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Incredible Women. Incredible Lifestyle.

KASAA LIFE

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C O V E R   S T O R Y

WITH

ALEKSANDRA RALNIKOVA

ONE MORNING 

Aleksandra Ralnikova comes to mind when you hear "Splash Asnieres," "Chez Monix," or "Pas Parisiens." Aleksandra the muse of  the hippest, modernist, and swankiest eatery chain in Paris (France), talks to KASAA LIFE about how she balances work and family life and how she keeps the fit and other lifestyle secrets.

Art Direction JULIA KAPITONOVA SAADA / Photography IRINA BARDO / Location PARIS (FRANCE)

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KASAA LIFE: Aleksandra, please tell us how you usually start your day?

ALEKSANDRA RALNIKOVA: Usually my day begins early in the morning (I love waking up in the morning) with a contrast shower and a warm drink with lemon - this helps me to warm up and tune in to the working day. After I bring my child to school, there is often not enough time for breakfast before that, so I have breakfast after home at those days when I work remotely or in the office with colleagues On weekends in good weather, my favourite start in the morning is to run on an empty stomach.

KASAA LIFE: Share your perfect breakfast recipe.

ALEKSANDRA RALNIKOVA: My ideal breakfast without hesitation is definitely the "Acai Bowl".

To do this, I take frozen acai berries (it is also possible to make it from berry powder), half a banana, a little vegetable milk, sometimes a teaspoon of honey and mix in a blender until smooth. The density is adjusted to taste, thanks to vegetable milk.

I spread the resulting mass into a bowl and add homemade granola chia seeds, nuts or seeds, sometimes berries.

Such a bowl is difficult to spoil, you can add various super foods to it - it is very useful, tasty, fast and beautiful! For those who like to get aesthetic pleasure from acai bowl food - the perfect breakfast. (Smiling).

KASAA LIFE: Please tell us about your daily sports and beauty rituals, if any.

ALEKSANDRA RALNIKOVAOf the daily rituals, this is necessarily a stomach vacuum (tensing the muscle without moving it) 8 times for 15 seconds and a plank for 4 minutes, even when there is absolutely no time in the morning, these two are always with me. (Laughing).

On weekends, I add running to my morning routine.

From beauty, this is definitely face and neck skin care. In addition, there are various face masks, ice made with herbs to sooth skin and mood. These are always in my freezer.

KL: You are in amazing shape. Did you play sports as a child?

AR: To my great regret, as a child, I did not play sports. So after moving to France, I made up for lost time to stay in shape. Movement is the key to success.

KL: How to manage restaurants and maintain your health?

AR: Good question. (Laughing). My secret is not to eat, but to taste! It is important.

In order for food receptors not to "clog", literally half a teaspoon is needed to appreciate a new tasting menu. "Pas Parisiens" menu changes every 5 weeks, adapting to seasonal products. Over time, I learned to "love food with my eyes" and now I get an aesthetic pleasure no less than a gastronomic one.

KL: Is the restaurant business for women?

AR: The restaurant business is for everyone who loves people and loves to give emotions.

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KL: What is your biggest restaurant accomplishment?

AR: This is the creation of a close-knit team of like-minded people.

KL: An essential part of a successful working day?

AR: The plan and its execution, and also a positive attitude.

KL: Aleksandra, you are also the head of your own communications agency, how do you distribute employment? Do you manage to be a wife, mom?

AR: The work takes most of the day, so I try to delegate work affairs, thanks to my team. Evenings and weekends exclusively for the family. Sometimes, of course, there are work exceptions, you have to ask for "help from loved ones".

KL: Do you often ask the chef to cook something not from the menu? 

AR: When I have lunch or dinner in one of the restaurants of the Pas Parisiens  chain I often ask the chefs to cook for me dishes that are outside the card, for example, just fish and vegetables. (Laughing). They are offended because they want to constantly add something to my plate.

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Norbert Tarayre &  Stéphane Rotenberg

KL: Tell us about the most successful promotions and offers from Pas Parisiens?

AR: Our guests can pamper themselves with the menu from the chef.  We do not have long menus, so we do not use frozen foods and semi-finished products. The whole card is 100 percent made literally like at home.

This is our main advantage: the ratio of affordable price and high quality.

 

KL: Who are your celebrity guests?

AR: Plenty of them, starting from the actors, tv presenters, sportsmen to businessmen. Our partner and friend,  a well-known TV presenter of the TV program Stéphane Rotenberg & Top Chef Norbert Tarayre.

KL: Tell us about Chez Monix. How did the idea for this project come about?

AR: Chez Monix is ​​the winter version of Splash Restaurant. In our case, demand created an offer

The summer version of the restaurant is in great demand as Splash is a mini Cote d'Azur with a swimming pool and huge open-air terraces on the Bank of the Seine.

To create a new concept, it was inevitable for our customers to come to visit us.

That is why Chez Monix is ​​the place to be this winter!

Our creative inspirer is our manager who generates great ideas every day. (Laughing). 

Inspiration creates our big family.

KL: How to start your acquaintance with Pas Parisiens?

AR: Definitely a delicious lunch in a family friendly atmosphere.

KL: Dessert must try...

AR: La Sphère. An unambiguous must try in our family of restaurants.

A thin chocolate ball with various sorbet fillings and crispy homemade crumble is poured over with hot chocolate and melts before your eyes.

KL: Tell us about your partnership with La Mer à Boire and the Splash barge.

AR: The partnership came about by chance. The Splash restaurant is located on the banks of the Seine and during the summer period the restaurant was in great demand and we could not accept everyone, which is why it was decided to purchase a ship and moor it near the restaurant, thus creating additional places for receiving guests.

We thought for a long time how to "dress" this ship, thought about the design, and at this time we met the guys who are engaged in seafood straight from Brittany.

They only work during the summer in ephemeral restaurants and were also looking for a concept for winter.

Thus, this winter, the blowing of our two concepts was created, which allows our customers to have 3 different atmospheres in one place: bistronomic mountain cuisine with hot cheeses and fresh seafood from the lab.

Our concepts are not competitive, since we do not specialised in seafood, this is a separate kind of culinary art and the guys are doing excellently our clients travel between concepts that complement each other.