Food Warrior

His new restaurant has quirks you might have never seen before. With unmatchable energy and an intention to serve every dish with a hint of nostalgia, Gaggan Anand has revolutionised Indian food internationally, and wonders why we aren’t doing the same here at home

- Samreen Tungekar

“So you’re not going to Japan anymore?” I ask chef Gaggan Anand on the big move that was going to happen in 2020. For those of you who haven’t followed through, Anand announced in 2016 that he is going to move to Japan in 2020. However, after a heated legal battle with his partners, one that he very openly speaks of to me during our phone call, he resigned as chef of Gaggan in Bangkok in June this year, and — with his staff of 66 employees — promised to come back with a new restaurant, one that’s his very essence. In two to three months, Gaggan Anand is a restaurant standing real, with Gaggan’s OG crew, whom he calls his rebels.

To answer my question, he says, “I realised moving will be the biggest mistake of my life. I calculated that my partners would have made a lot of money had I just left. If I moved to Japan, I would not be able to take these 66 rebels with me. I wanted them to continue the journey with me. So, opening Gaggan Anand in Bangkok was the right thing to do. We’re the Lagaan team, we weren’t supposed to win, but we won,” he chuckles.

So what according to him makes a restaurant stand out, I ask him? “The people,” he says, and continues, “You can have the best restaurant in the world, but if the people are not happy, the vibe of the place will be like a funeral. You can have an ordinary restaurant, but if the people are happy, you’ll see how it’ll be the happiest place in the world,” he says.