Interview: Vineet Bhatia

Last month Caterer Middle East caught up with international icon of fine-dining Indian cuisine Vineet Bhatia — the first Indian chef to be awarded a Michelin star — at his Dubai-based outlet Indego at Grosvenor House Dubai to talk spice, books and Michelin ratings.

You’ve been credited with changing the West’s perception of Indian cuisine. How successful has this trend been?
When we first started back in 1993 this was something that drove me. It took us a couple of years to start implementing what we wanted to and initially it was a very slow. But now, with people travelling a lot more, I believe they understand what good food is.

When I came to Dubai five years ago, we were quite conservative in our approach, but people said we were very modern. Five years on it has now definitely been accepted that Indian food can be ‘fine dining’.

You have a new book out; what’s the concept behind it and why would it appeal to a Middle East audience?
It took me a year and a half to write and is based on traditional cookery, but right from the basics. It gives the reader elements of Indian cuisine’s foundations and details how you can grow from there to achieve the goal of cooking really fine cuisine. Basically it’s a journey through Indian food.

It’s a book for anybody who enjoys cooking and has a passion for food.

People in this region, especially in Dubai, are quite adventurous and we’ve noticed a whole shift in people dining out and trying different things. They are really into food now and it’s really catching up with Europe. The book has fantastic images too, so there are also a lot of things to look at and admire.

How popular is Indian cuisine in the Middle East?
I’ve always said that Arab nationals love Indian food and with many expats being British, they love it too. We’ve had a very good reaction at our outlet in Saudi Arabia as well, but they are generally very conservative and we had to trim back our innovation there.

I think we have to cater for the ego of our guests and not for ourselves, and we have to tailor-make each project to suit the local market.

Do you have any plans to open more outlets in this region?
We have the restaurant we opened last year in Saudi Arabia, at the Mövenpick Hotel Al Khobar, which is doing quite well. More recently we opened in Doha, Qatar.

In May we are opening up in Libya, which is a growing market. In some ways we like to think we are mavericks — after all, when we opened up in Dubai none of the five-star hotels had a fine dining Indian restaurant.

Do you think the Michelin Guide overlooks Indian Cuisine?
It used to and it used to overlook Indian aspects of cooking. But being the first Indian restaurant in London to have been awarded a Michelin star, and also to be the first Indian chef in mainland Europe to receive a star in Geneva last December, it would not fair for me to say we don’t consider it important.

But they could probably award it to more Indian restaurants; I think eventually we’ll see more awarded Michelin stars.

There are already four Indian outlets in London and one in Geneva with a star, but I think the big change will come in eight or nine years time.

What inspired you to take up a culinary career?
I got into cooking by mistake. I wanted to be a pilot, but I couldn’t be, so I went to hotel school. I then wanted to be a barman and work on the service side, but I was put into the kitchen by mistake and I’ve loved it ever since that day.

The whole idea of walking into a kitchen in India was very different back then and it’s still a very laborious job, but it was not thought of as a decent profession in India; many people would simply discard it. When I first walked into the kitchen it really changed my perception of food.

What’s your favourite authentic Indian dish?
Lamb Rogan Josh; it brings back memories of my childhood. My mother used to make it on a Sunday and it was tradition, like a British roast dinner. As a chef I’ve tried to replicate these flavours, but it’s very difficult!