The first Indian to get a coveted Michelin Star, Vineet is accredited as the ‘Master’ of Modern Progressive Indian food, who has blazed a trail across the global culinary firmament, reshaping the cuisine.
He left India in 1993, arriving in London with £7 in his pocket and nothing but ambition and love for Indian food.
Vineet Bhatia’s culinary life has been as much about professional triumph as it has been a quest for freedom.
Vineet’s food does not conform to the norms of traditional Indian cookery but the combinations, the contrasts in textures, flavours and temperatures and the sheer expressive range of the cooking comes from Vineet himself. Anything and everything around him, influences him – plates, magazines, people with opinionated likes and dislikes and his travels.
Recognised by food critics, fellow chefs and devoted customers alike, Vineet was awarded his first Michelin star in 2001, the first Indian chef to do so in its 100-year history. His personal venture Rasoi also received a Michelin Star in 2006 and he went down in the history books again when in 2009, ‘Rasoi by Vineet - Geneva’ was awarded its first Michelin Star. Vineet was again written into the history books as being the only Indian chef to hold a star both in the UK and outside of the UK.
In 2016 Vineet closed Rasoi in London and opened Vineet Bhatia London, a 33-seater restaurant serving a 16-course tasting menu, designed to elevate Indian food to an even higher level. VBL was awarded a Michelin star only 8 months after opening.
In November 2018, Bhatia opened “Kama by Vineet” at Harrods. Part One of the concept came as an Indian deli counter in Harrods’ infamous Food Hall. In June 2019, Part Two opened as a 26-seater restaurant in Harrods’ newly opened Dining Hall.
In a consultative capacity Vineet has been working with some of the world’s most exclusive hotels develop top class restaurants, most notably in Geneva, Mauritius, Dubai, Abu Dhabi, Saudi Arabia, Qatar and in his hometown of Mumbai. His books ‘Rasoi - New Indian Kitchen’ and ‘My Sweet Kitchen’ feature his signatory dishes hoping to inspire and lead chefs towards progressive Indian cuisine.
When he is not cooking at any of his restaurants or shooting for televised series, he is setting records and creating experiences of a culinary kind, such as the trek up to the Everest Base Camp in June 2018 to set up a ‘Pop Up Restaurant’ for three days, raising money for orphan girls and the Nepalese earthquake victims. In December 2019, he partnered with the French cruise liner Ponant along with Chef Alain Ducasse’s team for a new culinary experience on a remarkable ten-day expedition to the White Continent of Antarctica.
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