“Back home, our restaurants run like industries. My restaurant (Gaggan) runs like an art house,” says Chef Gaggan Anand when asked about setting up shop in India. And that’s perhaps the unique approach that has earned his Bangkok venture the title of the best restaurant in Asia for the last three years.

BloombergQuint caught up with the chef in Mumbai earlier this week. And three minutes into a conversation with Anand, you know he’s not in the restaurant business for the money. For him, it’s a way of life.

Anand, 39, was born in Kolkata, and he loves coming back to India to meet family, friends and sometimes, also to whip up a special meal at a popup restaurant in a metro city.