Qatar in Colour |
Vineet Bhatia
Culinary high-flier
Michelin-starred chef Vineet Bhatia is accustomed to serving food at altitude.
He is an advisor to Qatar Airways’ menu team and his new restaurant,
Indego 360 by Vineet, overlooks Doha from 41 stories in the sky.
“T
he views here are absolutely stunning,” he
says from Indego 360, his restaurant located
in Tower 1 in Abraj Quartier in the Pearl. “You can
see Downtown, the Pearl, and beautiful uninterrupted
360-degree views of Doha. When I first stepped into
the space, a Qatar Airways aircraft flew by and my heart
started pounding with joy. You can’t get much better
than this.”
Bhatia has a lifelong love of airplanes. Born into a
middle-class family in Mumbai in 1967, he explains:
“When I was a young child, I didn’t have an alarm clock.
I didn’t need one. I was awakened at 6:30AM each
morning by the roaring engines of the DC-10 that took
off from the airport near our house in Bombay, India.
“I still remember those airplanes, not only because they
were how I began each and every day, but also because
my ambition at that point in time was to fly jets. I was
always fascinated by them. I rode to school on a bicycle
and I’d pass by a small flying club and stare endlessly at
the Cessnas taking off and landing, marvelling at their
speed and their aura of luxury.”
Indeed, Vineet wanted to become a pilot, and applied
to the Indian Air Force. “I became a chef by mistake,”
he jokes. “I wanted to be a pilot originally. I was told I
was too short to fly a plane,” he says. “They turned me
down.”
“Then I wanted to be a barman, and they said I was too
short to stand behind a bar counter, so they put me in
the kitchen. That was the best thing that ever happened
to me. It was 1985, I fell in love with it, now I cook for a
living.”
This is something of an understatement. On the
advice of his parents, Vineet also acquired a degree in
economics. He trained with the Oberoi Group, worked
in some of London’s most renowned Indian restaurants,
including the Star of India, and now runs his own
glittering culinary empire.
In 2004, he opened his first restaurant, Rasoi, in
London’s Chelsea with his wife, Rashima. It has received
numerous international accolades, and he now owns nine
restaurants worldwide.
A pioneer in the kitchen, Vineet was the first Indian chef
to win a Michelin star. He has written two cookbooks and
had his own TV shows.
He also advised British Airways on its menus. He says:
“I moved to London because of Heathrow Airport, so I
could see the planes. I used to live under the flight path
of the Concorde, and every evening I would watch it fly
past. On the last flight of the Concorde, they served my
chocolate dessert.”
53