Gaggan is home. Or is he? 

The flamboyant Kolkata-born drummer-turned-chef-turned-culinary rock star is finally bringing his irreverent spin on flavour to Delhi with rāga. His eponymous restaurant in Bangkok was recently named the second best in the world by the influential The 50 List, behind Asador Etxebarri in Spain. Of course, expectations are sky-high.  

Unsurprisingly, the restaurant oozes attitude. Set in swanky Janpath, its heavy doors open into a cathedral-like foyer dominated by stained-glass windows. A list of ‘house rules’ are handed to guests as they enter: phones on silent, one smoke break (if you must), and remember, ‘this is not dinner and a dash’. It is peak Gaggan: his kitchen, his rules and lick the plate when you are told to.

Chef Gaggan Anand
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The ₹23,333 you pay per couple (non-refundable and to be paid in full when you book) is not just for a meal, it is for theatre, the extravagance and, let us be honest, the novel experience of being guided firmly through an unpredictable menu in an age when we have become blasé about luxury.  

Then, you meet Rydo Anton, the ‘Ra’ in the equation, and realise why the restaurant has a different, quieter energy from Gaggan in Bangkok. The young, calm chef is putting his own mark on the space, working alongside his mentor to create something fresh. “When Gaggan told me we would be opening in India, I said, ‘Okay. So who is going to come with me? And he said, ‘No one. It is just you’.“ Rydo chuckles and adds, “He knows I like challenges.” 

Chef Rydo Anton
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Now 37-years-old, the Jakarta-born chef’s food is interesting because he is. He was sent to Kuala Lumpur with his brother when he was 11, in the wake of Indonesia’s monetary crisis. “I missed my mom’s food, so I started to cook,” he says. “It was survival for us.” He went on to get a diploma in culinary arts, then got his first internship at 18, cooking for members of a country club in Baltimore. The money he saved from this job enabled him to study at the Culinary Arts Academy in Switzerland, after which he worked with Gordon Ramsay’s restaurants in Doha. 

Inside rāga
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“In 2012, I went to Gaggan in Bangkok and asked him for a job. I became his head chef in 2015,” says Rydo.

Gaggan explains why Rydo was chosen for India. “After 14 years, Rydo knows both my cooking and my madness. He has seen the good days, the disasters, the ideas that worked and the ones that should never have left my head… Our energies are different. I can get excited about an idea and want to change everything immediately. He has the patience and precision to work through it and make it happen consistently. And he can disagree with me. That is very important. A kitchen where everybody says yes becomes very boring.” 

Gaggan adds, “People keep asking how much freedom I give him. Look at the name: the “Ra” comes before the “Ga”! He is my partner. rāga has to carry his identity too. If, after 14 years, all I have taught him is how to copy me, then I have failed as a mentor.” 

Aloo bonda sandwich
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As Bon Jovi’s ‘Livin‘ on a Prayer’plays in the background, we try Rydo’s spin on Gaggan’s popular Yoghurt Explosion, a version that brings together chilli-dusted guavas, a popular Indian roadside snack, and the popping candy of our childhood. I will not give away too many details from the menu – that ₹23,333 price tag is also for the joy of discovery. But I will warn you that you will enjoy some of it, be perplexed occasionally, and yes, not everything will work. Think of it like art: the exposure, the experience and your reaction to it is the point.  

“I think time and attention are enormous luxuries,” says Gaggan. He adds, “Somebody gives us a few hours of their life. What do we do with that? Can we make them curious? Can we make them laugh? Can a flavour bring back something they had forgotten? Beautiful crockery and good ingredients matter, of course. But you cannot buy an emotional response by putting an expensive ingredient on a plate. At rāga, we also want you to enjoy the whole journey without feeling exhausted by the food.” 

Inside rāga
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I sit facing the kitchen – always the best seats in the house in my opinion – while an army of chefs work with an easy rhythm, communicating constantly using eye contact and hand gestures, so all we hear is the sizzle of pans. While Sting’s ‘Every breath you take’ plays from powerful speakers, we clip through a 22-course menu inspired by some India’s street food, from Bengali walnut jhal muri to white chocolate pani puri, reimagined with sophisticated equipment, fancy culinary degrees and whimsy. There are nods to comfort food as well, including a serving of saffron ice cream with soft peaks.  

Monsoon glass papad
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Some flavours are sharper than they need to be, a consequence of the kitchen’s emphasis on concentrating flavour in every course. Rydo is gracious about the feedback, admitting that he is still developing his palate for Indian food. “After work I get kathi rolls for dinner, and I love the green chutney. It made me realise we need to make our food punchy.” 

He adds that the food at rāga will evolve with the chefs and seasons. As it should.  

After all, Gaggan sees food as a way to express himself. “When you are young, you carry a lot of anger and a lot of hunger. You want an opportunity, and when you don’t get it, you want to prove everybody wrong. That energy helped me. But you cannot spend your whole life cooking an argument,” Gaggan says. “Distance also makes you understand things differently. Food you took for granted becomes something you miss. You start examining your own memories more closely.” 

Pink blossom
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He emphasises that he does not see rāga as a homecoming. “India never really left my cooking. I could be in Bangkok, listening to rock music, using Japanese ingredients and the flavour would still take you somewhere in India. I guess, that connection was always there.”  

Now, he says, it is Rydo’s turn.  

rāga by Gaggan is at 21 A, Janpath Road, Connaught Place. It costs ₹11,111 (plus taxes) per guest.  

Published – November 12, 2026 08:00 am IST