I know what you’re thinking: ‘Indian Gastronomy Explosion’ would be an awesome name for a rock band. While I would definitely pay good money to see a dude from IGE rock the sitar, you are incorrect. It’s actually a description of a badass meal I had the other night at a new Indian joint in Bangkok called Gaggan. Indian food in Bangkok is pretty easy to find; Thailand’s Indian community is very vibrant, and the food I’ve tasted here is probably the best Indian food I’ve ever had – outside of India, of course. But at Gaggan, Indian food is being pushed to the limits and being combined with some truly bizarre and awesome techniques.
Gaggan is located in an old Thai house just off of Langsuan Road, near Lumpini Park. It’s done up pretty nice – white motif, nice flowers, comfy chairs, a few waterfalls, you get the idea. I was told about the place by a friend of mine who had eaten there recently and described it as ‘the best food experience I’ve had in Bangkok’. Once we were greeted and seated by the 180cm Ms. Nishin, (a girl so hot that even being in posession of her business card was enough to make me mentally think of all the girls that rejected me in High School and scream “Look at me now, bitches!”), we were greeted by the head chef and owner – Gaggan.
Gaggan’s exterior.
Despite the rather unfortunate similarity of his name to gaggin’, he was a lovely man and super friendly. He told us that he’s been cooking his whole life and had trained at several prominent culinary institutes in India and Europe. We chitchatted for a bit, and then it was on to the food.
Foie Gras, which is a terrible food to eat becuse of the way animals are mistreat… OH MY GOD this is good.
No matter which Indian restaurant you go to, the food usually looks the same – bowls of creamy sauces and chunks of meat, plates of nan bread and rice, etc. But holy shlamoley, has Gaggan ever destroyed the traditional image of Indian food. The new restaurant is getting a lot of good press lately; indeed, a food-critic friend of mine told me that no one in the world is preparing food in the same way Gaggan is, which I can believe. His is one of those kitchens that uses liquid nitrogen, blowtorches and all manner of weird non-traditional items to make the food sing.
Chicken tikka masala. Awesome as expected.
I don’t want to get into too many details of what we had, but suffice it to say it was all awesome. No, I mean aaaaawweeeesome. Rich, delicate, creamy, complex… pick your overused food description adjective, it was all here. And not only was it delicious, everything that came out looked like a work of art; I almost felt bad destroying it with my fork. We had meat, oysters, salads (with frozen, grated raspberries, of all things), beer you drank from a wine glass and desserts that skated the thin line between love and lust.
It was hard to choose, but my favorite dish of the evening was actually the first one I ate. A deep spoonful of yogurt with the consistency and internal structure of an egg. It’s hard to describe, but imagene cracking a raw egg right into your mouth, but instead of gross raw egg it tastes like sweet, creamy (slightly spiced?) yoghurt. This is what food at Gaggan is all about – your brain imagines what it should taste like, but then your tastebuds tell you what it actually tastes like, and then they start fighting and your mouth pulls a Keanu and goes “Whoa.”
“Whoa.”
At any rate, the menu isn’t outrageously expensive, but it’s not cheap either – a dinner for two without booze will probably run you 2,000-3,000 baht, depending on how much you order, but I’ll tell you what – if you want to treat someone, impress a visiting friend or client, or simply have some pretty amazing food all to yourself, Gaggan is the perfect choice.
If the law allowed me to run away and marry this dessert, I would have.
1) WANT. DAMMIT.
2) Thank you for spelling "whoa" correctly. What's up with this "woah" business that's going around? That'st WRONG!
Indian Gastronomy Explosion – sounds more like what happens a couple of hours AFTER eating Indian food.
You got me all excited until I read the 2000-3000 baht tag. Our Indian place Annapurna is about 200/person. I think I need to get some of your job!
The dish you described with yogurt that you liked is called "Raita" ….Its very easy to make, just cut cucumber pieces into yogurt add salt or sugar depending upon taste which side you wanna go and then add roasted pepper, cumin powder, finally add cilantro leaves….you are done…if you have all the ingredients..its very easy to make…goes well with Naan.
Its always a good idea to keep a cup of yogurt aside while taking Indian curries, if its too spicy, you can take yogurt in the end, which will calm down the spices.
For those who can't take spices…try palak paneer on veg side or buttur chicken on the non-veg side….
also try Lassi ….it taste great made from yogurt..
Wow, they're so pretty its almost a shame to eat those dishes. They do look good enough to hang on the wall, though.
I had this meal with Greg, and that was not raita. This was some kind of yoghurt-curry concoction the molecules of which had evidently been taught to obey the Frankensteinish whims of their creator. In a good way.
The dishes look like works of art! What an amazing chef. Thanks for writing about it.