The Oberoi Mumbai’s newly-opened Ziya is described as a contemporary fine dining restaurant that happens to use Indian preparations. The ‘gourmand’ menu is not for the purist or the faint stomached. It is for the diner who expects to be surprised still by Indian cuisine. This is not fusion cooking either but rather ‘a fusion of India, a jugalbandi of food within India’. “Eat with eyes closed and you will get the same flavours of Indian food. Only the presentation is modern,” maintains Chef Vineet Bhatia, 43, the only Indian chef in the world to have earned two individual Michelin stars. Bhatia has flown down from London just this morning and within hours finds himself in the kitchen of the Oberoi Hotel. He started his career many years ago in these very kitchens before he left for London. And now he has come full circle, back to where he started, lending his name and expertise to Mumbai’s newest swanky eating place.

The meal at Ziya is Indian in flavour but European in presentation. Techniques of Western cooking are apparent in the precisely presented portions. There is no mixing and matching and sharing here, as in the tradition of Indian food. If you want a hearty dal, chawal, sabzi, (and you very well may) this is not where you will get it. Rather, plated meals that tickle the taste buds with an assembly of ingredients in small portions. This is indeed a new experience for me and I, for one, am totally enjoying. “What makes our food special is spices,” Bhatia is saying now. “Westerners have never understood spices. They use either too little or too much or leave it kachcha. For us, it comes very naturally. To blend is simple.”

He is dressed in his chef’s uniform, which he is most comfortable in. He admits that he has not worn a suit or tie since his first interview after finishing his studies. He is small but when he speaks, his passion is large and enfolds him in its entirety. This is a man who discovered his profession quite by chance. He was meant to be a barman at the Oberoi Hotel but landed up in the kitchens instead. This happy confusion helped him discover his profession and life’s centre, even as he travelled to London to make a mark there. In 2001, Chef Bhatia became the first Indian chef to win a Michelin star for Zaika in London. Five years later, Rasoi Vineet Bhatia earned the same. In 2009, Rasoi by Vineet was opened at the Mandarin Oriental Hotel in Geneva. He became only the second chef after Gordon Ramsay to hold Michelin stars in more than one country.

Indian food served in courses! Dal cooked with Kashmiri morels and truffle oil! Crisp roti-wrapped prawn with Bloody Mary jelly; asparagus chaas served in a tiny soup cup; wild mushroom khichdi; ‘Varqui’ 23 carat black-spiced chicken tikka and saffron upma; grilled chilli and curry leaf lobster dusted with chocolate powder with broccoli khichdi; smoked tandoori lamb chop are some of the specialties that I taste. Tandoori baby peppers and ‘taash’ paneer are some of the vegetarian delicacies. Dessert comprises of a brownie that incorporates the flavour of jeera; kheer ice cream and warm coconut basundi and Bhatia’s signature chocomosa, crisp hot samosas with chocolate stuffing! Delightful!

Bhatia has certainly done his hefty bit to change the West’s perception of Indian food. When he arrived in England so many years ago, he was shocked at what passed for curry and tandoori. What inspired his particular brand of Indian food? “Just take the blinkers off and look around,” he says. “As you travel, you are constantly mentally working. Some you borrow, some you steal and some just happens.” Today, Rasoi in London, a small restaurant with 11 tables with 32 seats, holds its patrons captive for three to three-and-a-half hours “and even then, people don’t want to leave,” Bhatia notes. The restaurant is very much focused on wine pairing as well, the flavours of the dishes being well-rounded and wine-friendly, breaking another Indian cuisine myth. “A fine-dining restaurant is a journey, an escapism,” he maintains.

This, his first solo venture was started with wife Rashima, after the couple put up their home as collateral, to raise the funds required. The next few years “the idea was only to pay back,” he remembers, now. His wife is his business partner “my backbone and accountant. I leave all the dirty work for her, so I can cook. I look after the back of the restaurant.” And at home, they both cook the dal and sabzi (“As Indians, you want your own swaad!”) while their two young boys, Varaul and Ronit, clamour for their favourite pasta dish, a fusion concoction meant only for the home

PENNE WITH CHICKEN TIKKA (FOR FOUR)
Vineet Bhatia shares his home-cooking recipe that his sons swear by. Add quantities according to your taste...

In water, add turmeric, chilly powder and salt. Add 400 gm pasta, preferably penne. Cook until slightly softer than normal. Separately, in a little oil, sauté garlic, mustard seeds, green chillies, ginger and finely chopped onions. Add chopped plum tomatoes and a pinch of chilli powder. When the mixture is ready, add cooked chicken tikka and some fresh dhania. Toss it all up with the penne. Let the spices seep into the pasta. Serve.

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