ROOT & BRANCH

In an exclusive chat with India Today Spice, Chef Gaggan Anand reveals why 2026 represents a quantum leap for him.

- Amin Ali

Chef Gaggan Anand's restaurant Gaggan remains a fixture in the World's 50 Best Restaurants' top ten list. He is also number one restaurant in Asia's 50 Best. The man behind this Michelin star restaurant is one of the most acclaimed Indian chefs in the world. He has won accolades that were once seen as limited to Japanese or French restaurants. In an exclusive chat with India Today Spice, the maverick chef entrepreneur reveals why 2026 is a big year for him since he plans on renovating and reopening a whole new Gaggan experience in Bangkok...and...open a restaurant in India too!

We hear, 20 years after you left India, you are coming back to open a restaurant here. Is this true?

Yes, I am opening a restaurant in 2026 in India. The year 2026 is actually important for me as I'm doing a few new things. I’m opening in India, I’m renovating my restaurant in Bangkok and coming up with a whole new experience and also, not allowing any phone photography in the restaurant. Diners won't be allowed to click photos.

That's a lot happening in one year! Let's discuss each. For starters, what brings you back and gives you the confidence to open in India? As you have mentioned earlier, India was not ready for Gaggan.

India, maybe 10 years or five years back, was not ready for me. From the way I look at food, the way I present food, I felt fine dining restaurant was an uphill task in India. I must give credit to the young generation of chefs, such as Varun Totlani, Prateek Sadhu, Jason Ebenezer, Hussain Shahzad and Adwait Anantwar, as they gave me confidence that I can do, all that I do abroad, now in India. These five chefs and their standalone restaurants are pushing the envelope. I want to be a part if this journey. I want to come back to learn, adapt and have fun.

What's changed? What gives you the confidence?