Atul Kochhar looking for UAE restaurant venue

Atul Kochhar, chef-proprietor of London’s Benares restaurant, may bring his burgeoning restaurant empire to the United Arab Emirates.

Speaking exclusively to Caterersearch at the recent Gourmet Abu Dhabi food festival, the Indian-born restaurateur, who was the first India chef to be awarded a Michelin star, said: “I would love to open here and I’m keenly looking at it. It’s the right kind of place for my cuisine – modern Indian with some influences from the Arabic world – so I won’t have to struggle to be accepted.”

Kochhar added that he had already been in talks with several interested backers, but had yet to turn initial discussions into anything more.

Besides Benares in London and Vatika in Wickham, Hampshire, Kochhar also has a restaurant in Dublin.

Kochhar was one of a number of prominent international chef-restaurateurs appearing at Gourmet Abu Dhabi, the city’s inaugural food festival.

Among other chefs hosting culinary masterclasses and gourmet dinners were Chicago’s Charlie Trotter and Paris-based Alain Passard, both of whom also hinted that they were eying up the emerging restaurant scene in the UAE capital.

Watch hightlights from the Gourmet Abu Dhabi here

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By Joanna Wood

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