Celeb chef interview: Vineet Bhatia

Celebrity chef Vineet Bhatia on leaving a legacy, creating memorable experiences and whether Dubai is Michelin-ready.

When Vineet Bhatia looked at my business card and said he remembered my name, it was difficult not to react like a fan-girl.

I had first met this celebrity chef two-and-a-half years ago at a food festival in Dubai; I interviewed him and volunteered to be his cooking assistant for a live demo, where I whisked ingredients to help him create a chicken dish with kadi and pink upma (a semolina-based Indian breakfast item).

While Bhatia recognised my name, he did not remember my actual triumph on stage, but attributed it to the number of people he meets on a regular basis on his travels.

Interacting with his guests and fans is an important part of his life, he says. The two-time Michelin starred chef can be found on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram — where he often replies to people who ‘tag’ him in posts.

When I ask whether he handles his social media himself, he confirms he does. “My Facebook page was first started by my staff in London, I was never into it. But now I don’t leave it to anyone to run my Twitter, Instagram or Facebook. I do it myself, and try and reply where I can.

“I think personal interaction is important; there is no point in posting on social media and then not replying. You have to interact with your guests and fans, especially if you are at a certain status where you are recognised. It’s nice to reply, it’s a basic courtesy in life. And whether it’s good or bad [comments], I will reply,” says Bhatia.

Personal Touch
It’s this one-to-one interaction Bhatia prefers in all spheres of life. He grins and admits to me his team doesn’t know he’s actually a shy person, who prefers intimate interactions as opposed to large groups. When it comes to work, however, Bhatia is a team player.

He says: “I’m very sensitive about our restaurants and our team. I try to look after both the guests and the team. But it comes down to hard work.”

Bhatia reveals his employees are constantly communicating to ensure his restaurants across the world are consistent. “We keep a strong tab on the team — phone, Skype or email — just to ensure they learn the right things and the guest gets the right product. If they both go back happy every day then I am very happy.”

One of the uglier sides of the F&B industry, Bhatia admits, is the practice of poaching, which he abhors. He asserts: “We do not poach anybody; we only train in-house and promote. Fortunately with 10 different restaurants we can do that. You will find all our chefs only come from our team.”

He says he receives a lot of CVs from chefs in other restaurants, but first asks if they are willing to start from scratch with his company. As expected, there are no takers.

“We will never pick somebody from X restaurant and put him as a head chef, it doesn’t work. They don’t know us and we don’t know them. The element of trust for me is very important. When I trust someone, I know in my absence the food is delivered to the standards which I need, or which I think the guests deserve to get.

“Lots of people poach, it is rampant in our industry unfortunately. But then you realise that people who leave are not really your core team members. Our core team members have stayed with us and grown with us. Eventually they will fly away and set up their own stuff and we will be very happy with that. But when they do it nicely, rather than backbiting, we will be happier.”

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Happy Times
Bhatia is interested in keeping his guests happy as well, and is always imagining different ways to do just that.

He says: “The last thing I want is for people to come and say they didn’t have a good meal at my restaurant. That will hurt me.”

Creating food memories therefore, is Bhatia’s way of making sure diners at his venues leave satisfied. “It’s a constant thing for us, we’re always constantly trying to do something different and interesting, which people tend to remember and take back with them. For me especially, restaurants are all about going to a venue and having food memories,” he says.

“In Dubai for example, the quality is already upmarket and classy. So what makes you stand apart from them? I want people to come here and remember what they get. I want them to say, ‘wow, I had an amazing meal’,” he adds.

He says this only happens when food is cooked with passion. “You have got to look after the guest. If you are cooking for your ego then you better close shop.”

And while fine dining restaurants don’t often see the presence of young children, Bhatia’s Indego by Vineet does have families dining out from time to time.

He welcomes this trend and says: “A lot of young children now are coming to our restaurant, which I think is very flattering because they feel quite comfortable. They are the future of our restaurants — when they are used to eating good food, they will go back.

They are memories you can never take away, and that is why, we as adults crave for the food our mom used to make at home, or me craving the chaat I used to have on Mumbai’s streets.
Those are the flavours we try and create in our restaurants with our own twist and style.”

Making a Menu
And indeed, Bhatia’s restaurants are known for their unexpected twists with traditional Indian food. He reveals that a new tasting and dessert menu has been worked on for Indego by Vineet at Grosvenor House Dubai, and will be a “good eye opener for everybody in Dubai on what can be done” and adds: “But one thing we will never compromise on is our authentic flavour and style of cooking.”

A hands-on chef, Bhatia cooks the dishes for his teams before letting them try it out themselves. “Nothing will change on the menu without me trying it out or trialling it myself first,” he says.

On the menu for his only restaurant in Dubai, Indego by Vineet, you will find intriguing items like cinnamon panna cotta paired with regular desserts instead of the trademark kulfi (ice cream), or butterscotch popcorn. Not just your regular high-end Indian restaurant then.

Bhatia smiles and says: “I don’t want to offer something which you can get in your normal restaurant or household. Everybody makes a halwa at home, but a halwa can also be modified, and that’s what we do. We add barley in them, we add apple in them, and apples go well with cinnamon, so the first thought is to put cinnamon in some form, so you add the cinnamon panna cotta ... you don’t want to be serving an ice cream or kulfi all the time.

“We have now come to the stage where we are pushing the food a little more, trying to be a lot more cutting edge, a lot more adventurous, trying to push the boundaries.”

He continues: “Luckily I can close my eyes and taste food, it’s a blessing. And fortunately it’s always worked.”

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Working Model
And how Bhatia’s ventures have worked — with five restaurants in the GCC (one in Dubai, two in Doha, and one in Saudi Arabia with another slated to open in February 2014) on the cards, he isn’t showing any signs of stopping.

On the international front he says nothing is finalised yet although there are three or four projects in the works. Bhatia adds: “We are looking at North America, we are looking at the Far East, and we are looking at India very closely.”

When asked specifically about the region, Bhatia reveals: “We are looking at doing more projects in the UAE. Abu Dhabi is a great place to look at and we are very keen to do something there down the line.

“We would also like one more venture in Dubai, with a slightly different kind of a setup — something more informal and casual. We already have fine dining, so there’s no point in doing a second. We are thinking of something which complements the fine dining, with a better price point so you can have a larger volume of people coming through. But we will strongly focus on quality of product, which is paramount for us.”

Speaking about new openings, will he consider opening in the newly opened The Oberoi Dubai, considering his relationship with the group in India — his highly acclaimed Indian restaurant Ziya has tasted success in The Oberoi Mumbai?

“No. I would consider whatever comes my way but I have never in my life gone and said, open my restaurant. The Oberoi has opened up in Dubai and I’m pretty pleased, and very happy to note that a lot of stuff they have used has been inspired by my restaurant in Mumbai, Ziya — the table set-up and layout are nearly identical so I must have done something right for them to have taken that further. I wish them all the luck; they are still friends of ours.

“People always say, ‘more Indian restaurants are opening up, there’s more competition’. And I say, yes the more the merrier ... you will always know the masters from the boys. As long as you have an ace up your sleeve you will do well.

The main thing is to look after your guest. As long as you continue doing that they will come and Dubai can take 10 more Indegos’ — they will all survive. There are so many people going out to eat. It’s a very buoyant industry.”

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Dubai, An F&B Hub?
Calling Dubai a “second home”, Bhatia is hopeful for the region’s F&B industry. “Dubai went through a very big boom and then it got hit very badly for a few years. But now it is on the upturn again.” He praises the vision of the ruling family, and says he thinks their visions for the city and the country will come to fruition in a big way.

“For me as an international chef, I look for that. Because for us, at the end of the day, it is a business. You have to provide a service and for the brand image it is really important to be in the right place. You are seen with the right people, you are seen doing the right things, and you have very happy guests coming and going.”

Bearing in mind the exponential growth of the Emirate of Dubai, the question on many people’s lips is: is the city Michelin-ready? Bhatia gives a resounding yes.

“Yes, now it is ready. If you had asked me the question eight years back I would have said no. There’s no point in one or two chefs coming and doing something and expecting everyone to get stars.

I think there’s a lot more chefs who have now come in, there are a lot more chefs who, without having been recognised internationally, are producing a lot of good, fantastic food. So I think it is a matter of time that the Michelin will look at Dubai at some stage.

“There is so much choice here, not just with cuisine and styles, but also the price points. It doesn’t have to be expensive to be Michelin. You can have something of top-quality at mid-price range that is Michelin. So it will come. It is just for the company to see the volume of sales to see if they can justify doing that. It is after all a business for them.”

He admits that when he first passed through the country in the early 90’s he did not think he would ever set up shop here.

“Then I came back in 2004 when Grosvenor House was being built and I saw the changes happening. It wasn’t 100% ready but there was scope. And having said that, in the past three or four years, there has been so much happening. You can import lots of produce which you could not eight or nine years back. There is a lot of choice in supermarkets, and there is variation. And for chefs like us it’s fantastic because there’s so much choose from.”

Leaving A Legacy
Figures such as Alain Ducasse and the famed Quraishi family of India who have produced generations of master chefs inspire Bhatia, and he says, like them, he wants to leave a legacy. “I want to have done something and given something back,” he adds.

But while he is confident about doing so, he says he doesn’t have a plan. “What the future holds, I don’t know. But we will not stop. The day we think we can’t implement, can’t justify, we will not grow anymore.

“I can easily sell my soul now, make tonnes of money and open 50 restaurants, but will that make me happy? No. So we cherry pick our projects, we do things which we believe in. We love to have a challenge and we only try to work with partners who have faith in us and we have faith in them ... life is too short to have fights.”

Quick Bytes By Vineet
On becoming a TV chef: “I would love to do a TV show within the GCC, especially with Emirati food to showcase the overlap between Emirati food and Indian food. There’s so much in common.”

On food trends: “People want to have small portions. The whole concept of ‘grazing like a cow’ comes into the picture. People don’t want stodgy food from 15 years back.”

On important ingredients for cooking: “Passion to cook. Ingredients can come and go, but if you don’t have passion it won’t work. It’s not a methodical thing where we just pick up the pan and cook – anyone can do that. If you put your heart and soul in it, it will all come out well.”

On molecular gastronomy: “Is it a trend? I’m not sure... I think people use it as a gimmick, and make a show in a restaurant by adding one or two things. Either you go all out or you are careful with it.”