From Physics to Food. How a passion for flavour led Chet Sharma through Michelin starred gastronomy to his dream position of chef patron

15th Sep 2024

Chet Sharma’s culinary intrigue, coupled with his academic and scientific interests, have made for an impressive and expansive career in hospitality.

During his university studies, which ultimately led to a PhD in physics from the University of Oxford, he worked part time at a number of London’s leading Michelin-starred restaurants, including Benares and Locanda Locatelli. After discovering a passion for hospitality, he went on to work at two Michelin-starred Mugaritz, Simon Rogan’s Umbel Restaurant Group, two-starred Mark Birchall’s Moor Hall, and the late, also two-starred, The Ledbury.

In 2017, Chet moved to become Group Development Chef at JKS Restaurants – with whom he eventually opened BiBi in September 2021. A progressive restaurant serving dishes inspired by ingredients and memories from the Indian subcontinent. BiBi draws on the years Chet has spent cooking and sourcing ingredients for some of the most esteemed Michelin-starred restaurants in the world, whilst also embracing the full multicultural span of Indian cuisine. BiBi was GQ Restaurant of the Year 2022.

Today we talk about:

• Chet’s transition from a science background into food
• Small scale farmers in the UK and India to champion forgotten ingredients
• His ongoing research with the British Library into pre-colonial Indian food
• We also talk about the stress of the job and how, to this day, Chet lives with Ramsay Hunt Syndrome, a reactivation of Varicella Zoster Virus that affects his facial nerve brought on by stress during the pandemic.