Nikita Chernikov

My name is Nikita Chernikov, and I am the chef at the Osobnyak restaurant. I was born and raised in Almaty—a city that forever shaped my passion for gastronomy and high-quality ingredients. I have worked at such iconic restaurants as 6/45, Liver, Afisha, and Schastlivye Lyudi. Each of these places gave me tremendous experience and shaped my vision of contemporary cuisine.

For me, being a chef isn’t just about standing at the stove and mechanically delivering orders. I’ve always wanted to look deeper, to understand the very essence of the ingredients I work with, and to explore their nature. That’s exactly why, during certain periods of my life, I was passionately involved in farming and artisanal production: I made my own artisanal cheese, painstakingly grew microgreens for my dishes, and even had success cultivating oyster mushrooms. This provides an incredible understanding of how flavor is born even before an ingredient hits the cutting board.

To keep moving forward, constantly expand my culinary horizons, and hone complex techniques, I completed rigorous internships at iconic restaurants—Beluga in Moscow and KOKOKO in St. Petersburg. There, I encountered a completely different scale of gastronomic thinking.

Now I devote myself entirely to the kitchen at Osobnyak, where I’ve been working practically since the very first day it opened. In my work, I rely on a rigorous, time-tested foundation—authentic Italian and French recipes. But I don’t like boring academic rigidity, so I never blindly copy the classics. My signature move is to infuse these traditional dishes with my own distinctive, slightly irreverent style. I love to boldly play with textures, introduce unexpected, vibrant flavor accents, and come up with creative presentations that surprise our guests.