Gaggan Bags Top Honor at Asia’s Best Restaurants 2015 Awards
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The contemporary Indian restaurant Gaggan in Bangkok topped the S. Pellegrino Asia’s 50 Best Restaurants list for 2015, moving up from the No. 3 spot last year.
Tokyo’s Narisawa, which uses French technique with Japanese ingredients, kept its No. 2 position on the list, while Ultraviolet by Paul Pairet in Shanghai grabbed the No. 3 spot, moving up five notches from last year.
Gaggan was opened by 37-year-old Indian chefGaggan Anand in 2010, and it sits inside a two-level white colonial-style house on a quiet street in central Bangkok. Gaggan is often described as part of the new molecular-cuisine scene, but Mr. Anand prefers to avoid that term. “I’m not a scientist, I’m a chef,” he said.
“It’s progressive cuisine.” Mr. Anand said his inspiration comes from “reconstructed, deconstructed memories of Indian cuisine.” “I always thought that Indian cuisine was badly represented,” said Mr. Anand, who moved to Bangkok in 2007.
“It was never at a fine level like French, Italian and Japanese.” Recent dishes at the restaurant have included a bite-size foie gras mousse sandwich on a tiny onion water baguette, scallops with coriander and coconut curry, and grilled free-range lambs chops with almond saffron oil.
“It’s modern and it’s experimental,” he said. William Drew, the list’s group editor of Asia’s 50 Best Restaurants, said Gaggan’s achievement reflects the “chef’s singular imagination, energy and skill.” The list is regularly dominated by restaurants in China (which includes Hong Kong and Macau), Singapore, Japan and Bangkok, but eateries from the Philippines and Cambodia made the list for the first time this year.
Antonio’s in Tagaytay, Philippines, and Cuisine Wat Damnak in Siem Reap, Cambodia, were two of eight new restaurants that joined the rankings.
The regional list—followed closely by food lovers—was announced Monday night at a ceremony in Singapore. The list is in its third year and is derived from the global S. Pellegrino World’s 50 Best Restaurants list, which has been released annually since 2002.
The lineup seeks to “provide diners with guidance on the greatest places to eat across the continent,” Mr. Drew said.
Here is the full winners list of Asia’s 50 Best Restaurants 2015
1. Gaggan, Bangkok
2. Narisawa, Tokyo
3. Ultraviolet by Paul Pairet, Shanghai
4. Nihonryori RyuGin, Tokyo
5. Restaurant Andre, Singapore
6. Amber, Hong Kong
7. Nahm, Bangkok
8. 8 1/2 Otto e Mezzo Bombana, Hong Kong
9. Waku Ghin, Singapore
10. Jungsik, Seoul
11. Jaan, Singapore
12. L'Effervescence, Tokyo
13. Les Amis, Singapore
14. Hajime, Osaka
15. Fook Lam Moon, Hong Kong
16. Fu1015, Shanghai
17. L'Atelier de Joel Robuchon, Hong Kong
18. Iggy's, Singapore
19. Fu He Hui, Shanghai
20. Lung King Heen, Hong Kong
21. Mr & Mrs Bund, Shanghai
22. Indian Accent, New Delhi
23. Robuchon au Dome, Macau
24. Tenku Ryugin, Hong Kong
25. Eat Me, Bangkok
26. Le Mout, Taichung
27. Ryunique, Seoul
28. Bo Innovation, Hong Kong
29. Wasabi by Morimoto, Mumbai
30. Burnt Ends, Singapore
31. Nihonbashi, Colombo
32. Shinji by Kanesaka, Singapore
33. Takazawa, Tokyo
34. 28 HuBin Road, Hangzhou
35. The Chairman, Hong Kong
36. Tippling Club, Singapore
37. Bo.Lan, Bangkok
38. La Yeon, Seoul
39. Issaya Siamese Club, Bangkok
40. Sushi Saito, Tokyo
41. Bukhara, New Delhi
42. Caprice, Hong Kong
43. Ministry of Crab, Colombo
44. Sukiyabashi Jiro, Tokyo
45. Osteria Mozza, Singapore
46. Hakkasan, Shanghai
47. Imperial Treasure Super Peking Duck, Singapore
48. Antonio's, Tagaytay
49. Quintessence, Tokyo
50. Cuisine Wat Damnak, Siem Reap