CHEF TRAVELLER AT EASE WITH BACKPACKERS

I have half an hour with Vineet Bhatia at Indego by Vineet in Grosvenor House Dubai, before his new book, My Sweet Kitchen, is launched. He has the purple glasses in his apron – much like the picture in the April magazine – and we sit for tea; I opt for a Masala Chai, he orders coffee.

He starts by telling me about his latest GCC project whose announcement is imminent. An intimate venue, it will occupy the top three floors of an office tower. “It will have individual pods and every table will have a full view.” Other projects are on the anvil regionally.

The book, self-published and first out in October, has beautiful photography and already picked up an award from UK chefs. Dubai is the third city internationally launch, after Bahrain and Paris. “We’ve made combinations to make it look nice – so you can do the dish entirely or take one element,” he says. “I’m not a pastry chef – I used to hate desserts – but I realised there’s been no updates. I don’t want to do mainstream. We’re working on another book for next year, which will be vegetarian and vegan based.” We skip through a few other key subjects.

Airline food: “In premium cabins, the food has improved but there’s still a long way to go in economy. I think it’s always going to be an issue due to the cost factor.”

Airline lounges: “A lot of families fly on private jets in this region and I travel to Mauritius regularly as I have a restaurant there. I was dining in the airport once and was asked to take a look – I was amazed. It’s very private and exclusive, from beginning to end.” On Board: “I usually like to sleep – most of the time I’ll catch a night flight. I mostly fly Emirates.” Holidays: “We always try and do one break with the family which is totally new – in the past, we went to Venezuela, Japan, and last year, Jordan. I don’t know this year. It doesn’t have to be five-star – in Japan we had one four-star hotel stay and backpacked the rest. We loved it. I turn 50 in December so we’ll have to do something special.”