Gaggan Anand: Always One Course Ahead

Gaggan Anand grew up in a modest family far from culinary circles. A rock drummer in his youth, he pivoted to cooking after family encouragement, training at IHM Mumbai, and the Taj Group. In 2007, he became the first Indian to intern at elBulli with Ferran Adrià, mastering molecular gastronomy.

Opening Gaggan in Bangkok in 2010, he fused Indian flavors with experimental techniques, earning two Michelin stars and Asia's 50 Best top spot five times (2014-2018), peaking at No. 7 worldwide. Closing Gaggan in 2019, he launched Gaggan Anand, ranking No. 6 globally in 2025. His empire includes stakes in Sühring (Michelin-starred German cuisine), Ms. Maria & Mr. Singh, Gaggan at Louis Vuitton (fashion-meets-food), and GohGan in Japan (Indian-Japanese fusion).

At 47, Anand rejects fine dining’s formality, preferring casual soul food, and plans a no-camera 15-seater. His story—from Kolkata streets to Bangkok stardom—highlights how music’s energy fuels culinary innovation, with humility as his guide.

You went from playing drums in Kolkata to becoming the first Indian chef to intern at ElBulli. What made you leave music for the kitchen, and how has that rock-and-roll energy stayed with you?

It’s always been a part of me to be involved with rock and roll because I think music is a part of my life, and I translate the energy of rock and roll into my food. RnR is not about looking like a hipster but about making people forget their worries - all music, not just rock and roll. My genre is rock and roll, but music, in general, is a bigger chapter of my life.

In 2019, you walked away from the original Gaggan restaurant at its peak. Six years later, Gaggan Anand is No. 6 in the world. What did that dramatic reset teach you about success and control?

It taught me how to be a person who doesn't just believe in success but also accepts that failure is a part of it and is the first step towards success. You will have good years and bad. We live in an eccentric world of food media. I look at how I can change my future with my food and be free from accountability, reporting to people, free from everything. In 3 months, we’re going to redo the restaurant again.

The new place will have 15 seats and no cameras allowed. What is the reason behind that?

The new era of foodies is engrossed in their cameras. Sharing photos of the experience ruins the surprises we have in store for future guests. I want people to celebrate food and not just celebrate their cameras. I was bored of getting 1.5 years of messages from everyone saying they’re influencers and they want to visit the restaurant.

Your current restaurant has only 14 seats and books out months in advance. What actually happens during one of those dinners that makes people call it the hardest table on the planet?

We make people feel young at heart. We give them the magic of theatrical cooking without using gizmos. There’s seriousness in the food. We just play with the experience. Think of the experience as a sitcom where every course flows from the last, and at the end, you take away a story.

You’re famous for turning street food like lickable chaat and yogurt explosions into Michelin-star dishes. How do you decide which childhood flavors deserve a place on a 25-course menu?

I write a script and design a menu around temperature, texture, taste, technique, colour, and that menu goes through various seasonality of ingredients, and when it reaches its peak, we change the menu.

Bangkok has become one of the world’s great fine-dining cities partly because of you. Which newer restaurants here excite you right now, and where do you personally go when you’re not cooking?

I’ve started hating fine dining. I can’t be in fine dining anymore. The older I get, the more I appreciate casual food, with everything on the table, and to eat as much as I can. Maybe that’s because I’m a part of fine dining cooking. You don't have to listen to your own songs - as simple as that. I look for comfort, soul food. I treat it as a road to discovery. I just take my car out, and wherever I see a queue, I stop to eat.

You have stakes in Sühring and Ms. Maria alongside your own place. How do you balance running very different concepts while keeping Gaggan Anand at the very top?

Sühring is an independent restaurant. I’m just a minority shareholder, secret investor (not a secret anymore), and friend. Ms. Maria does very well - it is a casual dining space above Gaggan where people come to enjoy the food and the easier version of me without the tantrums of all the demands of Gaggan. And then you have Gaggan at Louis Vuitton which is a fashion statement of cooking.

India is finally getting serious global attention for progressive cuisine. Which young Indian chefs should the world be watching in the next five years?

I think Varun Totlani and Shehzad Hussain are two of them who are going to go big!

You recently said AI could kill cooking if we let it. Do you really see technology as a threat, or can it actually help creative chefs like you?

No, it is not a threat, but it will never help us. If cooking becomes AI, what is the purpose of a chef? Are we really in this threat to humanity where our nose, eyes, and taste have to be AI? We can leave AI to solve problems in national security, medicine, the treatment of cancer, and calculating the most impossible numbers, but it should not come to food and art. Imagine if AI becomes art, why would we spend money on paintings? Let it create a waterproof paint instead. There’s a limitation of technology, and it shouldn’t be involved in food, including wine menus.

When you’re not in the kitchen whites, how do you unwind? Favorite city to disappear in, favorite drink, favorite way to spend a rare day off?

I go to a city called Fukuoka in Japan, where I have a restaurant called GohGan. It’s like my second home, so I travel there once a month to de-escalate. The restaurant is a restaurant in collaboration with a Japanese chef, Tsuyoshi Fukuyama. Both of us have created an Indian-Japanese casual Izakaya. We keep changing our menu due to Japan’s seasonal nature. One of the best things is the Fried Chicken, which is a blend of Japanese Karage Chicken and Chicken 65, with all its spice. We call it the GohGan Fried Chicken.

There are rumors about projects in Tokyo and an even more exclusive restaurant. Can you share anything about what’s coming next?

No, there’s nothing in Tokyo.

If someone reading this wants to eat at Gaggan Anand one day, what’s the one thing they should know before they sit down?

Leave your ego and your arrogance behind. Become a commoner.