BANGKOK, BALIPOST.com – In a Nirvana T-shirt, self-styled “culinary rock star” Gaggan Anand expresses no regrets about killing his golden goose — a two-Michelin-starred Bangkok restaurant ranked among the best in the world.
“Sudden things in life are not planned, like a hurricane, like a typhoon. It just comes, you deal with it,” the 41-year-old told AFP in his loft-style apartment in the Thai capital, with fridges covering an entire wall, a long dining table, and a bookshelf-size pantry.
The imminent closure Saturday of “Gaggan”, where a 25-course meal in a colonial villa costs 8,000 baht ($270), stunned the culinary scene.
Gaggan’s shock move sent foodies in a spin as reservations were cancelled.
To some it was a puzzling act of self-sabotage, but to the mercurial and blunt Gaggan the move was hastened by creative necessity after a dispute over shares with business partners.
“I am tired. I am laughing. I am crying. I AM JUST A HUMAN,” he said this week in an emoji-laden Instagram post in which he apologised to customers and said “64 rebels” had walked out with him.
“At the age of 41 the biggest lesson I learned was never leave anyone behind!!” he wrote, admitting he gets “too emotional sometimes”.
He told AFP that his new, more intimate space likely opening in October will host 40 diners per evening, but his ambition remains expansive.
“In ten years I will be one of the greatest chefs of the 21st century. A world star,” he said, looking through big black glasses.
“Every year, at least 20,000 tourists already make the trip to Bangkok to try my cooking.” (AFP)
