FOR 25 years Hardeep Singh Kohli was a regular face on our TV screens.

But then the former roving reporter on BBC One's primetime The One Show was suspended following a complaint of "inappropriate sexual behaviour" from a female colleague.

But now he is making a name away from the small screen in the kitchen of his new enterprise.

CATE DEVINE met the foodie at his new eatery.

IN the searing heat of the kitchen of his new Edinburgh restaurant VDeep we're soon discussing the merits of using green chilli, rather than red, with East Coast crab in the traditional South Indian dish (the Scots crab, I'm told, has a different sweetness and its brown meat a more subtle flavour than South Indian, so less fiery green chilli enhances it).

Of how dhal should be made with local, seasonal greens and herbs, not just frozen spinach as it is in many Indian restaurants; how his food is less heavy than traditional Scots Indian cuisine, containing healthy rapeseed oil from the Highlands and quality butter from Fife instead of ghee.

He has lost more than two stone on this, and looks the better for it.

The "curation", as he puts it, of Indian food in Scotland has been virtually non-existent since its first incarnation in the 1960s as a way of extending the licensing hours.

He said: "In those days people were looking for a big umami hit, and all the sauces were basically the same, with cream and butter and tinned tomato soup added to make them taste different; it's been the same for years, since I started working in restaurants at age 16.

"Our food on the other hand is modern, unfussy, unpretentious and definitely not ego-driven."

To be fair, he has good reason to be proud of his new venture, billed as Scotland's first craft beer and curry bar, where he is co-owner and executive chef.

The food is front-loaded with flavour and a lightness of touch that allows individual (locally sourced) ingredients to sing out; it promises to spice up the long-standing, if rather torpid, Scots love affair with Indian food.

VDeep is the culmination of his long-nurtured desire to have his own restaurant, almost realised in 2010 when he launched a pop-up quiz night called Ruby Tuesday at a pub in his former neighbourhood in Dalston, East London, following his live cooking tour Nearly Naked in 2008.

He's since performed a second culinary live show Indian Takeaway, where he fed his guests and, "marvelling at his subtle and inventive blend of spices and ingredients, they will chat. And chat. And chat. And that's the show."

He's moved back to Scotland to live in Edinburgh; VDeep - actually more of a gastropub than a restaurant - is in the space that formerly housed the highly respected Vintage in Leith, and is a collaboration with Vintage's dynamic young head chef Ruairidh Skinner and co-owner Darren Blackburn.

Last year, Kohli - who describes himself as a "cultural or secular Sikh who is interested in all religions" presented a Radio 4 programme on Faith and Food.

He spoke in particular of the Sikh langar, or free kitchen,which expresses the ethics of sharing, community, inclusiveness and oneness of all humankind.

He reckons langar still has a role to play in promoting equality in modern society.

His Jesuit schooling has also had a big influence.

Kohli and his brother, the actor and writer Sanjeev, attended St Aloysius school in Glasgow, and he is now dating a "lapsed Catholic actor from Giffnock who lives in London" following his divorce from his wife Sharmilla in 2009.

His daughter and son, now 17 and 21, live with their mother in London.

He says: "The Catholic culture at school has rubbed off on me massively.

"There is far more crossover in the Abrahamic religions than people think.

"Catholic culture is based around food, periods of abstinence followed by celebrations, much like Islam and Judaisim.

"But we hear less about Lent because it's more personalised than, say, Ramadan, where you have to fast and it's very strict.

"The long tables and benches at VDeep are based on the way we ate at my old school in Garnethill.

"Thanks to the Jesuit brand of Catholicism and Sikhism, I have social justice etched into my heart. This is my calling. I've never felt more focused in my life."

All the same, there's a restlessness about him that is perhaps illustrated in his eclectic range of interests, from politics (he is pro-independence), religion, food, theatre, stand-up and broadcasting.

"I don't think I'll ever stop being restless," he says.

"I always think I've got more to achieve."

VDeep, 60 Henderson Street, Edinburgh, EH6 6DE, opens on February 21, 2015. www.vdeep.co.uk @vdeepleith