First Indian Woman to bag a Michelin star

By Rashi Agarwal

Chef Garima Arora’s GAA in Bangkok is the first restaurant helmed by an Indian woman chef to be awarded the prestigious Michelin star. GAA’s maiden star gives it a pride of place in The Michelin Guide Thailand 2019.

Michelin Guides are a series of guide books published by the French tyre
company Michelin for more than a century. The term normally refers to the annually
published Michelin Red Guide, the oldest European hotel and restaurant reference guide, which awards up to three Michelin stars for excellence to a select few establishments.

The acquisition or loss of a star can have dramatic effects on the success of a restaurant. Arora grew up in Mumbai on a diet of exotic foods her father brought back from his travels. She studied in Jai Hind College and worked briefly as a journalist before leaving to chase her dreams at the age of 21. After a stint at Le Cordon Bleu in Paris, Arora worked with celebrated names such as René Redzepi, Gordon Ramsay and Gaggan Anand, before setting up her own restaurant in 2017. Her restaurant kitchen boasts of 12 people from 7 nationalities and the food is just as unique.

Ms Arora says she’s proud of her team and her restaurant and wants to continue to focus on GAA and “keep doing what we’re doing”. As a chef, all she wants her customers to walk away with every day is that “feeling of never having eaten something like this before”.