In the global culinary world, fewer than 10% of Michelin-starred restaurants are led by women. Chef Garima Arora shattered this glass ceiling in 2018, becoming the first Indian woman to earn a Michelin star — a milestone that put India on the world’s fine dining map.

From Mumbai to Paris to Copenhagen to Bangkok, Garima’s story is one of courage, craft, and conviction. A former journalist, she traded her pen for a chef’s knife at 21 and never looked back. “I had never cooked before that,” she laughs. “But I always knew I wanted to be a chef. I just didn’t realize it would happen so soon.”

After studying at Le Cordon Bleu in Paris and working under legendary chefs like René Redzepi at Noma, Garima Arora opened her restaurant Gaa in Bangkok, which earned its first Michelin star within a ye

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