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Getting A Table At Gaggan Anand’s New Restaurant Will Be Even More Difficult

The new place in Japan is going to be “small and more expensive”.

Chef Gaggan Anand stands in the research and development kitchen at Gaggan restaurant in Bangkok, Thailand. (Photographer: Brent Lewin/Bloomberg)
Chef Gaggan Anand stands in the research and development kitchen at Gaggan restaurant in Bangkok, Thailand. (Photographer: Brent Lewin/Bloomberg)

If you thought booking a table at Gaggan in Bangkok was difficult, you’re not going to be pleased about this.

Gaggan Anand, renowned chef and owner of the two Michellin star restaurant--which has bagged the title of being the best in Asia for four straight years--plans to open his next restaurant in a midsize city on Japan's southern island of Kyushu, and the place is going to be “small and more expensive”, he said at a session at the Bloomberg Asean Business Summit 2018 being held at Bangkok.

I’m opening up in a much smaller city where I can give my 200 percent to everyone who comes in,” he said. The new restaurant with partner Takeshi Fukuyama, called GohGan will be open for just 20 days a month with 12-16 seats.

As for the pocket pinch, he wants to keep prices close 15,000 yen ($135) per person, he had said in an earlier interview with Bloomberg.

Born in Kolkata, Anand opened Gaggan in Bangkok in 2010. In the next seven years, it went on to earn two Michelin Stars. However last year, he had announced it will be closed down in 2020.

“Fame takes its toll and I don’t want to burn out with Gaggan. I’m a chef and I want to keep cooking,” he said. “It's a very simple theory. You climb a mountain and then you climb down to go to the other mountain. You can’t go from one mountain top to another mountain top,” he said, explaining his move.

He now wants to take a step back from the wildly famous Gaggan - which receives more than 500 reservation requests everyday - and work on something where he can “cook in peace”.

Also opening adjacent to Gaggan, is Anand’s new natural wine bar called ‘Wet’. “I know it sounds sleazy,” he said, laughing. “Thailand used to be famous for sleaze, now it's famous for Gaggan. The change has happened and that's very important. I’m part of that change and I take the best opportunity to make money on it,” he said.