Gaggan, Bangkok

Before we booked our plane tickets to Bangkok I made sure I secured tables at both Nahm and Gaggan. Nahm being the former number 1 restaurant in the San Pellogrino Asia's Top 50 restaurants list before being toppled by Gaggan in the current list. Luckily for us I had reserved a table at Gaggan before the 2015 list was announced.

My first awareness of chef-proprietor Gaggan Anand was during Obsession 2015 at Northcote where he was a featured chef during one of the nights of the illustrious parade of worldwide chefs. The style of Gaggan exudes influences of chefs time at el Bulli with molecular gastronomy playing a heavy part in the menu along with more traditional Indian cooking methods. It was this mix of modern and old school take on Indian fine dining or progressive Indian as termed by Chef which peaked our interest as our experience of Indian food involved hearty, homely large sharing dishes. Perfect for families and satisfying meals but we wanted to explore the other end of the spectrum and to experience how humble Indian food could be elevated to another level.

At the time of our visit a choice of three set menus were available with varying lengths. We were allowed to pick different menus which we found refreshing as we have different appetites and could experience more dishes. A multitude of influences from Japan, Portugal, Spain and France amongst others play a part in the menu, the presentation of the dishes was exquisite and certainly opened our eyes as to how beautiful Indian food could be presented given a little imagination. The meal began with a fast and furious selection of street eat bites before leading into the main dishes. 

Burnt mango panna

Yoghurt explosion

Edible plastic spiced nuts

Chocolate panu puri

Potato a-some-crispy and liquid

Bengali mustard and noori pakoda

Papadam and tomato chutney

Keema pao

Explosion - Golgappa: herb injection, cumin potato and yoghurt

Alchemist cake - Dhokla: lentil flour cake with curry leaves, mustard, chutney and coconut ice cream

Say cheese - hot souffle of 4 cheeses and crispy rice cereals, green chilly oil

Sandwich - foiegras mousse, onion water baguette, onion chutney and hazelnut candy

Down to Earth - summer vegetables, asparagus, morels, mushrooms, artichokes with a 62C egg yolk and truffle chili air

Charcoal - no description was given when the dome was lifted to reveal the charcoal. We were left to guest the ingredients and were later informed that it contained dehydrated vegetables for the black crust and stuffed with spiced sea bass paste.

Treasure shells - Norwegian diver scallop, coriander herb oil gel, young coconut curry

Portuguese connection - Joselito Iberian pork belly stir-fired with vindaloo curry and sweet potato. This was one of the standout dishes of the night.

Fusion called confusion - white asparagus, yuzu chutney, chili miso curry, false green beans, sesame miso chips

Best memory - lamb chops sous-vide, grilled and finihsed with almond saffron oil

Land of Lungi - Atlantic lobster cooked in chameen style, malabari coconut curry

River king - fresh water prawns grilled in tandoor with a curry leaf infusion and mango chutney

Angry bird - slow cooked country Thai chicken in a spiced Chettinad style curry

Made in Japan - matcha tea cake, mascarpone cream, vanilla salt and fresh wasabi

Poor mans porridge - firni-jasmine ice cream, pistachio crisps, rose room freshener

Magnum - inspired by the famous ice cream

Petit fours - Turkish delight, lemon sour gel and crispy chocolate

www.eatatgaggan.com

Dishoom (kings Cross), London

The Kings Cross restaurant is the newest of the Dishoom mini London empire. Opened last November it occupies a large Victorian warehouse spread over three floors. It is styled with a throwback to Bombay complete with a huge railway style clock.

Each Dishoom site has a special and for Kings Cross it’s the Nalli Nihari - described as a robust lamb-on-the-bone stew with generous spice, for strength and protection against faintness of heart. Served with sesame onion seed naan and added bheja (lamb brain) this was certainly packed full of flavour and is probably my favourite curry to date.

Bheja (lamb brain)

 

Chicken berry Britannia biryani – sealed and slow-cooked, this layered and aromatic dish was simply sensational. If the Nihari was my favourite curry to date this is certainly my number one biryani. The spices were simply spot on and the texture of the rice and chicken just right finished off with sweet pieces of cranberry. Simply put it was superb and ideal for mopping up the last of the nihari curry. 

Masala prawns – simple and charred slightly at the edges, overshadowed by the previous two dishes but did the job.

Gunpowder potatoes – skin on potatoes with butter, crushed aromatic seeds and green herbs.

 

 

All the above washed down with the obligatory spicy house chai along with a selection of fresh juices. Its a common trend that style is usually accomplished with substance being sacrificed, but not here, the food is certainly the star.

Dishoom, London

I wanted something different for breakfast and Bombay café inspired Dishoom stood out. Starting with the house chai, the spice warmed me up but despite it being offered with unlimited refills I don’t think I could have more than two.

The first dish from the menu that took my fancy was Kejriwal, two fried eggs on chilli cheese toast. Reputably named after a member of the WIllingdon Club in Bombay who took a fancy to the dish. It certainly made for a breakfast with a twist and now makes normal cheese on toast appear boring.

Another Dishoom take on a classic breakfast item was the bacon and egg naan roll. Smoked streaky bacon from The Ginger Pig which is dry-cured for five days with rock salt and Demerara sugar before being cold smoked over oak chips. I may well have to ask for all my bacon sandwiches in naan bread in the future which may cause a few raised eyebrows. 

Gymkhana, London

In a rare outing for Indian cuisine we were torn between Michelin starred Trishna and its newer sibling, Gymkhana, which was recently crowned the restaurant of the year at the National Restaurant Awards, sitting at the summit of the top 100 list. It was this that swayed us to Mayfair based Gymkhana despite us initially preferring the seafood heavy Trishna menu. I thought booking at relatively short notice would be a problem but luckily we managed to get a table for lunch at midday which fit in ideally with our plans.

Gymkhana serves contemporary Indian cuisine using seasonal British ingredients, with a strong focus in the tandoori oven and sharing dishes.  The interior of Gymkhana is dominated by dark wooden panels, hunting trophies and ceiling fans in references to British Raj India. There is a an array of interesting cocktails on offer using exotic fruits and spices but being relatively early we stuck to old favourites, alphonso mango lassi topped with pistachio and a sweet lassi.

A set menu or the a la carte is offered during lunch service, we opted for the 3 courses for £25 which contained most of what caught our interest from the a la carte. A snack of cassava, lentil & potato papad were served with shrimp chutney & mango chutney was served before the starters. I preferred the spicy shrimp chutney whilst Mrs Nom preferred the sweet mango.

The starters arrived soon after and I was glad I made the decision to skip breakfast when I saw the portion sizes. We chose duck egg bhurji with lobster and malabar paratha and a dosa with chettinad duck & coconut chutney. The duck egg bhugji was a rich creamy scrambled egg littered with small lobster pieces which we mopped up with the extremely good malabar paratha bread. The duck with and coconut chutney was well spiced and fragrant but the dosa let it down slightly by being too oily.

After a short break the mains and sides arrived and kept on arriving, the whole table was soon filled with food and we both declared we’re never going to finish it all simultaneously! There was one dish that was an automatic choice being the kid goat methi keema with salli, pao and additional bheja (brains). The mince kid goat was given an added richness by the brain and it was recommended to be eating in the pao (sweet bread roll) sort of like a slider. I actually preferred to eat the kid goat with rice as I felt it was a little dry in the pao.

We chose the tandoori guinea fowl breast, leg & green mango chat, mint coriander chutney as the other main. This was slightly too spicy for Mrs Nom and this was quickly spotted by the helpful service who offered a cooling pomegranate & mint raita to offset it. I found the spicing just right and the guinea fowl was grilled perfectly without drying out the meat. The mains were served with dal maharani, palak paneer, basmati rice and a naan bread basket. The sides were generous to say the least and we would have been happy with them being half the size as it felt we were wasting a lot.

To finish we picked the lightest dessert on the menu despite being at bursting point. The rose kulfi, rose Jelly, vermicelli, basundi, and wild basil seeds was light and fragrantly sweet. The service was on point without being overbearing and it was good to see that the dishes, many with street food origins retained its rugged charm rather than being dainty. For a set lunch it is certainly extremely good value.