Gaggan Anand on fine dining after Covid-19, the racism of the Michelin Guide, and how diners at his Singapore pop-up will be in for a surprise
- The Indian celebrity chef tells the Post’s Yonden Lhatoo about how fine dining has changed during the pandemic – he’s had to mothball his Bangkok restaurant
- He says Singapore diners ‘do not know what’s coming to them’ at his pop-up there, and says of the Michelin Guide ‘a French guy judging Indian food is racist’
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Talking Post: Chef Gaggan Anand on ‘food racism’ and the future of fine dining, with Yonden Lhatoo
He has been in New York since June, consulting for an equity fund interested in investing in the food and beverage industry.
Anand is done with quarantines, which probably means he is not coming to Hong Kong any time soon because of its stringent requirements – up to 21 days’ quarantine. He doesn’t think he will reopen his restaurant Gaggan Anand in Bangkok for another six months.
When his restaurant shut some of his staff left, but early next month the remaining 24 staff will fly to Singapore, where he will operate a sold-out pop-up restaurant at the Mandala Club for 10 weeks.
He says the coronavirus pandemic that has dragged on for over 18 months has shattered chefs’ confidence.