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Gaggan Anand and Tsuyoshi Fukuyama – GohGan Fukuoka opening 2021

In January 2018, the Ayutthaya Kizuna Ekiden road race was held to commemorate the 130th anniversary of the establishment of bilateral ties between Japan and Thailand (Open to the New Shade – Feel Thai Diversity). In this unique race, mixed teams of Thai and Japanese runners follow a course that circumnavigates Ayutthaya Historical Park, a World Heritage site in the old capital city of Ayutthaya. Gastronomy-themed events were held in Tokyo and Fukuoka to announce the next race scheduled for January 2019 and commemorate the publication of the Michelin Guide for Thailand.

The Fukuoka event was held at 11:00 on October 5 at Tenjin Quantic and featured two guests, Gaggan Anand, the owner-chef of Gaggan in Bangkok, which has ranked first on the Asia’s 50 Best Restaurants list for four years running, and Tsuyoshi Fukuyama from La Maison de la Nature Goh in Nishi-nakasu, the only restaurant in Kyushu to make the list. Takanori Nakamura, a luxury lifestyle columnist, facilitated the event, which featured a talk on the variety of Thai culture and cuisine along with a special lunch prepared collaboratively by the two guests.

Gaggan and Fukuyama first met in 2014 through a common acquaintance who urged Gaggan to dine at Goh when he visited Fukuoka. Later, that very same acquaintance brought the two together to prepare a meal for his birthday party, and every year since 2015, the two have held three such culinary “jam sessions” that they dubbed GohGan. These GohGan events now garner the attention of foodies throughout Japan and Asia.

For GohGan, the chefs typically use pop-up kitchens instead of working from their own kitchen, and the ingredients, equipment, and team members differ every time. The collaboration transcends the boundaries of culture and language, with Gaggan speaking his Indian-accented English and Fukuyama his Hakata-inflected Japanese, but somehow, they manage to communicate. They hold several discussions to determine the original GohGan menus, which are not available in either chef’s restaurant, and they enjoy providing the event participants with a truly unique culinary experience.

And now for some incredible news that chefs and foodies the world over will be excited to hear! Both chefs have agreed to close their respective restaurants in 2020 and open a new establishment together in Fukuoka in 2021!

“I was impressed by the high quality of ingredients in Fukuoka and Kyushu. I am ready to commit to Fukuoka and learn more about the local culinary culture,” said Gaggan. For many visitors to Bangkok, their gateway to Thai food was the food stalls, but with his restaurant offering progressive Indian cuisine, Gaggan changed the landscape, attracting many visitors who wanted to experience his award-winning fare. Eying the potential of Fukuoka, he is now ready to change tack and bring a world-class restaurant to the city.

Gaggan and Fukuyama discuss GohGan Fukuoka 2021

After preparing a delicious fresh curry for attending guests, Gaggan and Fukuyama fielded questions from the audience. Below are some of their replies and a short video in which Gaggan summarizes his vision for their joint venture GohGan scheduled to open in Fukuoka in 2021.

Question: How did your partnership with Fukuyama begin?

Gaggan: Um, and if you’ve been to Goh before…it became internationally famous, his restaurant was very small and one kitchen, and the kitchen was smaller than this stage here, and he cooked amazing good food, which many chef have forgot to cook in today’s world.

And then I loved the plates, and ceremony and everything, and then he said, after, when we were drinking, that he loves curry. And I said okay, I will make curry for you tomorrow. So I made curry, he made gohan, and we called it GohGan.

I was also saying what he said…so…I want to say that…today in front of you there is luxury, and luxury and food is very similar. If you went to Bangkok ten years back, you will play golf, you will go to stay in hotel, but you will not spend money on food. You will eat on the street. Now, you will go to golf, you will spend a lot of money in the hotel, and you will spend double the money on food. Only one restaurant – Gaggan. Now I have five restaurants, and what I have done smartly, is now a tourist comes to Bangkok, and spends $250 in room but in Gaggan and Suhring, spend about $800. So food is luxury.

And that is why I want to come to Kyushu because here you have undervalued food. Food is too cheap here for the quality. But I think we can expose this to the world and make restaurants, chefs, hawkers and yatai owners more prosperous, and not struggling.

Closing comments by Gaggan (video clip)

“Today, we want to buy fashion according to season. Summer, autumn, winter – right? Spring collection. And, if I did fashion, fifteen years back, fifteen years back, when Louis Vuitton collaborated with Kusama, Louis Vuitton became colourful. And fashion changed forever. Louis Vuitton was boring, and suddenly he became colourful. I don’t know whether he is Louis Vuitton (gestures at Fukuyama) or I am Kusama, or I am Louis Vuitton or he is Kusama, but GohGan is not French cuisine, GohGan is not Japanese cuisine, GohGan, is not Indian food, not Gaggan is Thai food. Gohgan is a new definition of cuisine, a new definition of restaurant, and will be a new definition for people coming to eat and experience food. GohGan is not a cuisine, not a destination. GohGan is a journey. And want you all to come for this journey because my problem is that if I come to Kyushu, many many many foreigners will come to Kyushu, but I will try and give fifty percent to the locals, the people. That is what I will give. Because in Bangkok, many people come are Thai, and that is why my success of the restaurant is, because of the Thai, locally. And the international people. And I think success is domestic, and international people. So I need your love, and I need to give you back my love. Which is curry. Thank you so much.” – Gaggan Anand, Oct. 5, 2018.

 

 

Thanks to Esme Curtis for transcription.

Category
Food & Drink
Fukuoka City
Published: Oct 12, 2018 / Last Updated: Oct 15, 2018

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