Michelin-starred restaurants don’t typically crank KISS tunes and encourage diners to lick their plates, but that anything-goes attitude helped turn a former rock drummer into one of Asia’s most celebrated chefs. Gaggan Anand, whose Bangkok restaurant Gaggan (pictured) is currently ranked No. 1 in Thailand, has just opened a new restaurant in his native India. Last week, the Kolkata-born chef unveiled Raga by Gaggan in New Delhi. In a conversation with LOST iN Editorial Director David Jenison, Anand shared a few thoughts on his culinary vision.
How do you feel about the term progressive Indian cuisine, and what other culinary cultures tend to play a role in the dishes?
What is the boundary of cuisine now? If you go to any part of the world, a big cross-pollination of every cuisine has occurred, and not recently. Mexico sent us some mole, right? Out of the 25 to 28 ingredients that go into the mole, about 12 of the spices come from India. Those Indian spices entered the Latin world during the 16th or 17th century. [In the same way,] how did cinnamon end up in their coffee? When they got the spices, their cuisine changed.
It’s not about my restaurant and my cooking and “progressive Indian”—the world has gone progressive. I’m Indian. The philosophy of my taste is Indian, where you can get sweet, spicy, sour and salty in one bite. But under the progressive Indian umbrella, it’s about the journey where I might use a Japanese ingredient as well. It’s like if I’m Dave Grohl of the Foo Fighters, and I listened to Cream or the Beatles as a kid. At one of my concerts, I would definitely play a song by the Beatles or Cream because that is the music I understand. That’s what I do.
What is the most creative way you’ve made a dish that engaged all five senses at once?
I think all courses should have that, but with six senses, not five. I call it the “six tastes.” One, salty. Two, sweet. Three, spicy. Four, sour. For the fifth taste, it’s umami. Our sixth taste is surprise. We play in this six-taste format where there are at least four or five, but surprise is the most important. It’s about breaking into the boundaries of your mind and what you expect to find in a restaurant. The whole experience will definitely provoke, not only your sensory organs, but also your mind.
You’re a huge Pink Floyd fan. If you were to pick a Pink Floyd song to turn into a dish, what song would it be, and what type of dish would you create?
Do you remember the album Animals? That album could be completely made into a menu because it has the most food-related words, and it could be fun! Of course, you could find inspiration from anywhere. “Shine On You Crazy Diamond” with diamonds or create a cigar for “Have a Cigar,” but Animals is an old classic.
