Fanning an old flame: Chef Gaggan Anand on his India dreams
The chef is in India, serving up meals at ₹50,000 per head for an event. Does this mean it's time for his first restaurant here?
Over much of the past 20 days, Kolkata-born, Bangkok-based chef Gaggan Anand, has been camping out at the Delhi Hyatt hotel, with a skeletal team of 14. They’ve been cooking a 25-course dinner night after night, for 40 diners at a time. Prices have been set at ₹40,000 per person; ₹50,000 with alcohol. Yet, Anand’s residency (February 18 to March 14) has been sold out. “All I can say is that the response has been phenomenal,” says the 45-year-old.
The chef rose to fame after he left India for Bangkok in 2001, then interned at Spain’s El Bulli, frequently listed as the top restaurant in the world in the early 2000s. He returned to Bangkok, where he paired the molecular gastronomy and progressive cooking techniques he’d learnt with Indian cuisine, at an eponymous restaurant he launched in 2010. Gaggan was consistently listed among the top restaurants in the world.
Anand has since appeared on an episode of Netflix’s Chef’s Table, invested in other restaurants in Thailand, and had sold-out pop-ups across Asia. His latest venture, GohGan, a fusion restaurant he runs in collaboration with the celebrated Japanese chef Takeshi “Goh” Fukuyama, opened in Fukuoka, Japan, in January.
India, however, has always been the Holy Grail. Anand’s quest to win this country over to his style of cooking might now be within reach. Diners are ready, but perhaps the restaurant industry isn’t, he says. Excerpts from an interview.
* You’ve fed 800 people, each paying ₹40,00 to ₹50,000. Even so, you knew you’d lose money with this residency. So why do it?
The meal is expensive, considering that we haven’t imported any major ingredients – no truffles, no caviar. But the price is not driven by ingredients, but by what you can do with them. Would you value an MF Husain canvas by how much he spent on the paint?
You’re right about the finances. Every day that I’ve been here, I’ve kept my Bangkok restaurant shut. I’m here with a team of 14. Everyone else back there is still getting paid.
I did it because I value India more than any other place in the world. I left in 2001 because I found things here far too rigid. In the 20-odd years since, I’ve conquered my fear of trying new things. I’ve taken my risks with Indian cooking. They’ve paid off. The Indian restaurant industry, however, is exactly where I left it. It needs a shake-up.
* This residency has been fully booked and wait-listed all through. Surely something’s changed...
The diners have. Indian customers are better travelled. They’ve experienced what it’s like eating at a top restaurant. They’re open to eating raw fish; I didn’t serve it at the residency, but I could have. They have the patience to sit through a 25-course meal. And they’re more interested in enjoying the food than taking pictures to show off.
International chefs have stayed away from doing residencies in India. They’ve underestimated this country. I challenge other chefs to come here too. It can absolutely be done.
* You’ve yearned to win over the Indian palate. What has it felt like to serve a bit of the Gaggan menu here in India?
All my skills, my talent, are based on the 29 years I lived in India. The greatest hit at the residency has been the Shahi Tukda Cheese Chilli Toast; it’s got Amul cream topped with bheja fry ice-cream and white butter, like a Daulat Ki Chaat. Diners enjoy nostalgia, a creative dish that transports one back in time.
I think the time is right to open a restaurant here. It won’t be a Gaggan restaurant. I won’t be here. But I’m thinking of a sort of Gaggan-inspired chef’s table, serving Indian food, helmed by a young, determined chef who has polished their skills with me.
* Is that what high-end dining will look like in the near future? Will everyone be a roving chef?
Travelling, I’ve found, lays bare the bandwidth and vulnerability of each chef. It’s a good way to judge their skills. But the future will depend not on gadgets and techniques but on how we treat people. The challenges will be retaining good staff. There will be a focus on intimate cuisine, the philosophies of what you’re serving.
Some trends will die soon enough. Those chefs who put 10 flowers on a plate, and diners who take pictures, take a bite and say “Ooh, ahhh”... all the flowers end up in the dishwasher. Flowers taste bitter. If they were meant to be eaten, we’d have been cooking with them all along. It’s time for more honest dining.
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THE MMMM
* Among the 25 courses that chef Gaggan Anand has served at each meal during his 20-day residency at the Hyatt in Delhi is MMMM, or the methi malai mushroom momo. “We start with a mushroom-filled momo,” Anand says. “And we reimagine the classic methi mutter malai preparation.”
* The steamed momos are black, from the black garlic used when making the dough for the skin. They’re filled with mushrooms, steamed, then topped with a small portion of blanched baby peas. Then comes the sauce – champagne reduced 10 times and flavoured with cream.
* The final touches come from a seasoning of dark fenugreek seed oil and a garnish of methi greens. “So that it looks playful, but tastes familiar, and has all the elements of nostalgia for a North Indian diner,” Anand says.
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