The culinary art lovers and connoisseurs of high cuisine are looking for unique flavors, unique handwriting and new colors in every corner of the world. The new restaurant project of “Yeremyan Projects” company – “Renommée” – has a special place in the gastronomic map of Armenia. The chef of the unique restaurant with unprecedented format and the author of the menu is Karen Khachatryan, who is also the head of the “Culinary Art” educational program of “Yeremyan Academy”.

We talked to Karen Khachatryan about a personal interesting story, discovering the best cuisines in the world, a long culinary journey, settling in the homeland and creating a special – “Renommée”.

- Why and how did you choose the profession of a chef and tied your life with the culinary art?

- Becoming a chef was not my childhood dream, but I loved to eat tasty food since I was a child. This is why I often appeared in the kitchen and prepared something for myself. I remember doing interesting improvisations and even enjoying the mess I made in the kitchen (laughs - auth).

I liked culinary but I was planning to become a football player. Everything changed when I received a serious injury and my football career became unrealistic. That “made” me and the kitchen closer. Of course, it was difficult to give up the dream of becoming a successful football player. But I think I have succeeded in life and in cooking. The qualities formed in me due to sports helped me: discipline, willpower, the ability to fight to the end, not to fall into despair.

- What did the experience of working in other countries give you and how did you make the decision to return to the homeland?

- When I was doing my first steps in culinary I set a goal to turn the culinary into delicious journeys, be in world’s different conceptual restaurants, got familiarized with the national cuisines and restaurant culture of other countries.

My journeys have never been an end in themselves – I have used the opportunity of being in different countries to participate in many courses and training programs and to keep our country’s honor high in various authoritative international competitions, becoming a silver, bronze and gold medalist in cooking.

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Karen Khachatryan and Davit Yeremyan | Image by: “Yeremyan Projects”

No matter how attractive were the success and life abroad, I was convinced that living and working there would be temporary. Maybe my life would have been different if I used the opportunity of having author’s restaurant. However, many offers and programs were rejected in an instant when I learned that “Yeremyan Academy” of Culinary Arts and Hospitality had been established in Armenia. I realized that by investing my gathered experience and knowledge I have an opportunity to contribute to the development of culinary and high culinary art in my homeland. I think even a restaurant career with promising future was worth to be sacrificed for being engaged in such a sustainable project like the academy. Such an opportunity might not have been created again.

- Your next stop of culinary journey was Armenia – “Yeremyan Projects”. Will you tell us about your activity here?

- “Yeremyan Academy” gave me an opportunity to think and create. Here I have improved my handwriting – turning my craziest thoughts and ideas into dishes. I am very happy to have the opportunity to co-author with my colleagues the special menus of “Yeremyan Projects” company’s Livingstone and Cosa Nostra restaurants.

Of, course the journeys have not ended there. In my professional career “Renommée” restaurant of “Yeremyan Projects” has a special place. It gave me an opportunity to present myself in a different way. Working in Michelin restaurants I was dreaming of having kitchen of such format and authoring menu for such a restaurant and what is the most important – do it it in Armenia. Today this dream is already a reality.

- Will you tell about the format of the restaurant, its peculiarities and menu?

- “Renommée” is a restaurant presenting high cuisine which will operate from 7PM in the evening. Our guests will enjoy the high cuisine – author’s set menu with 10-12 dishes. The uniqueness of our restaurant is also that the dishes go through very long and special technological stages.

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Image by: “Yeremyan Projects”

We have turned the classic, traditional recipes with wide possibilities of molecular cuisine into a very tasty and unique creations and called them “The Way of Taste.”

The key peculiarity of this format is that the menu includes balanced dishes with compatible ingredients. Our menu is really a journey of tastes where each dish has its own story.

People will come to “Renommée” not to satisfy their hunger but to find unfamiliar tastes, to try and discover the new, unique, to travel with us in the world of tastes.

-What will the guest who has travelled a lot and had dined in various Michelin restaurants see in  “Renommée” which he/she can not see anywhere else?

- There is thought, emotion, culture of recognizing and enjoying tastes in our dishes.

The guests of “Renommée” will see other handwriting and approaches, a unique combination of Armenian and foreign products, which they will not find in restaurants of other countries.

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Image by: “Yeremyan Projects”

I hope that gourmets who dined in the best restaurants of the world will come to Armenia to also taste and appreciate high cuisine. I hope one day everyone will talk about this project. The goal of our whole team is for “Renommée” to become a visiting card of not only “Yeremyan Project” but also of Armenia.