Back home with BANNG

Michelin star-winning chef Garima Arora, who recently opened her first restaurant in India, on all things food and family

- BY SHUBHANGI SHAH

As you step inside BANNG, a brand new Thai restaurant in Gurugram's swanky Two Horizon Centre, the deep hues of red and blue along with a glitzy bar catches as much attention as chef Garima Arora, who helms it. A warm smile hardly ever leaves her, even as she makes magic in the kitchen and attends to the guests—all this while being eight months pregnant with her second child.

After opening her first-ever restaurant Gaa, in Bangkok in 2017, this double Michelin star-winning chef is back home with BANNG, which she has opened with Social and Smoke House Deli fame restaurateur Riyaaz Amlani. Running two restaurants in two countries is no small feat, and being a mother to a 19-month-old and expecting a second soon is not easy either, and if Arora, 38, is exhausted, she hardly shows.

“I love what I do. I love being a mom, and a chef,” says the Mumbai-bred, Thailand-based Arora, who “works 16-17 hours a day”.

What’s her take on work-life balance? “Rubbish. It is the biggest myth and nonsense ever. You cannot worry about how much time you spend on work if you want to achieve anything. It applies to motherhood and career,” she says.

'The voice in my head'

For Arora, who received widespread popularity as a judge on season 7 of MasterChef India, the earliest memories of cooking go back to her father. “He used to travel abroad a lot and return with new ingredients and recipes. As a six-year-old, I would sit in the kitchen and watch him cook, and that’s how it all started for me,” she tells THE WEEK. Her father is, in a way, involved in her two restaurants since “he is the voice in my head”, she adds.

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