A popular Indian cuisine eatery in Thailand has created history by winning Asia's best restaurant award for the fourth consecutive year at a ceremony in China's Macau city.
Gaggan Anand's Bangkok restaurant Gaggan won the annual 'Asia's 50 Best Restaurants' award presented at the Wynn Palace's Grand Theatre in Macau yesterday.
The list of 50 best is based on votes from a group of more than 300 leaders across Asia's restaurant industry.
"We have become a family, and that's the best thing that has happened in the last six years of 50 Best," said Kolkatta-born Anand as he accepted the award.
"We have young chefs taking over from the old ones. So it's time for us to leave and you guys to take over," he said.
Anand, whose takes inspiration from late Apple co-founder Steve Jobs, said it was not just about a recipe or a dish, but about "how you innovate in that 150 square meters that you have".
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Gaggan grabbed the top award, beating Japanese food restaurant Den.
Launched in 2013, 'Asia's 50 Best Restaurants' list is the regional version of the famous list of 'The World's 50 Best Restaurants'.
"The first year I won number one, everybody thought it was a fluke. Or we paid someone. I got these controversies, indirectly. The second year, we kept them quiet. The third year, we said, 'shut the f*** up'. The fourth year, I'm ready to lose. I've had enough," Annand told prestige newsmagazine day before the awards.
Anand opened Gaggan in December 2010.Since then the restaurant has been repeatedly placed on the Restaurant's The World's 50 Best Restaurants list. In 2014 it ranked 17th in the global rankings.
He plans to close Gaggan in 2020 to start a 10 seat restaurant that opens only on weekends in Fukuoka, Japan.