Dream big and do everything with a great desire

Hélène Darroze at The Connaught – this is a restaurant in London with two Michelin stars, where Andrei went to do his internship in 2019 spring. At that time Andrei was the third-year student of Teko. Who would have known that this was going to be a start off for Andrei?

The internship abroad may seem not a difficult task, at first glance, however, when you arrive at the right place, then you face a series of issues that you need to overcome.

It was the first experience for me working abroad and in such a professional venue. The biggest difficulty for me was the experience of speaking in English, but I had to overcome this fear to survive and work.

The most important and exciting thing was the restaurant itself; the attitude and motivation of the staff working as one team. The team which makes itself better and creates a new ideal.

I accepted all the precise rules of the kitchen and did all the challenging tasks needed with a smile on my face as I realised that everything was cooked with high quality and turned out to be a delicious dish. 

I started to cook everything with desire and passion. To become a member of that team everything had to reach the perfect level and had to be done even without minor mistakes.

Andrei came back to graduate Teko and later returned to London for three months. He got a promotion in London, now he was responsible for the starters section.

English cuisine was the most “hellish” cuisine where I have worked at and I got tremendous experience working in the strict conditions together with demanding chefs.

English-French cuisine gives you a huge charge of all emotions at once, which are good and disappointing at the same time, but all these moments make you realise what it means to be a good cook and how to relate to the product.

The kitchen is still an endless Pandoras legacy of millions of tastes and new emotions.

A kitchen is not only a table with a knife, but it is also a real school that will teach you how to be the person, teach you how to communicate with people, cook, develop a character and many more positive features.

Being a good cook is only about art and style.

Andrei worked 390 + hours in December. It means 15- 17 hours per day.  He told me that he did not like London, however, he wanted to learn from the best.

After the Erasmus + grant was over, he decided to continue becoming the best by himself. In March he returned to London. This time he was responsible for the Garnish sector. “This is a very important sector, meat and fish with sauce, but without garnish, is nothing! “ said Andrei.

Andrei dreams about competing in Bocuse d’Or one day.

Good luck on his road to becoming a master chef!