A review of the Le Cirque Signature restaurant in Leela Palace, Bangalore.
Le Cirque is an iconic restaurant that originated in New York. I have fond memories of reading about meals in Le Cirque in various books and magazines.. It was a pleasure being invited to a meal in their Bangalore branch which is located inside Leela Palace on Old Airport road.
It was a great evening full of interesting conversations with my fellow diners who mentioned some of the edible stuff which probably shouldn’t be mentioned on the blog and is popularly eaten/drank around Holi. Great food and some brilliant wine.
We started our food journey for the day with amuse bouche of mozzarella cheese atop a halved artichoke, served with artichoke puree and black truffle oil. Clean and clear flavours which packed a super punch.
Corn Soup was the choice of soup for the evening, with a choice of shrimp or Brie fritters – I had shrimp fritters and it went bed well with the slight sweetness of the soup and interesting texture thanks to the bits of tomato & corn and the thick but smooth soup.
For the salad course we had the Le Cirque Salad, a mix of arugula, lollo rosso, segmented orange, berries, mint, beets, figs, celery, carrot, toasted sunflower seeds, lemon and oregano dressing – citrusy and light, with a lot of crunch and freshness. Just the kind of salad I love and those carrots had me dreaming of the stuff I could do with my newly acquired Sparlizer.
This was probably the dish I was looking forward to the most looking forward to. I love risotto and with black truffle it is almost a dream. The black truffle risotto with Vialone nano rice, black truffle pesto and shavings, topped with burrata cheese, this one was perfect. Wipe down your plate till the last morsel perfect.
I had picked Paupiette as my main course for my love of fish and it was so good. The crisp pastry with perfectly flavoured filling.
The other main course of offer was the chicken which was served with a finger licking delicious sauce.
The last course of the day was a creme brûlée. It is one of my favourite desserts but I was so full by the time it arrived that I was wondering if I would be able to justice to it and boy, how wrong I was. It was one of the best ever creme brûlée I have eaten probably and I have eaten quite a few, including some in Europe. Most of us completely wiped the whole thing down. And the best part was the recipe on the base. A fitting end to the outstanding meal.
All in a great meal and if you are thinking where to head for a special meal whether it is to impress a client or celebrate something special in your life, Le Cirque is your answer.
Details: Le Cirque, The Leela Palace Bangalore; INR 7000 plus taxes for two people
PS – The pictures in this post have been provided by the Hotel. The light at dinner was terrible and even trying to click pictures was out of question.
Just coming out of Italy on a plate my taste buds have lingering memories of risotto and burrata this was like a revision of what we had throughout the week . Its time they open up one in Kolkata