Most seafood menus try to impress you with ingredients. This one at Le Cirque wins you over with how those ingredients are treated.

Even before the first course arrives, the space sets the tone. Warm lighting, plush seating, white table cloth, and that open kitchen quietly at work. It feels luxurious without trying too hard. Add to that one of the most thoughtfully stocked wine lists in the city, and you know you’re in for a proper, unhurried dining experience.

The “Queens of the Sea” tasting menu does not shout for attention. It builds it, course by course.

The Sea Urchin and Fennel Crusted Tuna Carpaccio is a confident start. The anchovy ice cream could have easily been overpowering, but instead it adds a soft, savoury depth. The fennel keeps everything light and balanced.

The Spanish Chicken Cotoletta might seem like a detour for a seafood menu, but it works. Crisp, indulgent, and elevated with Oscietra caviar and anchovy, it acts as a comforting pause before the seafood returns.

The Linguine with vongole and sea urchin is where things get indulgent. Some of us may find it a bit low on salt but this is exactly how it is served internationally. Silky, rich, and deeply flavourful, with confit garlic adding just the right amount of warmth. This is a dish you linger over.

I have never been a fan of abalone as I find it a bit chewy. However Chef braises it well to keep the texture without making it too chewy. The Braised Abalone with Chilean seabass delivers exactly what you hope for. Perfectly cooked fish, delicate and buttery, paired with the distinct texture of abalone. The oyster mushroom jus adds an earthy layer that ties it all together.

Dessert keeps things interesting. A Single Origin Chocolate Mousseline with sea salt and a touch of caviar. It sounds unusual, but it works. The salt sharpens the chocolate, and the caviar adds tiny bursts that keep each bite engaging.

What stands out is the restraint. With ingredients like caviar, sea urchin, and abalone, it is easy to go overboard. Here, everything is measured, elegant, and quietly confident.

At INR 11,000 plus taxes, this is clearly an indulgence. But between the food, the setting, and that wine list, it is the kind of meal you plan an evening around.

Available till 25th April. Definitely worth making time for.

Address: Le Cirque, Leela Palace, Chanakyapuri, New Delhi

Punjab is a land of milk, ghee and makhhan. Some even call it a kukkad (chicken) nation whose sale hits a peak during evenings when people enjoy their whisky and that even turns the population to turn their native language to English (pun intended)

On my recent trip to Amritsar I had a few hits (from unexpected outlets) and a few misses from a few well known places.

Starting with Murthal where we had the first halt.

Amrik Sukhdev: A place where I love the tandoori Paratha with soft white butter. Even though it was 1am in the morning, this huge space was so full and buzzing that we had to wait for 20 minutes. I won’t say that we had to stand in the queue as there is no queue. Guests are left on their own to search for the table making them stand next to someone else’s table who is still eating, giving them glances to get up early. What a spoiler. Wonder why they can’t have a token system?

No taste in the chowmien and serving hot milk instead of kada hua (thickened) milk only strengthened my resolve to not go back there anytime soon.

Kesar da Dhaba, Amritsar: This has been one of my favourite joint for dal makhani along with crisp tandoori parantha. But this outlet has also got more touristy over the years. I skipped my breakfast to enjoy my lunch here. And after the meal, I even had to skip my dinner apart from getting acidic burps.

So would I go back to Kesar? I still might if I am on that side but making a special visit that side is totally unnecessary. Pains of taking a rickshaw or walking in those narrow lanes with a waiting of at least 30 minutes is not worth it.

Lassi: We tried lassi at Ahuja which is again average.

However we were pleasantly surprised with the lassi at Rang Panjab, a restaurant. It’s thick lassi with peda and malai on top is so good that it can beat any popular joints hand down.

Fruit Cream: If you like fruit cream then you must try at Rana Fruit Cream. Though the temperature at which it is served is not correct and it is more like fruit ice cream, it is still so tasty that one can easily ask for a repeat.

Kulcha: There are many recommendations for Kulcha in the city. Almost 10 years ago I did a kulcha trail and even gave certificate to Ashok Kulchewala but this time I was in no mood to explore so much.

I wanted to try so much more. But given the overdose of ghee, makkhan etc, I ate just 5 meals including breakfast instead of 10 meals that I could have had in the duration that I was there. Just adding more and more fat doesn’t make the meal tasty. It has to be the right proportions of everything, including love.

For a detailed list of eateries, check out www.indianfoodfreak.com/amritsar

– Pawan Soni

The post Amritsar – The Land of Faith, Food and Ghee appeared first on Indian Food Freak.

There are four things that distinguish a good pizza from a not so good one. Here they are:

1) Base: A well cooked and a well aerated base is the first and foremost requirement. The litmus test of a good base is if you can eat the edges without any accompaniment

2) Sauce: The second most important component of a good pizza is its sauce. It should neither be too sweet nor too tart. I love the garlic flavour in it but I’ve seen many kids who don’t appreciate it. One has to keep kids happy as they are one of the biggest influencers, if not the consumer of pizza.

3) Cheese: Ofcourse, I can’t imagine my pizza without cheese. And more the merrier. The quality and mix of cheeses plays a huge role in making a pizza gourmet. Those liquid cheese are definitely avoidable.

4) Toppings: In addition to the other three characteristics, quality and quantity of topping also defines a good pizza. I can’t stress enough on the freshness of veggies or the quality of meats.

You must be wondering why I am talking about pizzas. This is because, for lunch today, I tried pizzas from Slyce, a new, delivery only brand from Zorawar Kalra’s kitty. He is someone who knows his food. With so many brands under his belt, he is sometimes unable to give enough time to each one but I have seen how much time he devotes when a brand is still building. And this attention shows in Slyce which is entering a very cluttered and low entry barrier segment – pizza.

Now, for the big question – are pizzas from Slyce any better?

The answer. A resounding yes!

I think pizzas are best eaten at the outlet, just out of the oven. Like a Neapolitan loses its gooey base and can’t be repeated properly in a delivery format. And this is where most outlets go wrong. They deliver the same product that they serve in their dine-in format. Slyce is a delivery only product and they have done their homework right. It ticks all my boxes for a good pizza. With six accompaniments including regular oregano and chilli flakes (both of which I didn’t try as pizzas were delicious without having to add anything), I loved the addition of pepperoncini, red paprika, toum sauce and jalapeno mayo. Pepperoni pizza that I ordered was one of the best I’ve had. The crust didn’t sit heavy on the stomach and didn’t cause bloating after finishing the meal. Had I received chilli oil with the pizza, it would have been sone pe suhaga. 

While pizzas are gourmet, pricing is not. I paid Rs.1118 (after Zomato discount and delivery charges), 2 medium size pizzas – Artichoke veg and 2X pepperoni and it felt pretty reasonable.

Slyce is available on both Zomato and Swiggy.

The post The Pizza Story From Slyce appeared first on Indian Food Freak.

I am not sure when macarons made their way from French patisseries into the Indian markets but I feel, these small nuggets of goodness travelled into our hearts, thanks to all the cooking shows and English food channels. Even then, not all bakeries make this difficult-to-get-right cookie.

Just three ingredients – egg whites, almond flour and sugar but still one of the more technical and fussy cookies to make. I dabble with baking cakes and cookies at home pretty successfully but this is something that I haven’t gathered enough courage to try.

The perfect sweet treat with a light crispy exterior and a wonderfully chewy interior, what’s there not to love. Colourful, beautiful and you can fill them with anything from ganache to jam to curd or buttercream and they will not fail to tempt even the most disciplined ones.

On a recent trip to Gurgaon, my friend and I stopped by at Theos in Cyberhub for breakfast. But this post is not an appreciation post for the award winning bakery. The regulars at Theo’s already know how pretty the place is, how warm and inviting the interiors are and how attentive the staff is. This post is about these trays with neatly arranged macarons on the bottom shelf of their huge and almost endless display counter. We had a passionfruit and a blueberry one that day. One bite and I was completely bamboozled! They had managed to get it so perfect.

I had a flashback to three earlier occasions (twice in Mumbai and once in Chandigarh) when I got a box of macarons home and was extremely disappointed. It had made me question the craze for these cookies internationally. They were dry and lacked any flavour. But what I held in my hand sitting at a corner table in Theos in Gurgaon took me on a quick trip through the streets of Paris. I loved them so much that I went back the next day and had some packed to bring back home.

Priced at Rs.110 per piece, they are not cheap by any standards but if you are like me who loves desserts with textural differences and ones which are not sickeningly sweet, you would love these. I just hope, Theos gives macarons a slightly more important place in their display counter. 

Do pick up some if you are in that side of the city and you won’t be disappointed.  You know what I want you to grab, right? Delicate, delectable and oh-so-yum macarons!

The post The Magical Macaron at Theos appeared first on Indian Food Freak.