Chef Vix Rathour gazes through his kitchen's porthole at the scene inside the hidden private dining room of Gaggan at Louis Vuitton restaurant.
Diners sporting Patek Philippe watches are ceremoniously presented with the restaurant’s signature World Map dish. A social media sensation, the course features a globe that disassembles into three bite-sized creations, each inspired by a different global destination.
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Through the globe and throughout the menu, Rathour serves up bite-sized pieces of his own life. A twist on Jammie Dodgers, for example: shortcrust pastry seasoned with brown butter, filled with goat cheese cream and garnished with beetroot and caviar, a tribute to his hometown, London, and the British kitchen.
The diners, who just started the 11-course tasting menu, will conclude it with desserts created by World's 50 Best's Asia's pastry chef of the year, glasses of Hennessy Paradis cognac and a Japanese green tea infusion. Some days, as they say, are definitely better than others.
From Maxi to Mini
Ranked 31st on this year’s Asia’s 50 Best list, Gaggan at LV was opened by Chef Rathour two years ago.
The restaurant keeps an old money low profile, much like the chef himself, for whom this is a first-ever interview, a secret for those in the know, tucked away within the Louis Vuitton flagship store, standing in stark contrast to its media-savvy founder and namesake, eponymous Chef Gaggan Anand.
In the restaurant’s bright, elegant marble space, an unholy meritage now merges Vuitton's continental elegance and Anand’s rebellious cuisine. Rathour replaced the Indian-inspired bites tasting menu, often served at full volume to heavy metal music on dark bar, with a menu haute cuisine courses served in exemplary silence.
The english chef, a graduate of London’s classic luxury kitchens and also Gaggan Anand restaurant in Bangkok was brought in to create this hybrid's language.
Where others might have crumbled under the weight of these two opposing giants, Rathour flourishes. The tasting menu he created is nothing short of wonderful, amplifying from season to season, with some dishes surpassing his mentor in its complexity and technique. The victory of Dale Cooper over Killer Bob, to quote David Lynch, whose films inspired the new menu debuting in two weeks.
"I juggle here between them, in addition to the clientele, trying to meet the demands of the local crowd who want a Vuittonesque experience and expats and tourists looking for a piece of Gaggan while visiting Bangkok," he says.
What is the one thing you least expected when you opened nearly two years ago, I ask him.
"The attempts to walk out with branded souvenirs. We have to be constantly on guard," he laughs.
Gaggan Anand won its first Michelin star this year, against all odds, and amongs the expectations that you would be the ones to win it. "I was happy for Anand but our hearts were broken, truth be told. My team all hoped to come back home from the ceremony with a star, something that could make a huge difference for all of us."
Rathour’s kitchen team is a surprising sight for a chef’s restaurant: young cooks who arrived with no experience, most having worked in fast food, now undergoing training and mentoring as part of the chef's desire to give them a sought-after trade in Thailand's capital.
"we had Grab delivery drivers showing up for job interviews, workers from Pizza Hut, KFC, Subway. You name it. I selected my staff based solely on their motivation to succeed and their passion for cooking, so they would come ready to battle alongside me during every service. They are my children in this family we call a restaurant. I teach and cook with them every day, and seeing their success is one of my greatest sources of pride here."
Licking up Espresso Martini
The original concept for Gaggan at LV was a formalized, elegant version of the Indian chef’s flagship restaurant. Over the past year, it has evolved into an auteur kitchen, blending iconic Gaggan dishes with an increasing number of original creations by Rathour and pastry chef Dej Kewkacha, who's a strong candidate for the World's Best Pastry Chef title by 50 Best this year.
"What I brought from Gaggan is the rebel spirit. A large part of my menu consists of reinterpretations of dishes either I hate or he does – surf and turf, for example. Every such dish undergoes an upgrade, a somewhat therapeutic process, now that I think about it – so that I eventually find them delicious. Everyone loves dumplings or dishes with truffles. that’s easy and people-pleasing. Try to make them eat something they wouldn't normally put in their mouths. That's my challenge".
Among the dishes: Yogurt Explosion— a lactic sphere in varying constelations; Lick It Up, another classic Gaggan dish licked directly off the plate, designed here to look like the Vuitton monogram, to which Rathour added flavors of Espresso Martini; and Miyazaki beef with blue Cornish lobster.
The desserts include various masterfully crafted dishes, many of which are based on fruits. A dessert served inside an espresso cup, stands out, already becoming a tiktok sensation. "For every menu, Dej selects a theme and creates a series of beautiful, complex desserts and palate cleansers inspired by it. He has a unique style that integrates into my menu and adds an consideable layer of elegance and sophistication".
Maître D', Jake Leard, skillfully tells the stories of the dishes in addition to creating the drinks and wine menu.
His cocktails were presented earlier this year on Asian Sensation summit, which connects mixology with haute cuisine in Bangkok.
The new menu Rathour is launching, accompanied by Leard’s drinks, will be titled Spring Peaks – a pun on David Lynch’s legendary series Twin Peaks – and a tribute to Louis Vuitton’s spirit of travel.
From Gourmet to Korma
Vikram "Vix" Rathour was born in Hackney, East London to a third generation Indian working class family, whose its men work in restaurants. "I wanted to own a restaurant from a young age, something that rubbed off on me from my grandfather and father who was a curry chef. We would watch cooking shows featuring Raymond Blanc and Marco Pierre White. They were rock stars to me, yet at no point did I actually want to be a chef."
"I never fit the mold of the eager teenager cooking for high school friends, just waiting to work in a restaurant's grill. I certainly had no desire to cook Indian-influenced food; in my childhood, Indian cuisine wasn't a source of pride. I didn't grow up with that kind of food either – my mother isn't much of a cook, and from my father, who passed away when I was 12, I only have a memory of Butter Chicken, a dish that is more of a British fantasy of Indian food than authentic. I wanted to be British, to cook French Inspired Michelin food like Gordon Ramsay. The last thing I wanted was to be identified with Indian cuisine. I would get offended when chefs at school suggested I add coriander or cumin to my dishes. Inspiration from Indian food only came to me in Thailand, with Gaggan."
He entered the restaurant world in his early twenties, working at his uncle’s Italian restaurant in Kensington.
At 25, he decided to make a career of his job and enrolled to University of West London. "You have to understand how far was that world from me. Imagine my face, from pre-gentrification Hackney, arriving in the first year of school to intern at the Ritz, cooking for Vogue editors and royalty."
Later, he worked at Le Manoir (2 stars) and Heston Blumenthal’s The Fat Duck, once ranked world's best restaurant by 50Best. "At the Ritz and Le Manoir I learned technique and execution. Blumenthal gave me the legitimacy to be myself and to draw inspiration from my inner world rather than just creating versions of Beef Wellington."
After graduating, he opened a place in London which closed during Covid. "I then decided to take a break, move to Asia for a while, and do internships in preparation for opening a new place. I messaged Gaggan on Instagram after watching his episode on Netflix's Chef's Table, realizing I had been influenced by him without even knowing it—like with an emoji menu I created that he had at his place for years. From the moment he surprisingly replied, we had an instant connection, maybe because we are both Pisces. Less than a year later, I was already working on the setup for Gaggan at Louis Vuitton," he says.
הצגת פוסט זה באינסטגרם
I assume the shared background also worked in your favor, I tell him. "Look, there's a reason I call him Dad, even though there’s only a seven-year age difference between us. We share common interests, and he quickly saw me as someone worth investing in. Gaggan taught me to be a showman and how to present myself to the guests. Thanks to him, I also got connected to my Indian heritage at my very late age".
You ended up staying in Bangkok for over three years, becoming a local prodigy. "I thought I was leaving home for a few months in the twilight of covid, and here I am, still in Asia. London is my dream, and I want to return one day, I think everyone wants to be king of their hometown. For now, I love what I do. What happens next? Maybe a place that is entirely mine one day, a space where I can take my vision to the extreme. Maybe it will be in London, maybe somewhere else. I already learned firsthand that life is unpredictable."