Gaggan Anand hints at Dubai move

Gaggan, who was born and raised in Kolkata, moved to Bangkok where he opened his namesake restaurant, Gaggan, in 2010.

The restaurant regularly features in The World’s 50 Best Restaurants list, and was recently awarded Best Restaurant in Asia for the third year running at the Asia’s 50 Best Restaurant Awards.

The charismatic chef was in Dubai to host a 3-day pop-up restaurant featuring his progressive Indian cuisine and a menu exclusively made up of emoji. Celebrities restaurant at the One&Only Royal Mirage hosted 40 guests per night who sampled the ‘Best of Gaggan’ Tasting Menu. The chef and his team created a makeshift open kitchen in the dining room where they prepared 18 courses, 15 of which were designed to be consumed in a single bite.

Gaggan commented: “I am very excited to visit Dubai and host a pop-up restaurant at One&Only Royal Mirage. It will be the first time I serve my ‘Best of Gaggan’ menu in Dubai, and I plan to excite the minds and palates of all the guests joining the dinners. I hope that my progressive Indian cuisine, each course designed to be one bite, will have guests discover more and really help tell a story about what I love to do most.”

During a press conference held ahead of the event, Gaggan hinted that a project in Dubai might be on the cards: “I don’t know, we haven’t signed anything yet but they’re testing us, we’re testing them. It’s not a yes, it’s not a no. I’m not doing Gaggan here. I’m doing something completely different. If I do Dubai, the most arrogant statement I could make is that I’m trying to change Dubai. No. I’m trying to be Dubai.”