BENGALURU: Looking over the lush gardens of The Leela Palace Bengaluru is French-Italian fine-dining restaurant, Le Cirque Signature. As part of their current promotion, the restaurant is serving signature dishes from Le Cirques across the globe. From Las Vegas to Dubai, as well of some of the signature dishes from the Bengaluru branch. The food showcases the best of what these restaurants have to offer. With a select menu of appetisers, mains and desserts, there is enough for both vegetarians and non-vegetarians to explore.
We started the meal with the Farm Fresh Burrata (from Le Cirque Dubai), which was served with char-grilled peaches, black olive puree, candied pine nuts and mesclun (assorted salad leaves). We loved the contrast of the fresh, creamy burrata cheese and the sweet peaches and crunchy, sugar-y nuts. The Parsnip and Truffle Soup was next, and the beautiful presentation was what we noticed first. The soup itself was heavenly – the confit mushrooms and parsnip chips gave the rich, creamy soup an earthy flavour, complementing the strong hit of truffle.
We tried the Peruvian White Asparagus next, from the New York Le Cirque, and loved the garlic flavours amid the fennel puree and slow poached egg. For the mains, we were served a Roasted Chilean Seabass, a signature of the Las Vegas Le Cirque, which came on a bed of fregola – a type of pasta from Sardinia made from couscous. The crispy skin of the seabass, with fresh flesh under, was an absolute delight, and for first-time fregola eaters, we were pleasantly surprised with the tiny rounds of pasta.
The favourite of the night was the Duo of Lamb. This signature dish from the Bengaluru Le Cirque, has a tender chunk of braised loin, a lamb croquette, and was served with a creamy carrot puree. The mint and pistachio couscous added the element of freshness to the dish, cutting the rich flavours of the meat.
Even though this menu has just one dessert featured, this one deserved its space to shine. Called Dark Chocolate Decadence, conceptualised by Le Cirque New Delhi, the dish comprised of a warm, dark and rich molten chocolate pudding, served with a rosemary crumble and scoop of vanilla truffle ice cream. With just over a week before the promotion ends, lovers of the fine-dining experience should definitely give some of these signatures a try. The promotion is on till July 22.Cost for two: `6,000