Ember Corn & Summer Vegetables
Corn taken hard over coals, ember-roasted potato, and a coriander-lime dressing that cuts straight through the smoke.
Read the dishYerevan, Armenia · Available worldwide
Sergei
Khatsanov
Executive Chef & Culinary Consultant
Twelve years across Georgia and Armenia building menus that sell and kitchens that hold their standard: European and Georgian fusion, Italian artisan dough, and the systems underneath both.
12+
Years in professional kitchens
200
Covers managed per service
20
Chefs led as Head Chef
4
Languages spoken
01About
Twelve years on the line, and the systems to prove it.
I help restaurant owners launch food concepts from scratch, or take an existing menu apart and rebuild it around what actually sells.
That work has run from a 150-strong hotel operation at Stamba in Tbilisi, through leading a twenty-person brigade as Head Chef at Zest, to heading the kitchen at PizzaMan, where the dough formula and the costed menu were the deliverable, not just the service.
What I care about is whether a dish still comes out right on the night the head chef isn’t there. That means written formulas, real prep lists, honest costings and a team trained to hold the standard on their own.
- European & Georgian fusion
- Traditional Georgian technique held to European plating discipline: familiar enough to sell, distinctive enough to be remembered.
- Artisan dough R&D
- Italian pizza and bread formulas built around cold fermentation, so the base is the same on a full Saturday as it is on a quiet Tuesday.
- Kitchen systems
- Prep lists, par levels, station layouts and costings: the unglamorous work that lets a menu survive a change of staff.
- HACCP Level 3 certified
- Food safety and allergen management established as daily practice rather than a folder filled in for the inspector.
02Signature dishes
Every plate has a story worth reading.
Each dish opens into a full page: how it's built, why it works, and what it actually tastes like.
03Services
Four ways to put me to work.
Available for remote and on-site projects, and open to international relocation.
- 01
Menu R&D
New concepts built from scratch, or an existing menu rebuilt around what actually sells and what the kitchen can hold.
2-6 weeks · on-site or remote
- 02
Kitchen Setup
Opening a new kitchen, or fixing one that loses its grip every time the room fills up.
3-8 weeks · on-site
- 03
Staff Training
Bringing a brigade up to a standard, and the front of house up to speed on what the kitchen is sending out.
1-4 weeks · on-site
- 04
Culinary Consulting
Whole-concept work: positioning, food identity, food safety and the systems that keep all three in place.
Project-based · remote & on-site
04Journal
Notes from the kitchen.
Technique, workflow, recipe development and food safety, written for people who run kitchens.
Get in touch
Bring me into the kitchen.
Open to international Head Chef roles with visa sponsorship, and to consulting or menu-creation projects remotely and on-site.