. But before that, he was already working in Moscow, at the Renaissance Hotel. Voted the "Best Seafood Restaurant in Moscow" over and over again, Anchor, where we met with de Wildt, opened its doors just before W WII. Ten years ago, when the Sheraton Palace Hotel appeared on the map in Moscow, Anchor immediately became one of the most popular – and delicious – seafood restaurants in the city. The decor emphasizes the marine theme of the restaurant and the walls are decorated with pictures of well-known Russian fleet admirals.
De Wildt is a chef of genuine creativity. Even the seemingly dull and chilly season of game, mushrooms and berries has inspired him to create a special autumn menu, which is now being offered at Anchor.

Do you think that what you do in the kitchen could be compared with a stage director’s job? Are the ingredients your "actors"?
That’s an interesting metaphor, but it’s much simpler: My "actors" are my team of cooks and helpers, whereas the ingredients I use actually stand for the script – the plot of our culinary "story." And the man "behind the scenes" must be me…

Staging, or orchestrating the whole "performance" seven days per week can be very stressful. How do you and your staff manage to unwind?
Since we are all very creative, we love to play our favorite culinary game. About once a month we gather in the kitchen and start cooking something out-of-the-ordinary. It’s akin to a culinary brainstorm, the results of which can be absolutely fabulous. For example, in the course of one of our culinary sessions, an unimaginable dish was born: Fish with a delicious white chocolate sauce. If you let your imagination run loose from time to time, it will work wonders!

How long could you wait for your food at a restaurant? I once had to wait for two hours…
Two hours? If I was in a situation like that, I’d probably ask for the bill and leave, without arguing or quarrelling. A similar episode actually happened to my father, who was a chef too. I was a 13-year-old boy and we went to a restaurant together. We’d made an order and waited for our food to come for an hour. The funniest thing is that in Holland there’s a law saying that if you wait for more than an hour, you can call the police. So after an hour’s wait, my father told the waiter that if they didn’t bring us our food in the next five minutes, he’d call the police. It worked like magic and within three minutes, our food finally arrived.

What kind of objective did you have when you began your career and has it changed at all?
I’ve always been career-oriented and wanted to become an executive chef. This dream came true very early, when I was only 26 years old.

Can you attribute your passion for cooking to your frenzy for traveling?
Yes, of course. I’d already worked in nine countries, including France, Syria, England, the Netherlands, Switzerland, Germany, Greece… and wherever I went, I always went on a culinary adventure. I never visit the so-called "culinary Meccas" (i.e. restaurants popular with tourists). I would find a local and ask him to show me a hidden place with an authentic aura of the country’s national cuisine. Besides, I like to learn the national language of the country where I’m supposed to work. It helps me feel at ease and understand foreign mentalities better. Communication is part of cultural exchange and something I want to acquire here.