Who doesn’t love chocolate? Whether it’s a meal outside or at home, or it’s one of those days that can be lifted by a simple block of chocolate (or a whole bar), chocolate has been the trusted warrior to fight off sweet cravings for as long as we have known. But how often have you had a savoury chocolate-y recipe? Chocolate isn’t just dessert – this has been Chef Vanshika Bhatia’s culinary motto. This World Chocolate Day, Vanshika spotlights chocolate not as dessert, but as an ingredient on par with salt, spice, and umami. Yes, you read that right!
Trained at Le Cordon Bleu, with formative stints at Noma, Gaggan, and Together at 12th, Chef Bhatia’s expertise and love for food has a new home at Petite Pie Shop, where she reinvents French simplicity through a modern, India-forward lens. Her mission? To rebrand chocolate as more than a sweet ingredient, to prove when chocolate meets savoury, it turns into a flavour bomb – the good, indulgent kind.
On a mission to redefine how chocolate is perceived beyond the patisserie, Chef Vanshika Bhatia takes chocolate into bold, unexpected zones. Rather than a sweet finale, chocolate is her understated signature — a refined element that brings texture, cohesion, and an elegant complexity to her creations. She draws on its inherent bitterness, gentle acidity, and the hint of sweetness to construct dishes that are layered, modern, and quietly audacious, all of it done quite tastefully.
The classics at Petite Pie Shop continue to captivate with timeless finesse. The Salted Caramel Pie, their all-time bestseller, is a golden, buttery tribute to French patisserie — rich yet perfectly balanced — and vanishes from shelves almost as soon as it arrives.
Though no longer featured on the regular menu, the now-iconic Horlicks Pie, made with caramelised white chocolate and nostalgic notes of malt, still draws special requests from devoted patrons. Among other cult favourites are the indulgent Callebaut Chocolate & Sea Salt Brownie and the Chocolate Orange Pie, each crafted with finesse and restraint.
“In my home, the very decision to plan and prepare dishes for the day is an act of joy,” she says.
For Chef Vanshika Bhatia, food has always been more than just the plate — it’s an expression of love, heritage, and a deeply personal form of storytelling. From brewing chai with her grandmother to rediscovering the flavours of her Bannu ancestry, her journey has been rooted in emotion and memory. But what sets her apart is her flair for experimentation that plays with structure, balance, and surprise. For her, every ingredient holds potential, every flavour offers a new perspective. To ask her favourites is to ask an artist to choose a single brushstroke — there’s wonder in them all.
A graduate from the prestigious Le Cordon Bleu, Chef Vanshika honed her craft at some of the world’s most revered kitchens, including Noma in Copenhagen and Gaggan in Bangkok. She returned to India not just to cook, but to transform how we think about food. Her restaurant, Together at 12th, was her first statement. This was followed by Petite Pie Shop, a French-inspired bistro rooted in sustainability and minimal waste, where elegance meets conscience on every plate.
At the heart of her philosophy lies an unwavering commitment to local produce, ethical sourcing, and innovative upcycling. This vision has earned her recognition as one of India’s Top 40 Chefs Under 40. A vocal advocate for sustainable gastronomy, she’s part of the global Chefs’ Manifesto initiative and has addressed audiences at the World Economic Forum on food security.
