A WINNING STEED
A meal at Cheval, French for horse, proves to be well worth the gamble. Be sure to bet on dessert
Cheval is French for horse. The Kala Ghoda eatery’s signage is painted on the newly whitewashed wall that was covered, not too long ago, with artist Sunil Padwal’s mural of a black horse blazing across a block of fuchsia.
Chicken liver parfait
Inside, on one of the restaurant’s rough-hewn pale walls, is a fluid,
freehand sketch of a horse in black paint. The equine theme ends there,
and despite its name, Cheval is not a French restaurant. It features
cuisines from different parts of Europe across its three rooms, each of
which has starkly different lighting and colour schemes.
On the menu, Italy is represented well, with pasta, risotto and a whole array of pizzas.
From France come dishes like fish en papillote, French onion tart and Gruyère soufflé.
From the UK, there are pies, rarebit, posset and sticky toffee
pudding. (Chef Will Bowlby trained under celebrated British chef Rowley
Leigh at London’s Le Café Anglais, which serves Anglo French cuisine.)
We skipped pizza for the unfamiliar and less ubiquitous, and discovered that the avocado-millet stack is a thing of joy. The creamy fruit was layered with little white pearls of millet, which made us wonder why anyone would ever eat couscous. The stack was tart, nutty, buttery, and fresh — a lovely start to the meal. The chicken liver parfait matched it, with a quenelle of creamy, smoky, not-funky liver mousse opposite another of mustard-stippled fig relish and fragments of thymeflecked champagne jelly in between. In comparison, the fennel-apple salad was needlessly awash in dressing, and the apple slices were mealy. Cheval’s service was intuitive on the night we stopped by. When we stopped after a bite of the rarebit — it was less exciting than a simple grilled-cheese sandwich — the staff took it off our table and, generously, also our bill.
Among the mains, our gratinated aubergine melanzana was even tastier (and fattier) than the parmigiana at Sundance, if that’s possible. And a chargrilled chicken thigh with chorizo and French beans, served on a spring onion mash cake, had superbly juicy meat matched well with the tang of chorizo, the snap of beans and the carbladen comfort of spuds.
Our last course outshone the rest of the meal. Every once in a
while, there’s a dessert that tastes better than it sounds or looks.
Cheval’s passion fruit crème brûlée tasted new and wonderful even after a
dozen spoonsful. Even if your meal has a few misses, this dish alone
should ensure that you head out at a happy trot.
We skipped pizza for the unfamiliar and less ubiquitous, and discovered that the avocado-millet stack is a thing of joy. The creamy fruit was layered with little white pearls of millet, which made us wonder why anyone would ever eat couscous. The stack was tart, nutty, buttery, and fresh — a lovely start to the meal. The chicken liver parfait matched it, with a quenelle of creamy, smoky, not-funky liver mousse opposite another of mustard-stippled fig relish and fragments of thymeflecked champagne jelly in between. In comparison, the fennel-apple salad was needlessly awash in dressing, and the apple slices were mealy. Cheval’s service was intuitive on the night we stopped by. When we stopped after a bite of the rarebit — it was less exciting than a simple grilled-cheese sandwich — the staff took it off our table and, generously, also our bill.
Among the mains, our gratinated aubergine melanzana was even tastier (and fattier) than the parmigiana at Sundance, if that’s possible. And a chargrilled chicken thigh with chorizo and French beans, served on a spring onion mash cake, had superbly juicy meat matched well with the tang of chorizo, the snap of beans and the carbladen comfort of spuds.
Our last course outshone the rest of the meal. Every once in a
while, there’s a dessert that tastes better than it sounds or looks.
Cheval’s passion fruit crème brûlée tasted new and wonderful even after a
dozen spoonsful. Even if your meal has a few misses, this dish alone
should ensure that you head out at a happy trot.
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