Recently ranked in the Top restaurants in the world in fact in the Top 10. This was one restahrant the Hulk couldn’t afford to miss whilst in Bangkok a few months back. I know you all must be thinking the Hulk was up to no good in the city, but you would be surprised if I told you there is a lot of fun things to in Bangkok besides the Hanky Panky.
So one fine evening I ended up at Gaggan. It’s well publicized Gaggan Anand learnt his trade at El Bulli one of the best there is in the world…. The Hulk has been observing India in the grip of this whole molecular dining fad all of a sudden. Especially the neveau foodies whose knowledge is limited to what they see on Master Chef Australia and hear what people say on Facebook groups…

So back to Gaggan,  One must choose from one of 2 fixed menus i.e. A taste of Gaggan and the best of Gaggan..

So here are the highlights from my meal… Not going to take you through each and every course since it can be a bit of a snooze…

To get off the blocks with a signature Gaggan amous bouche the yougurt which looks like like a raw egg but the moment you put it in your mouth it bursts into the flavor of chaat papdi… A great first impression…
The next was the Oyster in some kind of a spiced apple marinade with lemon bubbles good choice  in my opinion but felt kind of strange eating it with tweezer / forceps…Tasted nice a refreshing but mind you as refreshing as an airline wet towel which is a good thing… decently flavored if not slightly low on the spice index considering it’s Indian…

The Foie Gras mousse sandwich was something that I really didn’t find very appetizing to look at, it quiet frankly looked like something I would pick up at a Pret a Manger in London for 3.5 pounds… The taste though was new and unique with a onion jam and bits of what tasted like caramelized hazelnuts. Over all interesting but in my book the combination felt too heavy…I had a fair few courses to go and this one was already making me feel slightly queasy…

Up next was what  one can only describe as a foam in a rock !!! It seems to be of the the restaurants signature dishes… It a lot of air with bits of asparagus and mushrooms and hickory chicken aka morel,s but wait but aren’t morels mushrooms as well ? With  gooey 62-63 degree egg inside which i didn’t enjoy at all, I mean who likes egg yolks seriously ? And that too a runny one… The Foam was decent with a peppery flavor which was supplied by the black pepper but once again too much style and too little substance.

Next was a nice juicy spicy Gaggan version of the keema pao / burger… The filling was really good but the lettuce felt like it came out of a super market packet and the bread ,well just tomato bread… nothing special but the lamb filling was really really really tastty.

Next up was a Red mullet or what is popularly known as Goatfish. Now this was a fish you would be expected to be served at such a high brow establishment, something posh… You probably don’t know that this fish used to be sold for their weight in silver in antiquity(Ancient Rome, and not the whisky !!!) The fish was perfectly cooked tender and was full of flavor but again the “show sha baazi” (showmanship) is what brought the dish down a notch in my book… Those little freeze dried flakes of Jhool ( Mustard) and what I can only describe as an ointment of masala were kind of lost on the plate… They didn’t blend well with the fish… On its own, am sorry I am not eating mustard and masala cuz that is just a recipe for watery eyes and a runny nose in the middle of a meal…

Ah up next was one of the dishes I was really looking forward too… A good old fashioned Seared Scallops… Which were cooked to perfection and made to taste even better on the bed of sauce they came on… Just perfect but how was that possible and lo and behold those little pieces of radish on the side were ready to ruin it for you, if you dared … All in all the dish was like a smoking hot supermodel with a nasty drug habbit, something that just ruins it… It makes the Hulk steam up…

Finally came the hero of the day and sort of a Lobster Goan curry which was a real winner and on its own stead capable of telling us why this is placed is ranked so high on the San Pellegrino list… The lobster was perfectly cooked which in itself is a bit of an achievement because not every can do a lobster perfectly… The coconut curry was just right not too overwhelming as is the case with a cooking sea food Indian style… Rightly spiced, great on the palate. A perfect 10 as I would like to describe it…

Coming to the surprise dish called charcoal that was served to me in the middle of my meal don’t remember the order though… I had heard about this one but when it lands on your table it has to be the single most unappetizing dish one would ever set his/her eyes upon… I really does look like a piece of charcoal but then comes the moment of magic a burst of spice and flavor of sea fish… I wasn’t sure if it was a sea bassa or a tuna am guessing the latter… This is was just something that just scrambled my brains… In every great meal there is this one dish that blows your mind… In this meal this was it…

The next was an opposite of the lobster… Fusion called Confusion it was truly a confusion for me it was the low point and by low I mean it was below my expectations which were higher than usual since well this is Gaggan… And I want everything to be absolutely perfect… The dish in my opinion just 2 simple pieces of whatever i.e. asparagus with some creamy sauce and not much else…
The Deserts were decent and the main desert was one made of mango a fruit I truly detest so I shall pass making any judgement on this… To me anything with mango is as good as eating my own vomit… Oh yes I hate mangoes…

As the chef likes to describe the food as progressive Indian Cooking the Hulk believes progress has been made by leaps and bounds, there are sandly a few last inches left

Overall Rating 8/10 this is the highest ever given by the Hulk and I suspect it will remain so for a while… The Hulk will surely return here in a few months’ time and he hopes Chef Gaggan Anand can make it a perfect 10….

PS: Gaggan if you ever read this which I doubt you would… It’s the best meal I have had since I started writing…

Hulk sees reason why it was recently rated among the world’s best