This is what a meal at The Leela Palace, Delhi's five-star property looks like

A meal at any five-star property is an elaborate affair- and one that stands apart from any other meal you have had the fortune of relishing or liking. Naturally, the curiosity regarding how this very meal tastes is always at an all-time high. What sets it apart? Is it the ingredients, the finesse of the chef or maybe, the techniques used that blows our mind away and tingles our tastebuds like never before?

Instead of wondering about the possibilities, we decided to get our hands dirty (in a five-course meal) and give a sneak-peak at how a meal at a five-star looks like and why.

Our destination of liking was The Leela Palace, Delhi known across the country for its elegance and grandeur. Lucky for us, the hotel was celebrating the appointment of Chef Adrian Mellor as their Executive Chef, who brings with him over 28 years of culinary experience, which included a stint as the private chef to the royal family of Jordan.

Though he’s English by birth, Chef Mellor insists that his heart remains in Asia. After past stints at the Waldorf Astoria, Malaysia, The Oberoi Rajvilas, India and the Peninsula Manila, Philippines, he’s all ready to transform the kitchen of The Leela Palace, New Delhi.

His immediate aim, he says is to identify how the popular food trends of the West can be tweaked to suit the Indian palate. “Knowing my guests better will make my job incredibly easier,” he claims, before serving the most dreamy and delicious five-course meal anyone would dream of tasting.

Each dish served was a thoughtful creation inspired from the European classics and the way he re-imagined these classics. The idea was to have a menu which used all classic techniques like pickling, poaching, roasting, slow cooking and brining in a modern, unique way.

If this meal was anything to go by, it wouldn't be wrong to assume that Chef Mellor has already succeeded in knowing his guests.

Here’s how that looked-