{"id":28400,"date":"2026-10-10T14:35:08","date_gmt":"2026-10-10T12:35:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/amoiel.ch\/non-categorise\/morad-el-hajjaji-ten-years-of-recognition\/"},"modified":"2026-10-11T14:57:07","modified_gmt":"2026-10-11T12:57:07","slug":"morad-el-hajjaji-ten-years-of-recognition","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/amoiel.ch\/en\/portrait\/morad-el-hajjaji-ten-years-of-recognition\/","title":{"rendered":"Morad El-Hajjaji: Ten Years of Recognition"},"content":{"rendered":"

We left Inda Bar to take a short walk around the neighborhood. Ten years earlier, Morad El-Hajjaji had stopped in front of the arcade on Henri-Blanvalet Street, which several people had advised him not to enter. He returned there one evening with his wife. She looked around and encouraged him to go for it. He was right to listen to her. <\/p>\n

\"260930
Morad El-Hajjaji, founder of Inda-Bar \u00a9Edouard Amoiel<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

“At Morad’s”<\/h2>\n

At the time, Morad was working at the La R\u00e9serve hotel in Bellevue. He had already cut his teeth in the luxury hotel industry, notably at the Mandarin Oriental, where he was in charge of the hotel\u2019s dining operations. His daughter had just been born, and he wondered if he would spend yet more decades running other people\u2019s businesses, when he so desperately wanted to build his own. He invested his savings and opened Inda Bar in 2016, with a very specific vision: modern Indian cuisine designed for sharing, centered around the tandoor oven, cocktails, wine, and a cozy atmosphere. <\/p>\n

To explain the Genevans\u2019 attachment to Inda Bar, Morad cites the location, the atmosphere, and the cuisine. He is less willing to talk about his own role. Yet his warm welcome, attention to detail, and consistency have also shaped the restaurant\u2019s identity and ensured its success. We tell him that, for many, coming to Inda Bar is like coming \u201cto Morad\u2019s place.\u201d He accepts these words with modesty and immediately steers the conversation back to his team. \u201cA restaurant is built by many people,\u201d he insists. <\/p>\n

\"260313
The famous Inda-Bar wine cellar \u00a9Edouard Amoiel<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

2,000 items<\/h2>\n

Yet the early years were far from smooth sailing. Around the same time, Morad opened Kasbar in the neighboring arcade, and then the pandemic struck. He recalls the fear, the darkened rooms, and that sense of uncertainty that business owners carry with them after closing the door. This period also gave him time to rethink the spaces. In 2022, he merged the two arcades and expanded the Inda Bar to the size we know today. <\/p>\n

Wine tells another part of the story. When the restaurant first opened, the wine list featured about fifty selections. It now includes nearly two thousand. At first, Morad had neither the means nor the ambition to go that far. He simply knew he wanted to share bottles he loved. The wine cellar took shape thanks to suppliers, chance encounters, and customer requests. There were times when, as early as the following week, he would go looking for a wine mentioned at the table that he didn\u2019t yet have in stock. <\/p>\n

This kind of instinct undoubtedly stems from his years working in luxury hotels: finding a solution, paying attention to a specific request. But for this wine enthusiast, fine wine doesn\u2019t require any formalities. You can open a bottle on a bustling street in Eaux-Vives just as easily as over a meal at a friend\u2019s house. He is committed to offering a varied selection and prices that make it possible to choose a bottle simply for the pleasure of drinking it. Over the years, this approach has attracted wine lovers from Geneva, Switzerland, and far beyond. <\/p>\n

\"260930
Morad El-Hajjaji at Inda-Bar \u00a9Edouard Amoiel<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

To have confidence<\/h2>\n

As the restaurant grew, Morad became aware of how much time he was devoting to his work\u2014and how much time he was taking away from his family. His children grew up while he worked one shift after another. He now realizes just how much his wife\u2019s support meant to him, and how important it is to make time to spend with his loved ones. Now, with a larger team and employees he trusts, he\u2019s sometimes able to take time off. He\u2019s always known how to delegate, he says; finding people who understand his vision and then letting them work in their own way remains one of the most challenging aspects of the job. <\/p>\n

Today, Inda Bar is celebrating its tenth anniversary, and Morad still has plenty of ideas in mind. He\u2019s planning to expand the kitchen and the wine cellar, even if it means reducing the number of seats slightly to create a better working environment. His passion remains as strong as ever. He\u2019d like to see his restaurant thrive for years to come, because this is where he took his first steps as an entrepreneur. <\/p>\n

\"260314
The dining room at Inda-Bar \u00a9Edouard Amoiel<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Ten years!<\/h2>\n

When we ask him what makes him proud, he first mentions the colleagues he\u2019s met along the way and the jobs he\u2019s been able to create. Born in the Jura region to a family of Moroccan origin\u2014the son of a factory worker who spent forty-five years at the same plant\u2014he reflects on his journey with quiet pride and, above all, immense gratitude. He has lived in Geneva for over twenty years and says he feels deeply at home there. The city has offered him many opportunities, and he is happy to be able to give something back in his own way. <\/p>\n

These days, Morad enjoys spending time in his restaurant almost incognito. Observing the dining room, greeting a table, being mistaken for just another member of the staff\u2014he sees this as a form of success. Yet he knows every nook and cranny of his restaurant and immediately senses when a detail requires his attention. Tomorrow, just as he has for the past ten years, he\u2019ll be back for the service. Together with his team, he\u2019ll patiently resume the work that has made his restaurant a familiar spot in Eaux-Vives. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Ten years ago, Morad El-Hajjaji opened Inda Bar on a street in Eaux-Vives, sensing the potential it held. Since then, his restaurant has grown, as has his wine cellar, and the people of Geneva have made it a habit to gather there. We took the time to talk with him and look back on a decade marked by joys, fears, and sacrifices. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4,"featured_media":28401,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"slim_seo":{"title":"Morad El-Hajjaji: Ten Years of Recognition | Restaurant Geneva | Edouard Amoiel","description":"Ten years ago, Morad El-Hajjaji opened Inda Bar on a street in Eaux-Vives, sensing the potential it held. Since then, his restaurant has grown, as has his wine"},"_slim_seo_primary_term_category":0,"_slim_seo_primary_term_post_tag":0,"_slim_seo_primary_term_restaurants-par-lieux":0,"_slim_seo_primary_term_style-de-restaurant":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[358],"tags":[],"restaurants-par-lieux":[353],"style-de-restaurant":[],"class_list":["post-28400","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-portrait","restaurants-par-lieux-geneva"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/amoiel.ch\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/28400","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/amoiel.ch\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/amoiel.ch\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/amoiel.ch\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/4"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/amoiel.ch\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=28400"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/amoiel.ch\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/28400\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":28404,"href":"https:\/\/amoiel.ch\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/28400\/revisions\/28404"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/amoiel.ch\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/28401"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/amoiel.ch\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=28400"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/amoiel.ch\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=28400"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/amoiel.ch\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=28400"},{"taxonomy":"restaurants-par-lieux","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/amoiel.ch\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/restaurants-par-lieux?post=28400"},{"taxonomy":"style-de-restaurant","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/amoiel.ch\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/style-de-restaurant?post=28400"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}