Minute on the clock: Chet Sharma, chef patron, BiBi

The chef-patron of BiBi and winner of last year’s Menu of the Year Catey reflects on his victory and muses on what it takes to be a champion

 

What is BiBi?

 

BiBi is a modern Indian restaurant which is quite progressive in the way in which we treat food. BiBi actually means ‘lady of the house’, so it’s kind of named after my grandmothers, who are my earliest cooking influences.

 

The Financial Times previously called you a “revolutionary force in British Indian cooking”, how do you think the current climate is looking for British restaurants?

 

I think it’s as strong as it’s ever been. There’s a good base level understanding, not just of sort of north and south Indian food, but understanding regional cuisines and mostly forgotten dishes. It’s not just chicken tikka masala, like it was 20 years ago. It’s nice being part of that wave as well. I always say we wouldn’t have opened this restaurant if we didn’t have that base level of great Indian restaurants across the country.

 

How do you combine your Michelin-star background with Indian cuisine?

 

The challenge with BiBi is that we tried to combine all the technique, all the sourcing, the produce, the labour and finesse that I learned through my career in Michelin-starred restaurants, but apply it to a more traditional palate than we’ve seen before.

 

It seems like new restaurants are opening all the time in Mayfair. What is the scene in your area looking like for you?

 

We’re really lucky in this part of Mayfair. I’d say it’s a younger part of Mayfair in North Audley Street, just off Grosvenor Square. We have Saltie Girl, which has just come over from the US, we’ve got Socca by Claude Bosi on South Audley Street, and then there’s other really interesting restaurants that are opening up too. It’s an interesting time to be in this part of London, which used to be very classical, very traditional. I think after the pandemic it gave us an opportunity for more nimble operators to come in and make a mark here.

 

You won Menu of the Year at the 2022 Cateys – what was that like?

 

We were very fortunate in our first year to win a few different awards and Menu of the Year at the Cateys was a big one. I remember my first day working at L’Enclume, walking in and seeing those three Catey awards up in the entrance, and I never thought there would come a day where I’d have my own. Now I kind of want a second and a third, just to keep up. It was an amazing experience and very unexpected as well.

 

How do you create an award-winning menu?

 

When we create a menu, honestly 50% of it is dumb luck. I always joke with guests and say chefs are inherently quite lazy people. I let my suppliers dictate what we’re going to put on the menu. They tell me that they’ve got a great halibut, so we put it on our menu. If you work with great produce your cooking becomes simpler and more clean and it becomes a bit easier as well – rather than trying to polish something into something it’s not.

 

Is there anyone who excites you on this year’s Cateys shortlist?

 

There are a few exciting names. I’m very biased and I’m going to have to say Mark Birchall [for the Chef Award] probably is top of that list. He’s a dear friend of mine. We worked together for many, many years and he’s a bit of a mentor as well. What we do here is so different to what they’re doing at Moor Hall – I recently went for a meal there for first time since the pandemic, and honestly I was blown away. While every other restaurant in the country seems to be struggling for staff, talking about no-shows and covers dropping and all the struggles within the industry, it’s nice to have a beacon of light where it’s just getting better and better.

 

Do you have anything interesting coming up?

 

We’ve got another restaurant in the pipeline, nothing concrete just yet, it’s still back and forth on the legals and things like that, but we’re hoping to hopefully open spring 2024. Other than that here at BiBi we are dynamic. We try to change the menu so much and we have so much fun with the team and with our guests. I just want to keep driving that experience, making sure everyone who comes in walks away with a smile on their face.