Chef-founder Manav Tuli is always at the top of his game at Leela, and his newly introduced Royal Experience tasting menu at the Causeway Bay Indian restaurant is a fine display of the chef’s precision and ingenuity.
The new multi-dish tasting menu (HKD1,188 pp) is chef Manav’s homage to the culinary craftsmanship of India’s ancient dynasties and royal courts. To design the menu, the chef spent countless hours researching long-lost recipes from Persian manuscripts, Ayurvedic traditions, and historic documents.
Each dish tells a story of India’s past in a creative, modernised way. The menu kicks off with the tangy rasam fish-cheek soup, a recipe once developed by royal Ayurvedic physicians in ancient Madurai to treat an ill prince, and vataka crab and lentil cake, a warrior’s snack enjoyed during the Mauryan Empire.
Then come the likes of the Mughal dish shishranga murg, or six-colour chicken, adapted from the Persian cookbook Nuskha-e-Shahjahani, kola urandai lamb croquette favoured by Sangam soldiers and hunters, and qaliya Shirazi Persian lamb stew, a staple of Mughal royal court life.
This meticulously researched and executed tasting menu ends with the khaja pistachio cream crisps, also originating in the Mauryan era. An optional Saicho sparkling tea (+HKD260 pp) or wine (+HKD400 pp) pairing add-on is available.
Leela, Shop 301–310, 3/F, Lee Garden Three, 1 Sunning Road, Causeway Bay, 2882 5316, WhatsApp 9739 8780, book here
