Delhi and Mumbai, get ready for a Rs 15,000 gourmet meal!

Gaggan Anand, the acclaimed Bangkok chef will host eight exclusive dinners in the two metros

The acclaimed master of progressive Indian cuisine and molecular gastronomy, Gaggan Anand, is coming to India. And he’s coming in style, according to Indian Restaurant Spy, a food industry blog run by Delhi-based food and wine critic Sourish Bhattacharya. 

 

The Kolkata-born Gaggan – who runs an eponymous restaurant in Bangkok and has cooked exclusively for the likes of the Princess of Thailand, as well as corporate royalty in the form of Mukesh and Nita Ambani – will present two 11-course dinners for the swish set in Mumbai and Delhi. 

 

How swish? Well, each meal will set you back by Rs 15,000 a person, and you can only get in if you hold an American Express Centurion Card – the legendary ‘Black Card' that is itself an invitation-only piece of plastic anodyzed titanium with an unlimited credit line. 

 

 

The Delhi events start tonight – facilitated by Mangal Dalal and Nachiket Shetye's Cellar Door Kitchen – at the ITC Maurya while Mumbai will host him at the Four Seasons hotel next week, likely starting September 8. There are a total of eight dinners, four in each city. The menu has been customised for India in that none of the items served here are on the menu in his Bangkok restaurant. 

 

While the full menu is still a secret – obviously – Indian Restaurant Spy reveals that Gaggan will serve an Indian version of the famed Cuba Libre, to be called Indi Libre – Old Monk rum, ginger, kala namak (rock salt) and Thums Up. 

 

If you are in the mood for a typical carb-heavy Indian meal, then this one’s not for you, Bhattacharya says. The 11-course meal will be largely carb-free except for a truffle oil risotto. 

 

Anand, who is carrying 250 kg of ingredients with him – no foie gras, though, thanks to the Indian government’s blanket ban on the import of the delicary – will also make a drink he calls Yos Samurai.  This will be a cocktail of umezu, a special sake made of pickled plum vinegar and the juice of yuzu, a tart, grapefruit-like fruit. The effect, we can only imagine, will be spirited – Yos, after all, is Japanese for drunk! 

 

For those who do follow, well, Gandhian strictures on drinking, there will be a coconut lassi, the blog reveals. 

 

There will also be some absolutely new takes on Indian street food -- paani poori, made with the world's best white chocolate shells. 

 

And since Indians love their meetha (sweet), the master chef has a pleasant twist on a classic -- icecream sandwich with a topping of grated wasabi!