The Verdict
Le Cirque arrived in New Delhi from a lineage that includes the original Sirio Maccioni restaurant in Manhattan — one of the defining restaurants of late 20th-century American fine dining — and the format transitioned to The Leela Palace Chanakyapuri with an understanding that the clientele here would be, if anything, more demanding than the regulars who wore suits to lunch in Midtown. The New Delhi edition, on the 10th floor of The Leela Palace, looks out over the Diplomatic Enclave — the cluster of embassy compounds that constitutes the most manicured square mile in India — and the combination of the view, the room, and the food produces something that operates at a level rarely available to diners in the city.
The restaurant underwent a significant reimagining in late 2025, reopening with a renewed space, an evolved menu, and a tasting menu format that replaces the previous à la carte approach for dinner. The cooking is rooted in French coastal tradition — the clear influence of Provençal technique, of careful stock-making, of the relationship between sea and land that defines southern French cooking — inflected with Italian sensibility in the pasta and risotto courses, and with occasional nods to the spice vocabulary of the subcontinent that the restaurant resists making too explicit. You are not eating Indian food with French technique here. You are eating French food that knows where it is.
The interior received a significant upgrade: softer lighting, more carefully chosen furniture, a wine cabinet visible from the main dining room that communicates the seriousness of the cellar. The sommelier is one of the best in Delhi — not merely knowledgeable but possessing the social intelligence to read a table and calibrate recommendations accordingly.
The Menu
Dinner operates through two tasting menu formats: a shorter five-course and a more complete seven-course, both available in the main dining room and in the private dining room that seats twelve. The lunch à la carte menu offers the same kitchen's best work in a less structured format — the foie gras preparation, the risotto, and the fish of the day are the reliable benchmarks. The truffle pasta, when available, is the clearest demonstration of why Le Cirque takes this cuisine seriously: properly perfumed, properly textured, and priced accurately for what it is.
The pastry section is exceptional by any standard in Delhi. The dessert courses in the tasting menu — typically a pre-dessert cheese selection followed by a composed dessert that changes seasonally — are the kind of final chapter that prompts genuine conversation about what you just ate. This is not common in India, where even excellent restaurants often treat dessert as an afterthought.
Why It Works for a Proposal
Le Cirque carries the weight of European ceremonial dining in a city where most formal occasions default to Indian palatial settings. If your intended partner grew up with European food as the language of celebration — if a proposal at Bukhara would feel wrong, not because Bukhara is lesser but because it is a different register — Le Cirque is the answer. The room on the 10th floor, looking over the lights of Chanakyapuri at night, is visually spectacular in the way that good proposals should be. The tasting menu removes the practical decisions of the evening, leaving both people free to be present for the moment itself. The private dining room is available for those who require additional privacy. The service, briefed in advance, can be trusted to understand the situation and behave accordingly. See all Proposal restaurants, or explore all New Delhi restaurants.
Related Restaurants in New Delhi
For the finest expression of modern Indian cooking — the contemporary alternative to Le Cirque's European register — Indian Accent at The Lodhi operates at the same level of quality and ambition. For the occasion-specific romance of Indian classical cooking, Dum Pukht at ITC Maurya — nearby in Chanakyapuri — provides an equally beautiful room with a completely different character. The Leela Palace's Japanese restaurant, Megu, is the natural companion for guests who want to remain within the same building while exploring a different cuisine entirely. See all New Delhi restaurants.