The Ultimate Christmas lunch buffet @ The Qube, The Leela Palace, New Delhi

December 17, 2015
2,699 Comments
Delhi has options galore when it
comes to fine dining. The five star properties in the city offer lucrative
options to make a festival more enchanting. I was enthralled to review the Qube
@ The Leela Palace New Delhi which is well known for its immauculate
hospitality and finesse in a well crafted menu.

My heart skipped a beat as we
entered the porch. The sun kissed gardens loked beautiful as seasonal flowers were planted that matched the flavor of the festival. We were greeted by the hospitable staff with folded hands and a lovely smile.
The hotel’s lobby looked
mesmerizing with a Gingerbread house at the corner and a large Christmas tree
echoing the festive season.
The edible Gingerbread house looked enchanting and
transcended me to the world of fairy tales.
The life-size gingerbread
shop-house is made of 2000 bricks of freshly baked gingerbread on the outside
and over 400 gingerbread tiles on the inside, 2.5 metric tons of royal icing
bejeweled with Nutcracker dolls, wreaths, traditional Christmas lights, stars,
baubles, and gold foil decorations.
It offers a full range of Christmas
delights like Mince Pies, Dundee Cakes, Plum Cakes, Xmas Cup Cakes, Chocolate
Santas, Christmas Cookies, Mini Gingerbread House adorned with henna-art,
Stollen bread and much more. I simply wanted to dig into the
scrumptious goodies.

We were ushered to the Qube, a
restaurant that has a brilliant glasshouse which ushers the serene landscape inside.
The beautiful chandeliers look heavenly that
create a symphony beyond imagination. A table next to the large window sil was
the place I chose to dine with my husband. I was admiring the beautiful garden
outside, just when the Executive Chef arrives.
The French Executive Chef,
Christophe Gillino has been at the helm of the kitchen for quite some time and
has acquired an enviable reputation for creating some of the handpicked dishes
using his incredible skills. He has put together an irresistible month-long
festive extravaganza.
He welcomed us and introduced the Christmas menu that celebrates
the best of European cuisines complemented by vegetables and herbs from the hotel’s
in-house kitchen garden.
Our taste buds were tantalised to
witness the finest cheese in the buffet with walnut and exotic fruits – a very exciting
way to start an evening of fine food!
The menu is something of a
triumph. We made our choices and moved on to the wine list. With a large
variety to peruse per page, we decided to let the resident sommelier decide the
preferred type of wines. We had the finest Australian wine.
 
The starter
The chef served us his signature
soup – Peas and coconut soup. An absolute lover of coconut, I devoured the soup
and tucked into a selection of warm and tasty breads straight from the oven.
The butter was at the perfect spreading temperature.
The appetizer consisted of a Non vegetarian kabab platter
which was spicy and colorful. This dish really did it for me; the kababs were so
tender and tantalising that my mouth watered.
It was coated in a turmeric
powder, which added flavour. The additions to the plate elevated
the simple kabab platter to a delicacy.
The main course
We were served the steam wild bass. The plate was a piece of artwork and I
could see that a lot of effort had been put into compiling the dish alone.
The flavor
of the sea bass combined with the richness of the lentils on the side were well
complemented with the exotic vegetables sautéed in low fire.  The fish was the winning element of the dish
for me. My glass of wine suited the dish quite well.
Dessert
While we sat there happily chatting about our evening so far and taking in our
comfortable surroundings, we were offered a pre dessert of three different
kinds of kufis in saffron, rose and mint. I have to admit that I did enjoy this
small seasonal offering. All the three kulfis were irresistible that went very
well to round off the review.
The X-Mas Classic Lunch is from  4th to 23rd, December,  2015 @The Qube. Make this festive season more
enchanting and unforgettable with The Leela Palace, New Delhi.
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