The Crew

I was born in Bolivia. Even as a kid I loved spending time in the kitchen, while my mom and granny were cooking. I was always interested in how they did it, so I joined a culinary academy. Later I felt a call to travel; I went to Russia to study there, and even considered becoming an electronic developer for a time, but in the end I got back to cooking and instead of a developer became one of the best Latin American cuisine chefs in Russia. I am absolutely sure that to learn to cook Latin American dishes you have to be born in Latin America and know them from childhood. It is hardly possible to learn every combination of spices and condiments we use, as their number is around 700. This knowledge should come from the heart. It is sad that there is no fresh cactus in Russia, but I promise you that you will still be able to feel the rich taste of Latin American food in our restaurant. Juan Milton Iraola Chuquimia, Mexican cuisine chef

I have been working in Russia since 1994. During this time I occupied the chef position in several theme restaurants of Moscow and St Petersburg. I believe that control over food preparation technology is deciding for keeping a certain level of a restaurant. Experiments should be limited to home kitchens. I am happy that the MACARENA crew unites professionals and each of them is doing what he knows best, his job. This is the guarantee that MACARENA will really offer the best of Spanish, Italian, Caucasus and Latin American cuisines. I will never learn to cook tasty varenikis, but my jamón and cheese tortilla or mussels in wine are, like the Russians put it, finger-licking. Lázaro Rodríguez Alfonso, Spanish cuisine chef

I was born and grew up in Lisbon in the chef family where all culinary secrets were passed from generation to generation, My family has owned one of the best restaurants in Portugal for almost hundred years! I have already been working in Russia for 16 years and have managed to take part in many interesting projects: I have cooked for Bill Clinton and Vladimir Putin! I love Mediterranean cuisine and really enjoy cooking real Portuguese food! Delfin Martin is the chef –consultant of the restaurant Macarena.

I was born and raised in Bangladesh. Bengali earth is very fertile, and the Gulf of Bengal richly provides us with fish. This is probably why Bengali cuisine is so varied, even compared to other Asian cuisines, and I like to cook (and know how to do it) practically everything: vegetables, fish, meat (beef). The thing I know ideally, however, is rice. My colleagues say I was born with a hunch for it. This is why no rice dish is cooked without me, be it a risotto or a paella. Nurozzaman Md, Mexican and Latin American cuisines sous-chef

Bar manager of the restaurant is Vladimir Gindin, one of the best barmen in Russia. Vladimir has been in this business for over 20 years. He started his career in Saint Petersburg and has gone all the way up from a barman to mixologue of the British company Diageo and bar manager in the famous Moscow bars like GQ, Just Another Bar, Bamboo and many others. Vladimir has participated in opening many restaurants and organizing master-classes in many cities all over Russia. He has raised the whole generation of barmen who are working now in the best restaurants of Moscow and Saint Petersburg. Vladimir has been a part of Macarena team since the fall of 2010.