Years ago, someone had asked Chef Vineet Bhatia's wife, Rashima, "What's the one thing that Chef can't cook?" Wittily, she remarked, saying, "He could never make a baby girl." The chef and his wife have two sons.
However, in 2025, Bhatia welcomed his first grandchild. "We never had a girl child or a grandchild in our family, and we were blessed with our first granddaughter. It was a big thing for us," says the proud grandfather, who has also adopted 3,000 children, especially girls, in a charity called Heart for India in Chennai. He also trekked to the Mount Everest base camp to raise funds for them when he turned 50. His love for giving back to the society also led to a recent association with Prerana NGO in Mumbai.
Back in 2001, Bhatia was the very first Indian chef to receive a Michelin star for Zaika, his restaurant in London. Rasoi, London, received a Michelin star in 2006, and he bagged his third Michelin star for Rasoi by Vineet Bhatia in Geneva. Vineet Bhatia London (VBL) was awarded a Michelin star just one year after its launch in 2017.
Ziya at The Oberoi, Mumbai, 16 years later
A mentor chef at Ziya, the fine-dining restaurant in The Oberoi, Mumbai, Bhatia, gives his twist to classic Indian dishes by deconstructing and reinventing them.
If you were to walk into Ziya earlier, you'd remember its stark gold and black combo. The restaurant opened in 2010 when The Oberoi, Mumbai, was renovated after the Mumbai terror attacks, and Bhatia was appointed to lead it.
People would visit the restaurant for its splendid view. The menu was levelled up with breathtaking views of the Arabian Sea and Marine Drive, especially Queen's Necklace. "That was always the main catch," admits Bhatia. "Food, service and deco really come after that."
However, right now, the decor gives off relaxed vibes; it feels more like being seated in your living room. As for the food, it's unpretentious.
The carefully crafted Tasting Menu promises an 'immersive journey through Mumbai's regions and flavours'.
"We still want to have the element of surprise and playfulness, but slightly avant-garde, in sync with the local flavors," he reveals.
The secret to the success of Ziya
As a young kid, when Chef Vineet Bhatia joined the hotel industry at 17, he used to work on Marine Drive. "We would walk by from here (Oberoi Hotel). Standing outside, I would look at this hotel and say, 'One day I will work here." As luck had it, in 25 years, he would run a restaurant at The Oberoi, Mumbai. "This is taqdeer (destiny). You don't plan these things."
The Oberoi, Mumbai, is where Chef Vineet Bhatia began as a trainee and eventually set up Ziya in 2010.
Revisiting the questions he was hounded with when he returned to India and set up Ziya, Bhatia says, "The first thing they asked me is 'why do we want someone from outside to come and teach us what to do'. I replied and told them, 'I am not here to teach you. I have learnt from here. I have showcased Indian food internationally for years, and I am back to celebrate the food, the culture, the tradition, the city, the people and its legacy."
16 years later, Ziya is still going strong, and the secret is honesty. "I will eat every dish on the menu if I have to come and dine. I will not put a dish on a menu which I don't like personally," says the chef.
"As long as you can give your guest that one happy memory after the meal, you've done your job. Several restaurants are mushrooming across the city. What differentiates each, I believe, is the memory you take back with you," he quips.
Chef Vineet Bhatia with his wife Rashima |
Growing up with desi flavours
Rajasthan was the "land of his ancestors", but Mumbai holds a special place in his heart. "I grew up in Juhu-Chowpatty," says Bhatia. "I'm used to eating vada pav, upma, dosas, Bombay sandwich, etc. So those flavors come to me very naturally. I remember at Churchgate station, there used to be a guy selling bhelpuri. I used to only go to watch how he cuts onions. I was mesmerized by seeing the skill factor, and I wasn't even a chef back then. I like the cross between Gujarati, Parsi, and Punjabi. My mother was a good cook. We were not from a very wealthy background. We were a plain, simple middle-class family," he shares.
For Bhatia, India has always been the land of the millets. "We have been using millets for 25 years in our restaurants, but now it's suddenly become fashionable. Starbucks has to make a turmeric latte to make it globally famous. But our mothers have been making haldiwala doodh since we were kids."
The move to London with courage in his heart
32 years ago, Bhatia arrived in London without a plan, but just a dream and a love for food. "To be very honest, I was lucky. I know thousands of people who cook better than I, who are better chefs, who are better at the craft, but sometimes they're not lucky enough to get the right break. I took a gamble. I left India at a very young age," he says.
"But those five-six years when I worked there, I did three months without days off. I would do the 38-hour shift for no extra money but just because I wanted to be there and I wanted to learn. When nobody wanted to do certain jobs, I did it. I went against the tide. When I went to the UK, I basically wanted to work to survive.
He didn't want to come back, and that is what led him to think of food in a very different manner. "One needs a good backup support and my family is very core for me. Without them, I won't be able to do what I'm doing now," he adds.
Stepping into the kitchen and making the space his 'home'
When he started off in 1985, Bhatia was often laughed at. "I was a black sheep. I was a reject. I wanted to become a pilot, but I failed. I wanted to be a barman but was too short. My father had connections in the textile industry, and I went in there for one week, but that was not my cup of chai.
"I didn't want to become an engineer or a doctor. I didn't want an office job. I thought the hotel service side would be my calling because I wanted to make cocktails. When I went in there, someone said, 'You are too short. The only place where you could work was the kitchen, where nobody gets to see you'. When I went into the kitchen, I fell in love with it, and that has become home. I'm a cook at heart.
He adds, "That's my peaceful zone. I will stand, I will cook for a family, and it gives me happiness. It's my space, and I know I don't want an audience. I never crave for an award. I've never craved for publicity or recognition, and it still doesn't bother me."
His biggest learning being in the industry for 40 years
When Bhatia left India in 1993, he had just seven pounds in his pocket and two suitcases, one with books and one with clothes. That's how he started off his career. Forty years in the industry, and Chef Vineet Bhatia's biggest learning to date is to be humble.
Going down memory lane, he remembers his school days when he was the shortest in his class as well as the youngest. "I'd often get bullied in school and had to make sure I was looking after myself." However, when he is in the kitchen, the chef is in his own zone. "Nothing disturbs me."
"Today, people use phones and take pictures of dishes and recipes, but in those days, in the mid-80s, I had nothing. I had to write recipes down by hand and keep them. Now everyone is into iPads, and you can also dictate to Siri or Alexa. Also, back then, you try and ask someone how to make a tadka dal, but no one teaches you. So, you just put your head down and say, "Karna hain. That makes the difference. It is the hunger for knowledge that keeps one going," he admits.
Chef Vineet strongly believes that women are good cooks is because they cook out of their hearts. "Men do it professionally. All the women cooking at home — could be grandmothers, mothers, wives, daughters and sisters — they cook for the family out of love. Men don't cook out of love. Very few do."
