This is my city: restaurateur, owner of the Bocconcino chain Mikhail Gokhner

Walks around Serebryany Bor, Moscow's competitive environment, Muscovites' ability to "breathe underwater" and the new Bocconcino in Depot.

I was born...
In Moscow.

Now I live...
On the Rublevskoe motorway. For me, this is a good combination of remoteness from the city centre and the opportunity to live in a private house in the fresh air. On the one hand, the village is within the city, and you can get to the centre in half an hour to forty minutes, and on the other hand - next to the forest, you can ride a bicycle to Serebryany Bor and breathe fresh air.

I like to walk ...
In Serebryany Bor. Sometimes I walk there through the forest from home or ride a bicycle, it turns out to be a very pleasant route. During the quarantine I walked round almost the whole forest.

Favourite Moscow district...
I love the Patriarshie neighbourhood - it's such a mix of modern life, western spirit and old Moscow. It's interesting to walk here both day and evening, it's buzzing with life, lots of trendy young people and restaurants. And one of the Bocconcino chain restaurants opened here a couple of years ago.

Favourite restaurants and bars...
Depends on my mood, but I like, for example, Veranda u Dachi, and I haven't been to a bar in a long time.

Apart from work and at home you can catch me most of the time...
In the gym: in winter in the "Boxing Academy" or in Zhukovka on the tennis court, in summer on the open tennis court in our village.

A place where I have long dreamed of travelling to, but I can't make it....
I have long wanted to spend half a day in the New Tretyakovka, switch off the phone and revisit the paintings there.

My attitude to Moscow has changed over time...
I started walking more after the reconstruction of Moscow, before I didn't perceive the city as pedestrianised. After the reconstruction, a lot of pavements and pedestrian zones appeared.

Muscovites are different from people in other cities...
Muscovites are fast and purposeful. People here are more energised to achieve the goals they set, and, of course, they achieve them more often. In general, there are a lot of specialists in Moscow. This is probably due to the fact that there is a highly competitive environment here, and everyone who came here or was born here goes through a natural selection process.

It's better in Moscow than in New York, London, Paris or Berlin ...
I believe it's the people. We are more stress-resistant, and we have fewer high expectations. We have been through so many crises that we can adapt to almost any situation and actually learn to "breathe underwater". I also think that our people are more open, warm and kind.

I don't like it in Moscow...
First of all, the climate. I would like more sunshine.

I don't get enough...
Moscow is full of places where you can relax culturally: there are many theatres, museums, cinemas, but there are no places where you can relax physically. I miss a beach in Moscow in the summer, so that I can go and lie down and swim in the river. For us, holiday means going to a resort. If you could sunbathe and swim in Moscow without leaving, that would be great.

The new Bocconcino...
There are Bocconcino restaurants in Nizhny Novgorod and London, and six in Moscow. We have just opened the seventh in Depot. It is big and beautiful, with a hundred seats, a real flagship of the chain.

We chose Depot for our new restaurant for a reason. In a succession of new trendy street food corners and various conceptual restaurants, Bocconcino is a perfectly understandable project that has been on the market for a long time. It is a restaurant both for a special occasion and for every day. And, of course, it is for those who live on White Square every day. It is convenient here to hold negotiations, meet with friends and colleagues, and dine with loved ones.