Meat haunt springs a surprise with vegetarian delights

With long and swift strides Matteo Fontana steps into the room where over clinking glasses, lively faces are anticipating his new summer culinary sojourn.
Meat haunt springs a surprise with vegetarian delights

With long and swift strides Matteo Fontana steps into the room where over clinking glasses, lively faces are anticipating his new summer culinary sojourn. The Corporate Chef at Le Cirque, The Leela Palace New Delhi, has imagined a new menu where the dishes do not feel heavy on the stomach.

As Fontana sits at the table with his first dish before him, he has a glint in his eyes which indicates his excitement to introduce it to us. The dish in question is his grandmother’s recipe of a chicken liver pate with a dollop of nostalgia about the time he ate it from her loving hands. “She cooked it in a simple manner and served it with a humble loaf of bread. However, I have modernised the dish by offering a range of gourmet bread and jams,” says Chef Fontana.

Matteo Fontana, Chef
Matteo Fontana, Chef

Le Cirque is largely frequented by guests wanting to savour its non-vegetarian distinctiveness, so I was surprised to find the summer menu with vegetarian dishes, the highlight being a cold tomato soup. “We want to break away from the notion that the restaurant is great for its meats. This summer, that will surely change,” says Fontana, scurrying into the open kitchen and plodding back into the dining area with one of the best dishes on the menu, the Fagottini Stuffed with Green Pea and Ricotta Cheese. Finely sliced onions are deep fried and stuffed into two pasta parcels next to a light foam of buttermilk. The richness of the cheese and earthiness of the peas make it a melt-in-the-mouth offering. 

There’s Le Cirque Vegetable Garden with Truffle Dressing, which amalgamates pickled beetroot, cucumber, carrots shavings, peppers, asparagus, mushrooms, broccoli, a sweet frosted walnut, and mint sorbet, drizzled lightly with truffle. Crunchy, zesty, tangy, the dish was impactful, but I felt the green pea and mint sorbet is misplaced. The Chilled Heirloom Tomato Consomme with Tomato Salsa Crostini is enriched with a tomato sorbet that gradually dissolves into the clear soup, adding slight sweetness and texture.

Overall, the flavours personify discretion in terms of cooking temperature, unification of spices, and a visible freshness to each preparation enhanced through a clean plating philosophy and good portions sans sticky sauces or drizzles. Fontana, who is off to his home in Italy next week cannot wait to get away from the heat in Delhi, but hopes to rustle up his new recipes back home for friends and family. 
At: The Leela Palace New Delhi, Diplomatic Enclave, Chanakyapuri

Cooking Technique
The flavours personify discretion in terms of cooking temperature, unification of spices, and a visible freshness to each preparation.

Culinary Delight
Le Cirque Vegetable Garden with Truffle Dressing, which amalgamates pickled beetroot, cucumber, carrots shavings, peppers, asparagus, mushrooms, broccoli, a sweet frosted walnut, and mint sorbet, drizzled lightly with truffle. 

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