With Chet Sharma, the Devil is in the Detail 

In admiring the details of BiBi, however, you're unlikely to find anything fiendish, only "a labour of love" and the striking influence of Chet's grandmothers, or Bibis. Meaning 'lady of the house' in Urdu, their presence is felt in every element, from the back of the barstools, lined with a lightweight, patterned wool to mimic his grandmother's pashminas, to the beaded curtain taken from her farmhouse in Haryana, to the commissioned painting by Laura Wickstead; titled "Mother", it's based on the side profile of Chet's grandmother, celebrating both women's loving and long lasting impact on Chet and his restaurant: "my grandparents taught me about ingredients, about warmth at the table, conviviality, and we wanted to bring all of that to the Indian restaurant scene here in London."  

Whilst the décor is an homage to his grandmothers, the menu "is definitely not your Bibi's cooking." "It's a much more modern approach", he explains, whilst still retaining what his grandmothers taught him: "locality, provenance, and putting that at the front and centre of every menu we write." Prioritising a lighter approach to Indian food — "it's not just curries!" Chet emphasises — BiBi maintains a balance of brightness with quality ingredients. Whilst wagyu does occasionally make an appearance on the menu ("our food is decadent at certain times"), often, it's cold dishes and seafood that take centre stage, celebrating "the bounty of the British coast and countryside;" Britain, Chet reminds us, "is a tiny island, with some of the best seafood in the world."

With a menu guided by seasonal produce and meaningful relationships with growers and farmers, whilst Chet and his team have recurring perennial favourites, they will change and develop year on year: "we build layers of flavour just as we build our relationships with our farmers." It's nice, Chet elaborates, to also embrace spontaneity, adapting to ingredients as and when they are available. Sometimes he'll receive a message, "and it will say, you know, we've got twenty kilos of tomatoes that need to move, maybe they're imperfect or something… but there will be a surplus." In those instances, Chet and his team "pickle, preserve, ferment!" With seasonality the only trend followed at BiBi, it is these moments that can dictate a menu, rather than industry whims: "trends don't really affect us because we have a solid identity," we learn, although, Chet does admit, "I had a great matcha cocktail recently that I'd like to get on the menu!" 

Chet's keen eye for surplus extends beyond what he cooks, informing the entire experience at BiBi. "All of the leather products in the restaurant — the coasters, the drink menus, everything — they're made from goat leather, which comes from the same herd as where our meat comes from. So we're using as close to the whole animal as possible." A considered approach to the entire dining experience attracts "guests from all over the world" who come not only to eat quality Indian food, but "to come out with a smile on their face." For Chet, guest experience is as important as the food to BiBi; "as stewards of hospitality, our job is to make sure that somebody comes into this restaurant and that they feel better by the time they leave." Whilst an element of showmanship is impossible to avoid with an open kitchen, and even celebrated with a weekly-updated playlist (including classic eighties R'n'B, little bits of soul and funk and some poetic rap for lunch service), again, the devil returns to the details, a point proven during the pandemic. When kept away from restaurants as host and guest alike, it was "the really small bits" that were missed the most. All the things Chet's grandmothers had taught him, whether water promptly on tables, to the simple pleasure of someone else doing the dishes, became poignant particulars contributing to "the pacing, the experience, the feel."

This experience, for Chet, has to include his staff too. With a holistic approach to hospitality, Chet maintains it is as important to feed his team as well as they feed their guests. With two team meals every day, surplus ingredients can come into their own — "who doesn't love a good nectarine?" Chet enthuses, recounting a story of a recent surplus delivery which fed his team well. Nothing, Chet highlights, goes to waste at BiBi, with a staff food menu that prioritises the health of both employee and environment. A shared responsibility across the "army of twenty-eight" who work at BiBi, caring for each other is as much part of the job as serving guests: "I know there were times in the industry where you would eat a bowl of cornflakes for dinner" Chet jokes. Suddenly serious in his earnestness, however: "it's really important to look after people within hospitality" he gestures, noting the challenging contradictions that staff can face, "you don't always make a lot of money, but then you're encouraged to eat out and experience that, and then if you're cooking for seventy hours a week, you don't want to come home and cook." 

These values of care have been instilled in Chet from his early days staging in restaurants whilst studying, later brought home from San Sebastian where he worked at the infamous Mugaritz. Whilst Chet believes that "you take things from every place that you've worked, every place you spend time in", at Mugaritz, "the leadership there, the way they looked after their team, was second to none." At the time cutting edge in the way that every single staff member was valued, "what informed my style here at BiBi was the love of my team and making sure they were looked after." 

Over a lengthy career rich in its variety, Chet has brought many things back to BiBi. "I've been really lucky to work in restaurants all over the world" he reflects. Travel, for Chet, is "super important", a source of inspiration with something to always be bought home, be it a "certain type of citrus", or "a little service touchpoint." Inspiration has come from everywhere, from Malaysia to New York, and from the jobs he's worked alongside hospitality — DJing for the Ministry of Sound to name one. "It feels like a different time of life!" He laughs, "it's crazy to say now, but I did DJ with some pretty big stars." The iconic playlist nods to this history, informing "such a big part of the identity of BiBi." Other experiences, such as lengthy study, and "some time in startups," have "helped give perspective," and, Chet reiterates, "a bit of perspective means we can build a better guest experience." 

Perspective, experience and reflecting on time, understanding value and looking after things so you can get the best out of them, are the themes that have guided our conversation with Chet Sharma. It feels fitting, then, when we ask him what he would hand down to the next generation, that he gestures to his wrist. A watch, he tells us, "is an investment for the future… It will never go out of fashion." The watch he shows us today, a Cartier Ronde Solo, "is from the year I was born, and it's in much better condition than I am!" he smiles. More seriously, however, "it's quite romantic, the idea that time is the thing we always chase." With an eight course evening tasting menu, a cocktail list to rival any of its Mayfair neighbours, and the twenty-eight hours of carefully curated music, if we had all the time in the world, we, too, would want to spend it at BiBi.