I’ll be open with you here; it’s taken me a while to sit down and write this review because I couldn’t decide how to frame it.  Our experience at Gaggan was unique:  Gaggan is a special place which has been named ‘Best Restaurant in Asia’ three years running, in the Restaurant Magazine awards, and which was awarded two stars in Michelin’s first ever guide to Bangkok in December ’17.  Our set 25 course dinner of so-called “progressive Indian” cuisine reminded me of my first experience of the tasting menu at The Fat Duck, back in the day. This was as much about emotions, surprises and entertainment as it was about food and nourishment.  Some Foodies (including me) will think this place is totally amazing, but anyone looking for a traditional dinner to fill up on will be disappointed.

I arrived late and a bit stressed, from a taxi which got lost as well as stuck in horrible Bangkok traffic. Gaggan is in a charming colonial-styled white wooden 2-storey house, close to the Thai capital’s diplomatic area.  There are two sittings a night, which usually span the two hours it takes to serve the set menu. The reservation confirmation warns you they will release your table if you are fifteen minutes late, but luckily ours was held for twenty minutes. We were shown not into their pretty alcoves with white tables and bookcase surrounds, but into a newer section added onto the side of the building, which was much more contemporary in style, and seated at a three-sided counter around an open kitchen/prep area.  The counter seated thirteen customers from different nations, but no-one acknowledged us when we sat down – maybe they were irritated by our late arrival.  Placed at each table setting was like a tracing-paper strip with a column of 25 emojis on it (nothing else), which we were told was ‘the menu’!  The sommelier, who we later established to be a charming Serbian with terrific taste buds and olfactory nerves, invited us to choose wines, or to go for his selected wine flight. I hesitated and told him I don’t normally like wine with Indian food, to which he said, ‘this isn’t really Indian food’, so we opted to trust his selection and went for the wine flight.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

While this was going on there was a south Asian gentleman standing within the ‘pass’, inside the counter,  chatting to some of the guests. I asked a waiter the name of the chef at this restaurant (I hadn’t done my research!) and he pointed to the south Asian man and said, “him, Gaggan Anand”.  And so it suddenly dawned on me that we hadn’t been shunted into a second-rate spot for being late, we were in fact right in the heart of the action, at what is, effectively, the Chef’s Table!  (we learned later that they select which guests will sit in this “Food Lab” part of the restaurant, and try to curate a mix of nationalities with a shared love of food. In the near future Food Lab diners will also have to have the wine flight.)

Everyone in the restaurant eats the same menu. But those of us in the Food Lab get to have everything introduced by the chef, and get to hear the inspiration behind each dish. And chef Gaggan certainly loves to talk about his food and his experiences!  Our dinner in fact lasted three, instead of the scheduled two, hours. It was a magical three hours, a superb treat for a Foodie.  As well as speaking about individual dishes, Gaggan spoke about food in general and his philosophy on it. He doesn’t care for modern concepts of sustainability, seasonality or local sourcing; he only cares about getting the best ingredients from wherever in the world he can source them (which turns out to be mostly from Japan and Europe). He was just back from a supplier visit to Japan and told us he has a great affinity with that nation and its approach to eating. In fact, he thinks he’ll end up running a small place in south-eastern Japan, away from the gaze of the international food critic.  I asked Gaggan, who’s worked at 3 star El Bulli, if he was at all disappointed to get ‘only’ two stars.  He said he is delighted to have been recognised by Michelin, but that wasn’t his goal. He claims not to have any idea what he would need to do to get a third star, nor what he would have to do to get just one star. And he sees his two stars as a reward for the city of Bangkok as a whole, a reflection of the massive steps the city’s many restaurants have made to make the place a foodie destination for the 21st Century.

Gaggan claims that the high costs of his imported fine foods means that the restaurant doesn’t make money on its food – it’s the drinks that deliver his profit margin. That’s something I’ve heard from other Michelin chefs. But at Gaggan all profits are shared between all his staff, so that even his KPs (Kitchen Porters) earn significantly more than a Bangkok KP traditionally would.  Every worker I saw looked very happy and proud to be working at Gaggan; there was a palpable feeling of “team spirit”.

Gaggan explained that we were to be served progressive cuisine, not progressive Indian,which is the title regularly given to the food here by writers. But I was confused when I watched the Netflix show Chef’s Kitchen about him, where he said his focus was very much on reinterpreting Indian street food. It’s clear he’s inspired by Indian street food and the Indian culture of eating with ones hands, and he’s passionate about the emotion and history behind classical dishes, which is why his menu is a list of emojis representing small mouthfuls of food; almost canapés.  But he steers well away from the British bastardisation of Indian food, such as chicken tikka masala, and only, seemingly, reluctantly serves one or two dishes which might be described as a curry.  He reckons 30% of his customers are Foodies who eat in fine dining restaurants all over the world, so his challenge is to use his Indian heritage to create a fine dining experience that is incomparable with anywhere else.  Here are brief descriptions of the 25 ‘courses’ we had. I’ve only shown scores for the dishes which particularly impressed me, but nothing would have scored below 8/10:

The first dish to be presented to us was ‘Pink Elderflower and Watermelon’; English elderflowers flavouring watermelon in what appeared to be an edible pink oyster shell, sat atop a pink salt house-brick.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

‘Yogurt Explosion’ was an oyster-sized spherification of yogurt and flavours reminiscent of India. Gaggan thought of creating this dish while doing his internship at El Bulli, where he prepared one of the ‘olive’ spherification pieces which became an El Bulli signature. Just like the olive contained classic Spanish flavours, Gaggan wanted his yogurt, an Indian staple, to “taste of India”. 10/10

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Dish three: Throughout the meal Gaggan referred to his musical likes and influences, and as Kiss’ Lick It Up played from the sound system we were presented with a plate carrying smears of mushroom, pea and (?red pepper?) purees, with ‘lick it up’ stencilled in puree above them!  And so everyone licked their plates clean! I wasn’t so much blown away by the flavours, but the experience of licking a plate in a two star restaurant was priceless!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The 4th dish, ‘Tom Yum Kung’, was a sweet shrimp (ama ebi) fresh from Hokkaido, with the flavours of the famous Thai soup. One ate the whole thing – head and all – as is the way in Asia. 10/10

‘Flower Power’ was a fried dish inspired by India’s love of fried food, looking like a lotus flower. It was only much later, when reading the English written menu we were given at the end of the meal, did I see it was actually made with goat brain!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

‘Eggplant’ was a minimalist cookie made with aubergine, freeze-dried over four days.

‘Chilli Bon Bon’ was a chilli liquid inside a white chocolate ball with red marbling. It was like a Christmas decoration.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Dish eight, ‘Idly Sambhar’ gave us the taste of an Indian breakfast in one mouthful. Rice and lentils had been fermented and made into a cake and topped with a foam and sambal.

‘Banana chicken liver’ was Gaggan’s tactic to get an infant to eat curry. A piping of chicken liver parfait was topped with banana chutney and other things. 10/10

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

‘Fish Granola’, our tenth tasting, was seabass and Indian nuts (no grains), like a fish-flavoured muesli bar. This was served on a plate which looked like a slice of rock with a fossilised fish skeleton on it. Very nice.

Dish eleven was described as a ‘cocktail’, a ‘Gin Tonic’, which was a cucumber ice with fresh sea urchin in a cone made from dill leaf. 10/10

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Twelve was very recognisable as ‘Chu-toro Sushi’, but it was hadn’t been aged, so a lot of the fat had not been naturally rendered. It was seasoned with some dashi meringue and salt on the plate (not soy sauce), and a small drop of freeze-dried yuzu gel on the fish.

Dish thirteen was another unique experience: a carrot biscuit containing foie gras, placed on your palm, after the palm had been sprayed with yuzu juice.  In the Chef’s Table show, this was the dish made with goat brain, rather than 5 above. Either way, this was very very good! 10/10

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Described to us as “matcha” dish fourteen was a cold soup, reminiscent of gazpacho, but green in colour, as it’s made with cucumber, green tomato, green chilli, mint, celery and apple, with green asparagus powder whisked into it at the table. It was refreshing and a beautifully clean blend of flavours. 10/10 

Fifteen was a pork vindaloo curry, representing the Portuguese colonial influence on India, was a cube of succulent pork meat fried in breadcrumbs, like a Japanese Katsu. 10/10

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Sixteen was the first course we used cutlery to eat! Gaggan told us he regards curry as a seasoning rather than a style of cuisine, so he presented us with a dish of raw scallops, crispy fried onion, raw coconut milk and salted coconut ice cream, all seasoned with both red and green chilli oils. Superb! 10/10

The seventeenth dish comprised small sheesh kebabs on sticks, made with lamb with mango chutney were presented in a plant pot, with a plant. We were told to take one of the distinctively frosted leaves from the pot, wrap it round the meat lollipop and eat. All, again, very theatrical and immersive, and tasty too.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

For a local reference, dish eighteen was called ‘Thai Green Curry’. Paper thin chicken skin had small mushrooms, fish sauce and baby coriander on top. The flavours were classically Thai.

The menu emoji for dish nineteen was a fire. Gaggan reminded us that cooking began with man’s control of fire, and that a leaf was the original cooking vessel. This dish had a fillet of super-tender sea bass steamed inside a banana leaf with mustard oil, and wrapped up further in a dry leaf which was set alight on the kitchen pass. When it was placed in front of me the flames were put out and the aromatic contents were revealed from their green cooking leaf. Theatre and great taste 10/10

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Continuing the fire tribute, the 20th course was called ‘Charcoal’ and it really did look like a couple of charcoal briquettes on the charred wood-effect plate!  But actually it was charred aubergine skins with lotus stem inside, which Gaggan told us was a popular Indian snack.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Dish twenty-one was ‘Lobster Dosa’ and it looked like what it said on the label. No fancy cooking techniques to report on, or background story, this was just a very good dosa with a lobster, mango and coconut curry. It was quite spicy, so Mr A loved this one! 10/10

‘Beetroot Rose’ was our first dessert.  We were given a wooden box made to look like a book, and upon opening it we faced two beautiful red roses made from dehydrated beetroot. Beautiful. It’s sweetness was a welcome coolant for the preceding dosa. 10/10

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

‘Milk Cake’ was a very tasty take on a Chinese moon cake, made with set milk, muscat grapes and riesling, and which looked like it was spray-painted with a rose-metallic paint. 10/10

We were served a colourful “minion” ice lolly, just so we recalled the fun of the night. It tasted of lemon cheesecake.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

And finally, after three hours, a closing dessert with more than a nod to India: a plain wooden box containing a type of sponge cake with saffron cream and mango jelly, topped off with a little gold leaf.

We had had a great evening!  A conveyor belt of very imaginative, creative, and mostly very technical food, served with a very enjoyable wine flight, and the stories and insights of one of the world’s most renowned chefs.  The total bill for two people was THB20,304 or roughly £480 at the prevailing rate at the end of 2017. I’ve paid more than that in some other Asian restaurants, so intuitive logic suggests this is good value, being Asia’s best restaurant.

Gaggan isn’t the place to go to if you fancy stuffing yourself with a traditional a la carte menu. But if you want to liberate your palate and your mind, to explore the possibilities of food and memories, then this has to be among the best places in the world to do so. 10/10

PS I made this reservation through my hotel Concierge four months earlier. I imagine it could be quite hard to get in, following Gaggan’s huge success.