Gaggan Review

I first heard of Gaggan when some of the epicure writers exclaimed to me 'if there's one restaurant you have to try in Bangkok, it's Gaggan!' 

And naturally my interest was piqued because this was coming from people who are deeply passionate about food, have well-trained palettes, and write about food for a living.

I wanted to see if Gaggan was worth the hype and if it was as good as everyone else said it was. But what compelled me to bite the bullet and pay for a 4,000thb meal at Gaggan was that I really admire how Gaggan managed to present Indian flavours (I say flavours and not cuisine) to the fine dining world and how his restaurant became so recognised even though it's incredibly difficult to make people pay the same amount for 'ethnic' asian food as compared to Western cuisine.

It's not terribly difficult to get reservations here, you just need to fill in a form online and they'll send you a confirmation email but I did make mine 3 months in advance. 

We secured a 9pm seating but upon arrival at the cosy but extremely packed colonial building the restaurant is housed in, we still had to wait about 10 mins before we could be seated. 

Tl;dr best to make reservations early. 

Anw, this was our menu. Consisting 22 emojis where each one represented one course, the way the menu was written really set the tone for our dinner - fun, entertaining, and full of surprises. 

At this point I'm going to say if you are planning to go to Gaggan and would like to have that element of mystery.... then you probably would not want to read this. Because yup, this is basically a huge spoiler post unless you've already watched Chef's table on netflix.

 Kiss 💋 Me 

First up, we had a very light and refreshing starter of lychee rose jelly. We were told to bring it to our lips by holding on to the leaf, and to eat it as though we were kissing someone. 

So cheeky 😂 the jelly dissolved upon contact with my mouth and leave quite a pleasant lingering lychee flavour but to be honest it was quite an underwhelming starter (although it was fun).

 Plastic 🌰 Nuts 

One of Gaggan's more well-known dishes would perhaps be this bite sized plastic packet of powder that looks quite unappetising.

Encased in edible plastic (think the rice paper coating in each little rabbit candy) is a mixture of fine macadamia, wasabi, and lentil grains. 

You pop the entire thing in your mouth and chew and think 'hey not bad the sweet nuttiness is quite appealing' and then change your mind as you get a sharp hit of the wasabi. But finally you get that hint of lentils peeking through and before you know it, you're done with your second course. 

This was interesting... but once again hardly spectacular

 Yogurt 💥 Explosion 

This is a classic in any molecular gastronomy meal and quite easy to make. You probably can watch how chefs make it on YouTube! It's likely to be featured in one of Heston's videos I think.

This huge white blob is basically like those popping tadpole jelly things you order in your bubble tea except this is 20x bigger.

The yogurt was very... Indian 😂😂😂 tastes exactly like the ones that are served alongside your curries etc.

 Idly 🍚 Sambhar 

This was one of the few dishes where the reinvention of traditional to modern Indian cuisine was evident. 

Idly sambhar (also idli sambar) is a breakfast dish in India consisting of savoury cakes made from lentils and rice (idli) that is served with a tangy spiced gravy (sambar).

In Gaggan's interpretation, the yellow spongy airy base is the idli and there's a otah-tasting sambar beneath the yellow foam. This was decent... quite enjoyable 😋

Not the best picture but you can see the sambar here! After eating this, I think I would like to try the traditional version of idli sambar.

 Chocolate 🌶 Chilly Bomb 

(Somehow everyone likes spelling chilli as chilly huh) 

And yes you may have guessed that this course would be a bon bon.

The chocolate was tempered to perfection and the thin, brittle shell gave way to a surge of flowy fiery liquid. The intensity of the chilli was amazing - not just in terms of spiciness but also the flavour. 

I think this dish is quite technical because of the tempering and how they manage to get the liquid inside.

This was one of my favourites that day even though my dining partners didn't seem to like this at all. The flood of spicy liquid was quite unique because usually in bon bons it's just like a ganache. Ykwim? ☻

 Eggplant 🍆Cookie 

This eggplant cookie was also one of the more memorable dishes of the night.

This looks very unassuming but this powdery, melt in your mouth biscuit packs a heavy punch of flavour. It tastes like an amazing claypot eggplant and minced meat dish you get at those tze char stalls. Very nice, I could easily eat a whole platter of these cookies.

 Truffle 🍄 Ghewar 

Ghewar (also ghevar) is a disc-shaped Rajasthan sweet made from flour and soaked in syrup (thank u Google), and here it is used as the cracker to hold the truffle mousse.

Couldn't decide which picture I like better so I'm just going to post both! 

Anyway this was a definite crowd pleaser in terms of the ever so popular earthy truffle flavour and the contrast of soft and crunchy textures.

 Mango Wasabi 🍦 Uni Sundae 

Served in a bowl made to look like the shell of a sea urchin, these little uni and wasabi ice cream cones are hands down the most ig-worthy food of the night

The sweet and creamy uni pairs well with the cold burst of piquant wasabi and the dehydrated mango cone was quite interesting. I thought it would remain crisp but it became chewy upon and tasted like a thin slice of dried mango.

 Pork 🐷 Vindaloo 

This was yet another one of my favourite dishes but I could be biased because I really do love Vindaloo.

I've always felt that Vindaloo deserves more recognition as compared to the usual Northern Indian suspects like butter chicken so I was really glad this was featured here.

I must admit this was also extremely enjoyable as the other dishes prior to this were all cold. 

Here the tangy and flavourful pork Vindaloo is served on a bed of hot, crispy potato. The pork was tender and the spices in the Vindaloo were nicely balanced but I felt like this lost a little bit of edge because the spiciness was really muted. 

If you've eaten Vindaloo elsewhere, it's really super spicy. Nonetheless this was an extremely gratifying course.

 Gol 👳 Gappa 

This Indian Street snack has a different name depending on which region you find it in. I know it better as panipuri. 

The street version features the same hollow fried shell (puri) as the one at Gaggan. But instead of the tamarind potato onion chilli mixture, Gaggan infuses those flavours into a potato mousse and fills the shell with the mousse. 

The mousse is light but abit too sour for my liking. Could be just me though because I'm not really a fan of tamarind.

 Chutoro 🍣 Sushi 

I was quite surprised by how heavily Gaggan's menu is influenced by Japanese cuisine. 

I honestly couldn't find any Indian element in this and I felt like this was one of the more poorly executed courses. 

Instead of rice, Gaggan uses a dashi meringue. What I didn't like was that the chutoro was quite fishy and the dashi meringue was soooooo salty. I really couldn't appreciate this at all.

 Akami 🌮 Wrap 

In essence - an Indian Japanese fusion dish served as a Mexican taco.

Instead of taco shell, a crispy Indian cracker was used. I liked the blend of spices used to season the akami and overall this was a great deal better than the previous course.

 Shami 🍢 Kebap 

The Kebap was yummy! Tasted like a falafel

The highlight of this course would our server telling us 'the bone (chicken bone) is not edible' 

Then coming back 1 minute later to say 'please don't eat the rock either' 

Hahahahhaa throughout the meal they were very humorous and approachable 😂 and I think that really made the whole dining experience here great.

 Corn 🌾 Goat Brain 

If you've seen this on my ig this probably doesn't shock you 😂😂 but when we were served this we were asked to guess what it was and that they'll only reveal it to us at the end of the meal. 

To me it tasted like a curry flavoured cereal cookie - v light and crunchy. Quite scrumptious actually. You can't tell it's made from an organ 😂😂😂 and I wonder if people in India really do eat goat's brain (lazy to google now haha)

 Foie Gras Passionfruit 🍋 Yuzu Jelly 

I like how they used the skin of the passionfruit for this course. 

In principle this dish ought to do well with the acidity of the passionfruit seeds and Yuzu Jelly cutting through the richness of the foie gras.

In reality though, this was one of the dishes that just didn't cut it for me. I didn't feel like the flavours went well together at all. It was really disharmonious although I liked each individual component on its own. 

I don't know if anyone else feels the same. If you've dined here, do let me know how you feel about this dish! ☻

 Charc⚫al 

At this point we were all STUFFED. And we still had 7 more courses to go. So yes you will be full... go on an emptier than empty stomach 😉

Our server told us this was a charcoal dish and told us to guess the filling. So fun right? So much mystery 😍

Cut open the inside and it kinda looks like a moist floss? So I was guessing this is was a protein. The texture was very fluffy and light but when you chew there is some bite to it which went well with the crispy charcoal batter. So I kinda guess this was either crab or fish. The mixture tasted predominantly of sautéed onions in cumin and ginger. 

But anw I was right it was fish! Though our server said with an all knowing smile that there were THREE types of fish in the fish.

He then told us to guess which three fish and gave us a clue - they all start with the letter 'S'

So I guessed seabass and I was right

And Cheryl guessed snapper and she was right as well

But YH guessed...

 SARDINES 

We ALL had such a good laugh including our server who cheekily said 'you mean the one from the can?' 

😂😂😂😂😂😂

I've been telling this story to EVERYONE and ANYONE who has been willing to listen to me and it still hasn't gotten old. Haha i must have repeated this at least 5 times. 😂😂😂

If anyone is interested, the last fish is actually sole.

 Tomato 🍵 Matcha 

Ode to a traditional Japanese tea ceremony, this course consists of 2 parts. The first is a trio of organic tomatoes grown in some other part of Thailand (I didn't manage to catch tomatoes the name 😂) 

The tomatoes were quite interesting... some were sweet some were slightly tart and one even had a bitter aftertaste. But the tomato-ey flavours were all very nice and intense.

The second part was the matcha part where a chef came out to prepare 'tea' for us.

The 'tea' / 'red matcha' turned out to be a broth made from dehydrated tomato that they ground into powder and infused into a 100% tomato consomme. 

This was excellent. It was rich although the broth was very clean tasting and had a really good blend of sweet and sour flavours. I salivate just thinking about this now. 

It's like the roast tomato soup without the garlic and cream but way way way more refined. I think I've found my favourite tomato soup in the world. 😍

This is how my review is so detailed - I took notes! Pay so much must remember everything correct? 

One of the servers even asked if im a food critic *um chio* but moments like this rly make me miss food writing 😢

 Lambchop ⚘ Rangoli 

The lambchop was cooked to perfection. Seared nicely to a slightly smoky medium doneness, the meat was very tender and not too gamey. 

The rangoli (flower patterns) were made from beetroot powder and it's so pretty!!

 Crab Curry 🦀 Coconut Rice 

When they servers placed this tingkat on our table, they announced 'this is your main course'

I tell you MY JAW DROPPED. 

Cos I was already so so so full but can I just say 💯 for the presentation? How cute is this tingkat? Wait it IS called tingkat right? If not then I dunno liao la

The three tiers - fried shrimp, crab Curry, and coconut rice

Shrimp was superb!! The batter was so crispy and it wasn't oily at all and the shrimp was very fresh. 

Rice was fluffy and fragrant and pillowy omg too bad I was so full I only had 2 mouthfuls.

The star of the show was definitely the crab curry. The flavours were quite nuanced and reminded me more of a mellow thai curry than Indian curry and it went really well with the coconut rice. The crab meat was also really fresh. I enjoyed this tremendously despite my exploding belly.

 Kheer 🍩 Cronut 

The first of our three desserts was this rice pudding Cronut. I liked the airy, sinful pastry but didn't really like the kheer filling because it tasted like raisins and we all know I don't like raisins. I would have LOVED this if it was a chai filling 😂😂😂

 Apple ❄ Snow 

I was not a fan of this apple mousse and filo pastry dish that was given a milk powder bath. Didn't think much of the apple mousse seasoning and I felt the whole thing just tasted kind of flat. I had envisioned it to be like a really delightful apple strudel kind of dessert so this was somewhat disappointing.

 National *India Flag Emoji* Drink 

(CAN U TELL I'VE RUN OUT OF STEAM but hey this is the last of the 22 courses! 😂🎉)

This is Gaggan's interpretation of masala chai. Instead of a drink, the chai comes in a powder form served atop a rice paper like disc. You're supposed to fold it a couple of times and eat it.

It was quite a nice, fuzzy end to our dinner because everyone has tried chai. Unfortunately, I didn't like how the gingery notes in the mixture overpowered the other spices and also the rice paper like disc left quite an unpleasant plasticky aftertaste. 

But yup, here you have it - my meal at Gaggan summed up. I hope my writing has done the whole Gaggan experience justice. I certainly tried my best. And now for the most important question:

 Would I recommend Gaggan? 

No if you're looking for hearty Indian cuisine that's unapologetic in terms of intensity of flavour and authenticity. You're better off at your local Indian supper spot downing garlic naan and aloo gobi. 

Yes if you're into novelty fine dining that combines flavours from India and Japan with French and molecular gastronomy techniques.

I think Gaggan has done a great job at trying to elevate Indian food but ultimately I asked myself if this is the kind of Indian food I really like and the answer is no. I appreciate the effort that has gone into re-conceptualising traditional Indian dishes and making them more accessible to the world... but what I love about Indian food is that often, it simply is what it is. So while this meal has been eye-opening, I doubt it's a place I would visit again.

I can think of a couple of more high end Indian restaurants in Singapore I would rather go to but then again, it's really not quite fair to compare because the style of cooking is so different. I guess it really boils down to personal preference. For me, I prefer Indian food without the fluff and I would pay for expensive Indian food without the fluff even though I think what Gaggan is trying to achieve is nothing short of amazing.

On this note, I also want to specially highlight the wonderful service we received at Gaggan. The servers were all well-trained, funny, personable, and helpful and they really made the dining experience. I don't quite a dining experience that is too sombre and the guys there definitely helped to lighten up the mood with their witty remarks. 💯😂