View all newsletters
Have the short, sharp Spear's newsletter delivered to your inbox each week
  1. Wealth
June 2, 2017

Review: Vineet Bhatia London, Chelsea

By Rasika Sittamparam

A Dali-esque taste experience by Michelin-starred chef Vineet Bhatia awaits visitors to the newly launched Chelsea restaurant, writes Rasika Sittamparam

All manner of roasted Indian spices assailed me as I entered the newly-launched Vineet Bhatia London, founded by Mumbai-born Michelin-starred chef, Vineet Bhatia.

The pleasant Victorian living room in which we found ourselves had an air of gentility and pride – not unlike that found in the house of a Chelsea socialite. It was a fitting setting, I felt, for the ‘Gandhi of British Indian cuisine’ as his staff call him, depositing refreshing fruity cocktail with a rose-flavoured spirit on our table. Amusingly, we are told that Bhatia has insisted that some of the elegantly crafted earthen dinner plates should be broken into half – to which the potter had agreed, albeit with a heavy heart.

We start with a chaat, which is Hindi for savoury snack: it’s a tiny bowl of juicy smoked prawns coated in light but tingly spices. Its accompaniment, a vial of sandalwood-coloured lime soup, provides a hearty gulp. Before we could reminisce about the delights of the surprisingly pleasant pairing, we were swiftly presented with the next course – a bowl of black rocks.

Not literally, thankfully, as some of these coal-coloured pebbles turn out to be melt-in-your-mouth haddock frites covered in moreish chickpea batter. Its accompaniment arrives with far less camouflage – a straightforward crumpet-like savoury pancake with blobs of onion and coconut chutney. The sliver of edible foil on top, I thought, was an odd decoration – but the cool and coconuty creaminess of the chutney made the dish thoroughly enjoyable.

Now, it gets complicated, as the next nine of the eleven courses arrive swiftly, with a considerable degree of overlap. The sweet-savoury-moussey beet foie gras (on one of Bhatia’s famed cracked plates); the trippy chilli cod dish with an intensely-flavoured perforated cracker and a swirl of purple sauce; the curried Patiala chicken;  and the addictive duck korma – all played their part, as if cast in a gleeful musical.

But the glazed pork chop was the star of the show, rolling on a neatly arranged raft of fine green beans, with a crunchy crown and an edible violet on top. We were suitably awed by the sweetness and the incredible softness of the meat – I longed to scream, ‘Encore’.

The celebration never seems to end at Bhatia’s very own culinary playground. The chocolate gulab jamun, a slow-roasted syrupy ball, stole my heart with its nectary crunch, while the meringue-covered clementine kulfi (Indian ice-cream) flirted with my tastebuds.

Content from our partners
Porto Montenegro: Adriatic Elegance Tailored to You
Family office gold rush in Hong Kong
Top of the league for football fans

It had to end and end it did, with a wildly imaginative menagerie of petits fours arriving to bid you goodbye – think chocolate shards lodged into a strangely-shaped pottery. I’d argue however, that Bhatia is no Ghandi of curry, but more Salvador Dali with his misshapen but captivating craft. Lewis Carroll also springs to mind: at any rate this is a glorious re-imagination of the best of Indian cuisine – an Indian wonderland, if you like.

Rasika Sittamparam is a Researcher in the Spear’s Research Unit

Topics in this article :
Select and enter your email address The short, sharp email newsletter from Spear’s
  • Business owner/co-owner
  • CEO
  • COO
  • CFO
  • CTO
  • Chairperson
  • Non-Exec Director
  • Other C-Suite
  • Managing Director
  • President/Partner
  • Senior Executive/SVP or Corporate VP or equivalent
  • Director or equivalent
  • Group or Senior Manager
  • Head of Department/Function
  • Manager
  • Non-manager
  • Retired
  • Other
Visit our privacy policy for more information about our services, how Progressive Media Investments may use, process and share your personal data, including information on your rights in respect of your personal data and how you can unsubscribe from future marketing communications.
Thank you

Thanks for subscribing.

Websites in our network