India, Jan. 27 -- Though we talk a lot of about chefs and their role in creating a modern cuisine in India, the truth is that the innovation universe is tiny and it was only a small group of men who changed all the rules.

There is a whole Indian food subculture in London that I will deal with later, but for us in India, modern Indian cuisine only began with Manish Mehrotra at Delhi's Indian Accent. That restaurant opened in March 2009 and perhaps because of its location in a corner of Friend's Colony, never attracted the sort of attention it should have. The following year Gaggan Anand opened his restaurant in Bangkok and met with instant acclaim. Because India and Thailand are near each other, Gaggan's fame spread and his dishes (especi...