Modern European food, simple elegant settings and plenty of parking!
What do you get when two prominent chefs open their own place? You get this gem of a restaurant with a chef-driven menu.
Next door to the now defunct Chilli Seasons is this extremely attractive restaurant in shades of coffee and crème. So far it has only been open at night for dinner and there’s no doubt that at that time it is at its best, courtesy the back-lit wall. Simple and elegant, it is the brainchild of two chefs who used to head the Set’z kitchens a while ago. The best news of all is that in Delhi, starved of chef-owned restaurants, Chefs Julia and Jatin are there each and every day. They are the ones who make the menus (slated to change every day) and they are in the kitchen during operating hours
Tres (pronounced the Spanish way) serves modern European food. The menu is au courant and caters to today’s diner who wants to graze on several different tastes and flavours instead of the conventional starter and main course. There are platters made up of various themes, small plates as well as the conventional main courses. The best of the small plates was a seafood sausage with roasted sesame and brown garlic (Rs 359). The tiny pieces of what appeared to be shrimp gave the otherwise melt in the mouth sausage a lovely bite. Asparagus with free-range egg, smoked duck breast and shaved truffle (Rs 549) defined the restaurant and its style for me. Underplayed, stylish, well thought out and with great ingredients, the best part of Tres is that menus are slated to change every few days. When you have two well-known chefs at the helm of affairs, it’s eminently doable too!
Vegetarians are not second class citizens here either: champagne risotto with wild mushroom cream (Rs 499) is a sophisticated dish. The rice had bite (I had requested for it to be cooked al dente) and the stock was redolent with mushrooms. There’s wasn’t much in the way of champagne, but at that price, what do you expect?
On the plus side are the vegetables that Tres uses. My companion had flavourful, aromatic fennel with an order of scallops that tasted virtually garden fresh, and my side dish of steamed greens was sensational.
Must try: Baked Camembert, chicken liver parfait, olive oil poached chicken leg
Ratings
Food: 3.50
Service: 3.00
Décor: 3.50
17 Lodhi Colony Main Market
Tel: 24625520
Open from 7 pm to 11.30
Credit cards, alcohol
Meal for two: Rs 2,000
