Gaggan Anand's good time out comes with a side of phone bans

Gaggan Anand was supposed to be a musician. I feel weird even typing that out. 

Growing up in Kolkata, he wanted to play drums. The concept of plating caviar foam onto edible spoons was something he probably didn’t even know existed. But somewhere along the way, the punk kid with long hair and restless energy wandered into a kitchen. And then proceeded to blow up fine dining across Asia.

When he moved to Bangkok in 2007, the city’s fine-dining scene was still very polished and Europe-centric. Then Gaggan showed up looking like the frontman of an indie band and started serving emoji menus, making diners lick plates and putting food on a raised middle finger. 

Inspired by the madness of El Bulli but fuelled by adda (Kolkata boy, after all), adrenaline and complete disregard for fine-dining manners, Gaggan (his eponymously titled restaurant) became a fever dream for good food. The gamble paid off: it topped Asia’s 50 Best Restaurants list five years in a row and climbed to number six in the world. Not bad for a chef who proudly talks about cooking from his ‘lizard brain’.

 

Of course, for Gaggan – we’re talking about the chef here – life has never really followed a straight line. In 2019, he dramatically walked away from the original Gaggan after falling out with partners, opened a new restaurant almost immediately, survived a brutal pandemic, took up consulting gigs to stay afloat, and then bounced right back with a 14-seater in Bangkok that landed on both Asia’s 50 Best and World’s 50 Best lists again in 2023. 

Now, he’s back to doing what he does best: being unconventional and refusing to care. From May 29, Gaggan 2.0 (the restaurant’s new avatar) will officially ban phones at the table – a move that sent social media into instant meltdown earlier this year after he declared that ‘living in the moment is luxury’. 

Between running places like Ms Maria & Mr Singh, and Gaggan at Louis Vuitton, he’s now preparing for a return to India with Raga, his upcoming Delhi restaurant with longtime collaborator Rydo Anton – a space he promises will have ‘complete creative freedom. Which…could mean anything, really. 

Naturally, our Good Time Out rapid fire with him went off the rails almost immediately – from championing jhal muri over French pastry to why diners need to stop filming everything. Oh, and why deconstructed pani puri is, apparently, wife material.

What, according to you, would your ultimate night out in India look like?

Gaggab: It has to be in Kolkata! Dinner at  Bar-B-Q on Park Street, afterparty at Someplace Else, The Park, and to end the night, masala chai at Balwant Singh Dhaba in Bhawanipore.

Fork, Marry, Kill…

Fork, marry, kill: Indian food debates

a) Butter chicken with a twist — Kill

b) Deconstructed pani puri — Marry

c) Quinoa khichdi — Future wife

Fork, marry, kill: Cocktail culture

a) Speakeasy bars with secret entrances — Kill

b) High-concept cocktail labs — Fork off

c) Dive bars with zero pretence — Marry

What are three things that make a night out unforgettably good?

G: Has to be honest home-style food, a good kebab, and, of course, chhole bhature.

What are three things that ruin a night?

G: Butter chicken, biryani, and Indian Chinese. When they’re bad, they’re really bad.

One overrated food trend in India right now is…

G: French pastries. 

And one underrated dish everyone should be eating?

G: Oh, definitely jhal muri. 

What’s one city that’s absolutely killing it on the food and bev scene right now?

G: Delhi!

Write a lover letter to your favourite Indian dish(es)...

G: Can you put curry in my taco? (he says, laughing audibly) 

Finish the sentence…

A great restaurant is nothing without…

G: …Charcoal oven cooking, or, at least, a good grill.

Indian diners today are…

G: …Less entitled and more well travelled.

The future of dining out in India is…

G: …Small, chef-driven tasting menus.

What Indian dish would you never dare reinvent and why?

G: Samosa and chai. It’s such a good basic bitch. 

What’s the most fun you’ve had eating out in India that had nothing to do with fine dining?

G: Eating an ice-cream sandwich at K Rustom’s in Mumbai!

The best compliment and the harshest criticism you’ve received for your food?

G: The best compliment is evergreen: that I can cook really good food. The harshest criticism is that I’m a show off and more about gizmos than actual cooking. 

Do you believe the customer’s always right? 

G: Well. They are mostly always wrong. 

If you could ban one thing from Indian restaurants forever, what would it be?

G: Phones and cameras without a doubt! 

You land in Delhi/Mumbai/Kolkata tonight. No bookings. Where are you walking into first?

G: Any local street food joint for late-night supper works. I mean, Rajinder da Dhaba in Safdarjung if I were in Delhi, Ayub’s in Fort if I were in Mumbai, and the Royal Indian Restaurant at Park Circus if I were in Kolkata.

What was the last place in India that genuinely surprised you?

G: Oota Company in Bengaluru! The local cuisine was unexpectedly brilliant.