Own your downtime: Mise en scÈne dans le cirque

Sirio Maccioni was responsible for the transformation of the New York party scene in the 1970s with his restaurant Le Cirque (literally, the circus) featuring tents and monkeys. Although his Las Vegas restaurant has a Michelin star, Maccioni says that the age of Michelin is ending as younger gourmands choose simpler fare. His son Marco, who is keen on a Michelin star for the Indian restaurant, interrupts and is shushed. “I am too old now not to speak my mind,” his father says.

Across the table, smiling, is Capt. C.P. Krishnan Nair, the man who, at 90, has spent hundreds of crores on The Leela Palace hotel in the heart of New Delhi’s diplomatic enclave where the first Le Cirque in India is housed. “The market expands, tries new things, and develops as the best in the world comes in,” says Nair. “This is what our partnership with Le Cirque in India is all about.” He hopes that Le Cirque will bring top-dollar paying clients. For hotel guests paying some of the highest room rates in India, Nair is trying for a touch of the familiar, perhaps brands that they patronise globally.

Around the world, the Michelin system’s datedness has been debated for some years. Critics say it favours heavy, old French styles of cooking that are out of palate with new customers. François Simon, the most revered French food critic, has openly called the Michelin guide and its rating system boring.

Indian restaurants have been aware of the culinary traditions of the last decade, as the Michelin-era gave way to the molecular gastronomy of El Bulli and the strongly back-to-roots style of Noma, which reinvented Nordic simple food. They have followed the latter trend especially, with fine-dining restaurants offering more rustic-style Italian and Mediterranean dishes.

Le Cirque in India will serve primarily Italian food (which is more popular and accessible currently than French food). However, there will be signature dishes such as the paupiette of black cod, morel risotto, and ravioli de Mama Egi.

Celebrity chef Ritu Dalmia, known for her Italian food, says she recently had a great meal at Le Cirque but does not think the name alone will impress. “The Indian customer is not willing to pay Rs 5,000 per head for Bollinger champagne risotto.”

Though there are a couple of Indian chefs who have won Michelin stars, such as Vineet Bhatia and Atul Kocchar, Dalmia says the Michelin era is dead, and big-name restaurants in the country have a difficult road.

“What brand has come to India and made a name?” she asks. “Nobu has been trying for a long time but has not succeeded. Hakkasan finally came from London to Mumbai but it serves Chinese food, which is popular here anyway. I think Le Cirque will have to try very hard. Without their circus feel one wonders if the name and the food will be enough.”

Food analyst, writer, and cook Anoothi Vishal is similarly unmoved. “I am not impressed with what they are serving at Le Cirque at the moment, and without the histrionics the experience is not the same.”

With a capacity to seat only 144 per night, a hotel insider who doesn’t want to be named says Le Cirque will have to run at almost full house every day to break even. Though the owners will not reveal the investment in the restaurant, industry experts say it could easily be half a million dollars, even though the circus theme was axed to save costs.

Le Cirque is at the top end of a range of international restaurants currently entering India, from London’s Hakkasan and Carluccio, to the mid-range California Pizza Kitchen and breakfast hit Le Pain Quotidien, who have been lured by a food and beverage market expanding at a compounded annual growth rate of 7.5%.

But the elder Maccioni might already be realising that legacy will not be enough in a market as complex as India, especially since he has not brought the circus to town.