Bridging the culinary divide

GAGGAN ANAND’S progressive Indian creations like lamb chops with smoked whisky and spherified yoghurt with mango chutney have long won him critical acclaim and now his status as a culinary leader is official, with the S.Pellegrino Best Restaurant in Asia 2015 awards crowning him the “best in the region” earlier this week.

His restaurant in Bangkok’s Soi Langsuan is known to change diner’s perceptions of tikka, raita and other traditional Indian dishes thanks to what can only be described as a wizardry in molecular gastronomy. 

“Anand takes classic Indian dishes and reinterprets them with modernity and flair in a bid to bridge the gap between eastern and western cuisine”, the judging committee noted.

Gaggan restaurant, which ranked third last year, overtook last year’s winner, David Thompson’s Nahm, which slipped to seventh place.

Other Bangkok’s restaurants on the 2015 list are Eat Me at 25, Bo.Lan at 37 and Ian Kittichai’s Issaya Siamese Club at 39.

“Many people say Indian food is too traditional and there is no way to make it progressive. I want to change the way people look at Indian food by making it unique and different,” Anand told The Nation a few years back.

Although Anand was the first Indian to intern at the culinary research centre attached to Ferran Adria’s former El Bulli restaurant in Spain, the acknowledged home of molecular gastronomy, he prefers to label his restaurant “progressive Indian”. He made his reputation in Bangkok at Red on Soi Thonglor and later worked as chef de cuisine at Lebua before opening his own eatery in 2011. Situated in a small residential alley off Soi Langsuan, the restaurant is housed in a two-storey, colonial-style white wooden building that was previously home to popular florist Ruern Boossaba.

There’s nothing exaggerated about the interior design: everything is neat, clean and white and serviced by well-informed staff. The best spot is the chef-dining room, which sits a maximum of 10 and where you can view the Kolkata-born chef and his team at work in the kitchen through a large glass window. It is a wonderful experience and reservations must made several weeks in advance.

The judges raved about such creations as Beauty and the Beast – young potatoes stuffed with sun-dried figs – and Green with Envy – green peppercorn chicken kebabs combined with coriander foam – which are big on impact, but never at the expense of flavour. 

I’m not an Indian food fan and always opt for other cuisine whenever I have a choice but my first visit to the Gaggan restaurant not long after it opened changed my perception of Indian food while offering an enjoyable culinary experience. 

Served on a chilled spoon, his amuse bouche – raita spherification – was the traditional spiced yoghurt formed into spherical shapes using sodium alginate as a setting agent. Encapsulated in bubbles, the favour of yoghurt and Indian spices burst in the mouth when consumed. 

Foie gras was offered three ways: cold, as foie gras torchon transformed by liquid nitrogen into powder with freeze-dried raspberry sauce, and as organic roasted Hungarian foie gras with raspberry chutney sauce. His chicken tikka was charred in the tandoor oven and topped with coriander foam. The tandoor-grilled river prawn marinated with extracts of fresh red chilli was tasty, as was potato ravioli with baby green peas, carom seeds and fresh Indian cottage cheese and truffle shaving.

It was as Gaggan’s that I tasted the most extraordinary dessert I had ever experienced: tobacco ice cream. I remember clearly how the Maitre d, armed with a handheld smoking gun, shot tobacco smoke on to vanilla ice cream in a glass with a hooded cover. When opened, the smoke made my head spin and the taste was truly wild. The cocktails and mocktails were mostly frozen in liquid nitrogen.

Customers like to opt for the tasting menus that cost between Bt1,800 and Bt4,000. The menus change according to the availability of seasonal ingredients and are based on the diversity of India’s regional cuisine and childhood street food. Vegetarian and special dietary menus are also available. 

  

MOLECULAR MARVELLOUS

>>Gaggan is open daily for dinner from 6 to 11. It’s in a small residential alley, opposite Langsuan Soi 3 off Ploenchit Road. Call (02) 652 1700 or visit www.EatAtGaggan.com.