India Shining

Gaggan Anand (second from right) with his team.

At a meeting with Gaggan Anand late last year, the Indian-born, Thailand-based chef predicted rather nonchalantly that his Bangkok restaurant would be the best in Asia. Give the man a stuffed animal; he was right. At the S. Pellegrino’s Asia’s 50 Best Restaurants ceremony held in Singapore this Monday (the world’s definitive guide to the globe’s best restaurants), Gaggan’s eponymous restaurant won top honours as the continent’s best restaurant. Anand’s restaurant celebrates Indian street food made using scientific cookery.

Locally, Manish Mehrotra’s carefully curated Indian Accent (The Manor, New Delhi) won India’s best restaurant, coming in at number 22 on Asia’s Best list, stepping up seven places from number 29. Wasabi by Morimoto (The Taj Palace and Towers, Mumbai) and Bukhara (ITC Maurya, Delhi) rounded up the Indian contingent at numbers 29 and 41 respectively.

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“I’m flying high as is the rest of the team at the restaurant,”said a jubilant Mehrotra, over the phone. “While Indian cuisine is clearly representative, we need to step up our game and showcase the versatility of the country. While flavours can be local, the look needs to be global. That’s how we will dominate the world’s palate,” he said.