Puchka, Soba And Foo Fighters Gaggan Anand No Holds Barred

OT Staff Settle the eternal debate&mdashDelhi, Kolkata or Mumbai for its street food

Gaggan Anand Kolkata. I was born there.

OT Staff A Japanese dish you won't get enough of when in Japan (he opens GohGan soon)

Gaggan Anand Soba noodles. They are so different in every part of Japan.

OT Staff One favourite Indian, Thai and Japanese ingredient each...

Gaggan Anand Chilli and mango. Japan has Miyazaki mangoes, the most expensive in the world Thailand has nam dok mai and India has alphonso. The three countries have three different chillies too. So I&rsquom from a mango-chilli land, living in a mango-chilli land and moving to a mango-chilli land.

OT Staff A song you enjoy cooking to...

Gaggan Anand &lsquoEverlong&rsquo by Foo Fighters (the live version from Skin and Bones).

OT Staff Favourite restaurant in your hometown&hellip

Gaggan Anand Kewpie&rsquos because it is one restaurant that hasn&rsquot changed its food.

OT Staff Punjabi food or Bengali food

Gaggan Anand I like puchka the Bengali way and dahi papdi chaat the Punjabi way.

OT Staff The wackiest food idea you&rsquove ever had&hellip

Gaggan Anand &lsquoLick it up&rsquo, a dish where you lick the plate. We don&rsquot just encourage it, we force you for that. You can&rsquot eat in our restaurant without licking the plate otherwise you go home. We call an Uber for you. There&rsquos no pretense in my restaurant. Maybe I won&rsquot get another Michelin Star for it, f*** it. I&rsquom happy with my Pirelli tyres.

OT Staff Number three (Michelin Star) is on its way

Gaggan Anand Or Number two is going away (laughs)

OT Staff Describe your cooking in three words.

Gaggan Anand Sex, lies and videotapes.

OT Staff What are you up to when not in the kitchen

Gaggan Anand Playing drums or with my daughter, or travelling.

OT Staff Something someone told you that really helped your cooking

Gaggan Anand Ferran Adrià [of elBulli fame] told me to use his technology and create my own cuisine. I&rsquom not a copy or a mimic&mdashif he was Moses, I&rsquom just carrying the commandments. He made the tools and the art I&rsquom just using his art to make my tools.

OT Staff Cooking as an art or cooking as a science

Gaggan Anand Both. It&rsquos a mix.

OT Staff When the time comes, which country will you retire to

Gaggan Anand Am I not doing that in the next two years I die when I stop cooking. You need seasons. You need winter to show off your jackets, and summer to show off your body.

OT Staff Best country for a foodie to visit&hellip

Gaggan Anand Every country. Then the foodies become more knowledgeable. If you think your country makes the best food, you&rsquore the biggest idiot. Every country has its own culture and its own food&mdashexcept Dubai.

OT Staff A learning from your travels that has helped with your cooking&hellip

Gaggan Anand Touch raw food and make it rawer. In India there&rsquos no raw dish. Sushi is the biggest disaster of this country.

OT Staff In food, modern reinterpretation or traditional fare

Gaggan Anand Both. Nostalgia, memory, fantasy. Jimi Hendrix, then Eric Clapton, then Guns N&rsquo Roses and hopefully not Justin Bieber. 

OT Staff The next&nbspbig thing in the culinary world

Gaggan Anand I can&rsquot say that. I don&rsquot think one thing can become the next big thing and if we stupidly give the fame to that one big thing, we&rsquore idiots.