Sunday Brunch at Magique, Delhi

Magique
The Garden Village
Gate No 3
Garden of 5 Senses
Said Ul Ajaib
Delhi
97175 35533

We had heard a lot of positive reviews about the food at Magique and thought that a meal there would be a wonderful way to kickstart the New Year. So we headed over for lunch on the 2nd of January, only to find that they only served a buffet brunch on Sunday afternoons.
Since we were hungry enough and wanted to spend a couple of hours catching up with friends it seemed like a wonderful option. The choice on hand was quite varied and with 4 at our table, we were able to taste almost everything on offer.

There were indoor and outdoor seating options. Given the chilly weather and the gentle warmth of the sun we opted for the outside. There were umbrellas overhead to keep the direct sun off our heads and gas heaters were turned on to keep the nip in the air at bay.

 To start off we hit the salad and sushi bar. This entailed 4-5 different salad leaves and a multitude of dressings including thousand island and blue cheese. There were a couple of Middle eastern spreads - hummus, garlic tahina etc, so the bread basket included pitas as well as foccacias. There were 2 veg sushi rolls and the non vegetarian version was just omlettes. While they were very tasty, I don't really know how fresh their raw fish based sushis are.

Then for the hot section of our meals, we headed to the grill counter. Stuffed king prawns, lamb chops, chicken sausages, lemon and herb sole fillets for non vegetarians, grilled polenta, feta slices sandwiched with a pesto like filling and roast vegetables for the vegetarians were being grilled fresh at a table in the garden. Served with sides of a cheese sauce or herbed butter, the items were all very well marinated and cooked just right.

There was a Oriental wok counter right next to it, where the stationed chef was tossing fried rice and noodles to order with a wide variety of meat, sauces and vegetables. This was the only counter that we did not order from, but given the overall quality of food and the aromas from his station, it must have been good.

We next focussed our attention to the pizza counter. The base was a the shape, size and thickness of a Lebanese pita bread.The pizza chef had pepperoni (looked more like salami to me), smoked chicken, 4-5 different cheeses, some sun dried tomatoes and olives as toppings. We however did not let this limit us. Picking up some rocket leaves from the salad table and baby corn and other veggies from the oriental wok station, we requested the chef to incorporate these into our pizza and he gladly obliged.
The little kid with us gave his stamp of approval to the Margharita pizzas. (kids below 5 eat free, above 5 pay 50%)

The grills and pizzas took a few minutes to be prepared, but they were absolutely fresh and tasty when we sunk our teeth into them.

As if this wasn't enough, there was a Thai buffet to go through before we could consider dessert. Steamed Rice, Chicken red curry, vegetable green curry, fried tofu in basil sauce, a mixed mushroom dish (excellent), raw papaya salad, Thai salsa were all on offer. I could have been happy with just the rice and chicken curry for a couple of meals with the mushrooms being an added incentive. There was also a yummy spicy Tom Yum soup that coukd be turned non vegetarian with the addition of the side of steamed chicken.

In comparison to the amount of food we had consumed, the dessert table offerrings seemed a little meager. Mascarpone cheese with strawberries, carrot cake with cream cheese frosting, chocolate bars and a coffee mousse tart were the only options, while I enjoyed the carrot cake and chocolate mousse, the others at the table felt they would have preferred sweeter options.

Soft drinks, mineral water, mocktails and tea/coffee were included in the brunch package, alcohol and cocktails were extra. I had a lovely cinnamon flavored virgin mojito and the husband had a smoothie that he quite enjoyed too. Lots of healthy fruit based options in the mocktail menu. We ended the meal with jasmine tea and coffee.

The brunch was 1200Rs per person + taxes which worked out to almost 1500Rs per person. Extremely reasonable for the amount of food on offer, especially since I heard that an ala carte meal at Magique without alcohol can run into 3000Rs per person.

Ambience : 9
Food : 8.5
Service : 7