Gaggan Anand, Bangkok

We had the most extraordinary meal of my career at Gaggan Anand's restaurant in Bangkok, and I say that as someone who has reviewed food professionally for eleven years. The menu is twenty-five courses of progressive Indian cuisine — Gaggan calls it emoji cuisine because each dish is represented by an emoji rather than a written description. You eat your way through tiny, jewel-like courses that taste like Indian street food reimagined by someone who has spent twenty years in molecular gastronomy. The first course is a single crisp ball that dissolves on your tongue releasing a burst of yoghurt chaat — the flavours of the vada pav I grew up eating outside Dadar station in Mumbai, but distilled and levitated. The octopus curry at course eleven made me put my fork down and sit in silence for a moment. Gaggan himself comes out between courses and talks to every table; he is exactly as intense and funny as you hope. The full menu takes about four hours and costs around ฿8,500pp with pairing. Book three months in advance.