Le Grand Cirque

Le Grand Cirque
21 Daly Street
South Yarra 3141 

I seem to have a knack for reviewing restaurants that close soon after!  I must say I am very surprised that this is one of them.  I visited Manu Feildel's restaurant, (backed by George Calombaris' Made Group), a little while ago and really enjoyed it.  I was planning on returning soon and was going to blog about it after that, (with hopefully better quality photos), but it has just been announced that the restaurant will close next week.  After some consideration I decided to publish my post anyway. 
 

You enter the restaurant to a 'ticket box' reception/cloak room and billowing black curtains which part to reveal the restaurant proper. In keeping with the 'circus' theme a bowl of popcorn was offered whilst we perused the menu.  I liked this idea though the spice could have had more bite.

There were four of us and we shared a number of dishes.  The ham croquettes with cauliflower cream were delicious.  Cheesy, creamy, crunchy. They were the pick of the entrees.

The baby fish burgers with tartare sauce were very tasty. I liked the brioche bun. The school prawns served with aioli were fine though they didn't overly excite me.

For mains we shared the traditional cassoulet which was hearty and delicious.

And the beef cheeks in red wine sauce which was lovely.  My photo really doesn't do it justice. Beautiful tender meat in a rich, hearty sauce.

For sides we had the creamy potato puree. Divine! Pure comfort food.

 

We also enjoyed delicious baby green peas with lettuce, leeks and lardons.  
Meat, potato and peas elevated to great heights.

Of course we had to have dessert.  The salted caramel crème brûlée was rich, sweet and delicious.

Our final dish of the night was the highlight for me and one that I would have happily had as my main course! Melted goat's cheese on toast.  Rich, creamy and superb.  I became slightly obsessed with goat's cheese when I was in France last year and seriously could have made a meal of this dish.  Yum, Yum, Yum.  For this alone I would have returned to Le Grand Cirque!

So, all in all we liked everything we ordered, some more than others.  I can't remember exactly how much we paid but with a couple of bottles of wine and coffee I think it was around $70 a head.

I certainly hope we see Manu take another chance on the Melbourne food scene one day!