Chef Vladislav Penov on mentorship, personal growth and the next generation of Chefs

As a member of JRE Bulgaria and Executive Chef of Restaurant Cosmos, Vladislav Penov is among the professionals actively working to develop the next generation of chefs. Part of this mission includes his work with students and interns from HRC Culinary Academy.

We spoke with him about the responsibility of mentoring young professionals, the qualities he values most in aspiring chefs, and the lessons that every professional kitchen can teach beyond techniques and recipes.

About Chef Penov:

Chef Vladislav Penov is the Executive Chef of Cosmos Restaurant in Sofia and one of the most recognizable figures in contemporary Bulgarian gastronomy. His professional journey began in 2006, with experience spanning leading restaurants in Bulgaria as well as Brasserie Blanc in the United Kingdom, the restaurant group associated with renowned chef Raymond Blanc.

In 2016, he joined the Cosmos team, and since 2017 he has led the restaurant’s kitchen. In 2019, he completed an internship at Relae in Copenhagen, while a visit to Noma during its vegetable season profoundly influenced his interest in fermentation, local ingredients, and a deeper understanding of living food.

Chef Penov’s culinary approach combines Bulgarian traditions, seasonal produce, contemporary techniques, and fermentation, creating a distinctive style focused on flavor, identity, and purpose. Cosmos has received numerous accolades, including being named “Restaurant of the Year” by Bacchus on three occasions. In 2024, the restaurant became a member of the international JRE association.

In 2025, Vladislav Penov became the first Bulgarian chef to receive one knife from The Best Chef Awards, an international distinction recognizing professionals for their outstanding achievements and contributions to contemporary gastronomy.

 

At HRC Culinary Academy, we believe that a successful career begins long before a chef takes on their first leadership role in the kitchen. It starts with developing the right habits, a professional mindset, discipline, and respect for the craft—values that form the foundation of every true culinary professional.

That is why education at HRC goes far beyond mastering techniques. Our mission is to prepare young people for the realities of the professional kitchen by connecting them with accomplished chefs, respected restaurants, and high industry standards throughout their training. Partnerships with professionals such as Chef Vladislav Penov and leading restaurants like Cosmos give our students the opportunity to learn from the best and gain first-hand insight into what contemporary gastronomy looks like at the highest level.

In this interview, Chef Penov shares his perspective on mentorship, professional kitchen culture, and the qualities that help young chefs build successful and sustainable careers in gastronomy.

JRE is a community that brings together young chefs and supports the development of the next generation in gastronomy. As a member of JRE Bulgaria, what responsibility do you feel toward young chefs entering the profession?

Chef Penov: For me, this responsibility is very personal. Our profession is beautiful, but it is also demanding – it requires discipline, perseverance, humility, and a great deal of hard work. Young chefs often enter the kitchen with a romantic idea of cooking, while the reality is much tougher. That is why I believe our role as more experienced chefs is not only to teach techniques and recipes but also to show them how character is built.

To me, JRE is a community that embodies exactly this spirit development, exchange, support, and responsibility toward the next generation. If we want Bulgarian gastronomy to continue growing, we must invest in the people who will carry it forward tomorrow.

Through JRE events and collaborations, you have the opportunity to experience different culinary scenes and restaurants abroad. What differences do you notice compared to Bulgaria, and what would you like to see change here in the coming years?

Chef Penov: Abroad, you can clearly feel the respect for the profession, for the product, and for the system as a whole. Kitchens often operate within a very structured framework from education and the treatment of interns to the relationships between restaurants, producers, and guests.

In Bulgaria, we have tremendous potential- excellent products, rich traditions, talented young people, and a growing number of restaurants with a modern outlook. However, we still need more consistency, a stronger professional culture, and a deeper understanding that great cuisine is not just about a beautiful plate. It is about teamwork, discipline, respect for ingredients, respect for guests, and a great deal of hard work behind the scenes.

In the coming years, I would like to see more continuity, more trust between generations, and more young people who are not in a hurry to become head chefs but who first want to become truly skilled cooks.

What motivated you to start working with interns from HRC Culinary Academy? Do you believe they can be a driving force for change?

Chef Penov: What motivates me is that they already come with a foundation. They arrive with enthusiasm, preparation, and an understanding that culinary arts can be a profession, not just a temporary job. That is very important.

I believe these young people can be a driving force for change, but only if they find themselves in the right environment. Talent alone is not enough. It needs to be placed in a kitchen that demands excellence but also explains why. A kitchen that challenges people while helping them grow, that does not simply use interns as labor but introduces them to the true culture of the profession.

What is the first thing you notice about HRC students when they begin working with you?

Chef Penov: The first thing I notice is their attitude whether they are curious, whether they listen, whether they pay attention to what is happening around them. In a kitchen, it quickly becomes clear who is there just to complete an internship and who genuinely wants to develop.

Technical skills can be taught. Speed comes with time as well. But attitude, discipline, and the desire to improve every day are the qualities that stand out most from the very beginning.

What do they struggle with the most?

Chef Penov: Most often, they struggle with the pace of a professional kitchen. In an academic environment, there is time to understand, experiment, and repeat. In a restaurant, everything happens in real time – there are guests, service, pressure, and standards that must be maintained every single day.

Another challenge is accepting that, in the beginning, you are not there to shine but to learn. That requires humility. Sometimes the most important lessons come from the simplest tasks- cutting, cleaning, organizing, repetition, and then repetition again. If a young chef understands this, they have already taken a major step forward.

Looking back on your own development as a chef, what was the most difficult skill for you to learn, and how does that influence the way you mentor young people today?

Chef Penov: The hardest thing for me to learn was patience. As a young chef, you want to prove yourself quickly you want to create, innovate, and be noticed. Over time, however, you realize that true strength comes from the fundamentals: organization, repetition, consistency, cleanliness, respect for ingredients, and attention to detail.

This realization strongly influences the way I mentor young people today. I try to show them that the most direct path is through patience, repetition, respect, consistency, and understanding. You can have ideas, talent, and ambition, but without a solid foundation, everything falls apart. That is why I insist on discipline while also making an effort to explain why it matters.

What would you like students to remember from their internship with you? And what would be the greatest compliment for you – not as a chef, but as a mentor?

Chef Penov: I want them to remember that a great kitchen starts with attitude – toward the ingredients, the team, the guests, the details, and oneself. I want them to leave not only with new techniques but also with a clearer understanding of what it means to be a professional.

The greatest compliment for me as a mentor would be for one of those young chefs, years later, to say: “This was the kitchen where I understood what a true profession means.” They do not need to cook like me or think like me. On the contrary, I hope they find their own path. But if we have helped them build character, discipline, and respect for the craft, then we have done our job.

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At HRC Culinary Academy, we believe that a successful career begins long before a chef takes on their first leadership role in the kitchen. It starts with developing the right habits, a professional mindset, discipline, and respect for the craft – values that form the foundation of every true professional.

That is why education at HRC goes far beyond mastering culinary techniques. Our mission is to prepare young people for the real professional kitchen by connecting them with accomplished chefs, respected restaurants, and high industry standards throughout their training. Partnerships with professionals such as Chef Vladislav Penov and leading restaurants like Cosmos give our students the opportunity to learn from the best and gain first-hand insight into what contemporary gastronomy looks like at the highest level.

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