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Portonian Profile – Regent Chefs

Meet Marko Zivkovic and Srdjan Begovic – two Montenegrins behind the kitchen counter of the Regent Porto Montenegro hotel. Coming from two different regions of the country, Southern and Central, they have been with the hotel for over 6 years now. They are creating menus for three outlets of the hotel: Gourmet Corner, Murano restaurant and Library bar, and together with their teams, delivering the most tasteful plates for a private dinner, casual lunch or a wedding celebration.

  1. What is your role here / where do you work?

Marko:  I am the Executive Sous Chef.

Srđan: I am the Sous Chef.

  1. What is your signature dish?

Marko & Srdjan: We are in the process of creating new menus where our experience and characters will leave a distinctive mark.

Marko: The Sea Bass carpaccio is something I dearly recommend and something that highlights my passions: sea and seafood. I love the fact that I was born and raised in a lovely corner of the Mediterranean and this dish truly brings the freshness of the Adriatic Sea to life, whilst it is presented with raspberry vinaigrette that elevates the dish further.

Srdjan: I enjoy transforming the simple dishes of the national cuisine into artful presentations. Brodetto (fish stew) served with breaded palenta balls from our winter menu last year is a delicious dish where I instilled my knowledge and inspiration from the local cuisine. Segments of the national cuisine are my true inspiration and transforming some dishes or parts of it into state-of-the-art gastronomic delights is what I would like to legacy to be.

  1. What do you love most about your job?

Marko: It is the results achieved really and when I think how many people created life lasting memories over our dishes – that is what really counts.

Srdjan: I enjoy the adrenaline fuelled atmosphere, creating new menus, giggles and laughs, and the loud wows we regularly receive. 

  1. What makes your cooking extraordinary?

Srdjan: What is amazing about cooking is that it requires being present, focused and able to multitask. This shapes the personality amazingly well and teaches young chefs a lot – from the use and value of time to the ability to work independently and in a team. It is about disciplined creativity. That is how I would define it.

Marko: Cooking entices, ignites creativity and makes you research further about yourself, own culture or any culture and trends one is interested in. A dish brought to the table is an ending of a creative thinking and disciplined doing.

  1. Where do you get your supplies for dishes?

Marko: We value the strong network of reliable local suppliers that bring us the best seasonal and freshest handpicked produce which allows us to play and design dishes with joy.

Bego: One of the joys of this job is visiting local farms and producers to actually check how their agriculture and food production has excelled and more often than not we are very pleasantly surprised by the steps taken by the family owned productions.

  1. Is there a Montenegrin influence to your cooking?

Marko: Absolutely. The cooking which sets us apart has a true anchor in our philosophy “global yet local” and “simple yet elegant”. We enjoy elevating simple dishes by cooking them differently (less time to preserve all the content) and bringing them to the table to appeal to all senses – visually to start with.

Srdjan: Montenegro is an everlasting inspiration as this geographically small country is rich in dramatic historic events that left us with an abundance of influences very much experienced in our cuisine. There are traces of Italian cuisine on the seafront whilst it gets more meaty and starchy as one goes north. This variety of cuisines really have been an inspiration not only for the dishes but for entire dinners and seasonal menus.

  1. What is the most extraordinary thing about working in PM?

Marko & Srdjan: To us it is really the cosmopolitan setting at our doorstep, the way the work processes are set up – it is like working somewhere abroad standard wise and yet we are at home. During the last six years we have really grown and showcased what Montenegro can offer on a plate.

  1. What is your favourite part of PM (favourite place, activity, time of day)?

Marko & Srdjan: We very much enjoy the sunsets from Jetty 2 and yes – we truly feel at home at Regent.

Srdjan: The Blue Room makes me feel very relaxed.

Marko: I enjoy the Clubhouse due to the laid back atmosphere and homey feel.

  1. What do you like to do in your time off?

Srdjan: Reading, watching sports and sometimes cooking for friends.

Marko: Hanging out with friends and family would top the list.

  1. What types of people do you meet at Porto?

Marko: Mainly it is our colleagues whom we consider our second family yet the joy is when meeting the guests who insist on meeting the Chef who prepared the dish.

Srdjan: Having the compliments from many meridians is the collection that we are proud of.

  1. How has Covid affected business in Porto Montenegro?

Marko: It has really affected us however we enjoyed our digital school of cooking during the first wave of pandemic during which we shared favourite recipes and taught our wonderful followers to prepare the dishes.

Srdjan: The recipes included some of the dishes from Montenegrin cuisine that are easy to prepare at home. We marked World Cocktail Day on May 13th with our Food and Beverage department by filming creation of the cocktail called Pomegrappa; pomegranate juice for children and grappa for men, which is usually a traditional welcome drinks at majority of homes on the coast.

  1. Would you say Porto is a good place to be in a pandemic?

Marko & Srdjan: Yes, absolutely. It has been the best place to be employed or hangout with or without the pandemic.

Marko and Srdjan are announcing an exciting new menu at the Murano restaurant, a new bar in the hotel as well as amazing food and beverage offerings for the season.

 

To start with, there is a romantic dinner coming up in February that you can enjoy with your loved ones. Book your table on time as there are not many places left.

Bookings: reservations.pm@regenthotels.com