The Cinnamon Club Celebrates 15 Years of Indian Fine Dining in Westminster

Name: The Cinnamon Club

Where: The Old Westminster Library, 30-32 Great Smith Street, London, SW1P 3BU, http://cinnamonclub.com/

Cost: Starters range from £7.50 to £24, mains from £16 to £35, and desserts from £6.50 to £8.50. We opted for the 8-course tasting menu at £85 per person. 

About: The Cinnamon Club first launched at the grade II listed former Westminster Library in 2001. For this 15th anniversary year, the restaurant has had a £1m refit, with a new menu for both the restaurant and the bar. It is known for imaginative, upmarket modern Indian cooking with an emphasis on fish and game. Vivek Singh is the Executive Chef of the Cinnamon group, and the current Head Chef at The Cinnamon Club is Rakesh Nair.

The main dining room is one of the more distinctive restaurant venues in London. Walls are lined with the original books of the former library. With characterful parquet floors, grey leather seats and white linen tablecloths, in a room buzzing with journalists and politicians from the Houses of Parliament next door, there is an interesting atmosphere to the place, unlike any other restaurant I have been to in London.

What We Ate: We opted for the 8-course tasting menu, which started with a carpaccio of home cured Shetland salmon and green pea chutney. The salmon was lightly cured, halfway between a salmon sashimi and smoked salmon, and was served with a jalmori (a spiced puffed rice snack from Bengal) and dainty cubes of spiced potato.

The Kerala-style seafood bisque flamed with brandy had a concentrated, spicy tomato stock with prawns, squid, aubergine and potato. It was presented with a separate chilled wafer of crispy lotus root and a crab salad. The combination of hot and chilled, smooth and crunchy was well conceived, although I found the chilli heat a little out of balance.

Next was a tandoori breast of Anjou squab pigeon, pumpkin chutney and peanut. Served with a delicious raita infused with smoked paprika, and an emerald-green coriander chutney, the pigeon was tender, medium rare and delicately gamey. My only quibble with this dish was its presentation which I felt was somewhat uninspiring.

The smoked Herdwick lamb escalope came with a galouti kebab mille feuille. Galouti kebabs hail from Uttar Pradesh in Northern India, and combine minced lamb, ginger and spices. The dish had a base of lamb mince, topped with filo pastry spiked with cumin, then lamb escalope, all topped with a paprika raita and finally the galouti kebab. With a garnish of mango puree and pickled onions, fresh and chutneyed coriander, this was an excellent lamb dish in three different textures, with crunchy vegetables. I enjoyed it very much, and although I really enjoyed the cumin-flavoured pastry, it was decidedly one, rather than one-thousand sheets thick.

After a refreshing green apple sorbet, we moved on to the tandoori wild Spencer Gulf king prawns. Spencer Gulf prawns come from Australia, and are said to be among the finest in the world. Marinated in red chilli powder, the prawns were meaty and well-seasoned, served on a creamy bed of coconut and ginger sauce, with stir-fried cabbage and kale.

The main event was roast loin of Oisin red deer with black stone flower and onion reduction. Oisin literally means young deer or fawn, and black stone flower is a fungus commonly used as a spice in India. The Cinnamon Club has a reputation for serving top quality game, and the fawn did not disappoint - tender, pink and succulent, it was very well made and the spice of the black stone flower was a first taste for me of the condiment.

Pre-dessert was carrot halwa spring roll in filo pastry, with clove ice cream, cashew nut, and a few swirls of caramel. The clove ice cream was intensely aromatic and heady with the warm spice, and the combination of clove and sweet carrot was a delight.

Dessert proper was green cardamom brulée with rose petal and pistachio biscotti. This was a very familiar French dessert enlivened by some typically subcontinental spices.

What We Drank: The wine list is extensive, and focuses on classic French and European wines, although there is broad representation from across the full range of New World wines. The entry level white is a Vin de Pays d’Oc (£25), while for reds it is an Italian Nero d'Avola at £26.

In the relaunched Cinnamon Club, the Negronis change with the seasons. As well as the obligatory gin and Campari, in the autumn they used Darjeeling tea, in the winter (when I visited) they used chestnut liqueur, and in spring it will change again.

We started with a couple of pre-dinner drinks in the bar. The Seasonal Negroni (£10.50) combined chestnut liqueur with gin and Campari. A glass of Franciacorta Brut DOCG, from Contadi Castaldi (£8.90) had fine bubbles, elegant structure and refreshing acidity.  

To accompany our tasting menu, we shared a bottle of Cuvée Marie Louise, Domaine de Gravennes, from the Southern Rhone (£53). A classic blend of Grenache, Mourvedre and Syrah, this had plenty of damson and black cherry fruit, a hint of cracked pepper, and some very nice tannins - more than a match for the heat of the dishes.

With dessert, we had a glass of Saussignac, Vendage d'Autrefois, Gascony 2012, (£7 per glass). This had lovely honeyed fruit, with enough bracing acidity and depth of green fruit flavour to stop it from being cloying.   

Likes: The venue is charming, characterful and unusual. I particularly enjoyed the lamb three ways, the Spencer Gulf king prawn and the loin of baby red deer. The cocktails and the wine list are well thought out, and the sommelier's suggestion for our visit was spot on. 

Dislikes: I always feel that in any tasting menu, one of the first offerings should be a wow dish. For me, fortunately if somewhat belatedly, the level of interest and the wow-factor peaked halfway through the menu. 

Verdict: For modern Indian fine-dining in a stunning setting next to Westminster Abbey, The Cinnamon Club continues to be one of London’s best options. Recommended.

Thali - an Indian Neighbourhood Restaurant to Cross London for!

Name: Thali 

Where: 166 Old Brompton Road, London, SW5 0BA, http://www.thali.uk.com/html/home.html

Cost: Thali's a la carte menu offers small plates priced at £3.50 to £11.95 and main courses ranging from £10.95 to £14.95. The eponymous thalis are steel food plates with various small bowls containing a variety of different hot and cold dishes costing from £12 to £19. There is also a seasonal tasting menu priced at £45 per person.

The wine list is extensive including some greats like the Beaucastel Chateauneuf du Pape 2009 (£109), and Penfold Grange Hermitage 1999 (£385) perhaps reflecting the restaurant’s Brompton Road location. Entry level wines include a Chilean Chardonnay from Concha y Toro and a Cuvee du Roy Merlot 2014 from France at £18 each. 

About: Opened in 2008, Thali is a charming neighbourhood restaurant in Earls Court serving North Indian cooking created by Head Chef Dila Ram, formerly of Bombay Brasserie.

We were surprised to find it heaving on a rainy Tuesday evening when we visited with a seemingly local crowd. With white plaster and bare brick walls decorated with vintage Bollywood movie posters, and a bicycle rickshaw hanging on the wall, Thali has an elegantly casual but inviting feel.

What We Ate: We opted for the tasting menu. This featured 8 different options starting with a delicious dish called palak chaat made of marinated baby spinach, shallow fried in chickpea flower. The spinach was served very crispy topped with lightly sweetened yoghurt, coriander and tamarind sauce, onions and tomatoes. Sweet and crunchy, with refreshing tartness from the tamarind and yoghurt, this was a really lovely start to our meal.

The Archari chicken tikka followed. Marinated for 10 hours with some delicately aromatic spices, these chunky, succulent pieces of chicken breast were then grilled and served with a tangy mustard sauce.

The next dish was another highlight of our meal, not only for the delicious combination of flavours, but also for its presentation - grilled, lightly spiced scallops and cherry tomato halves were served in a creamy, delicate sun-dried tomato and basil sauce. I loved this dish – delicate yet packed with flavour.

We also had lamb chops braised in yoghurt laced with garam masala spices (green cardamom, cloves, black peppercorns, mace, cinnamon and nutmeg). Accompanied by a mint and coriander sauce, the lamb was super tender, served still slightly pink, and with a delicious savour from the tandoor oven.

And then onto the mains, there were three. One of these was Thali’s venison Bhuna, spiced with garam masala, okra, onion, cumin and tomatoes cooked in a tandoor oven. Bhuna is a traditional Indian style of cooking in which spices are fried in oil to extract their flavours, meat is then added and left to marinate for 24 hours before being cooked in its own juices. This process made for a intensely flavourful dish, rich in aromatic cardamom and other spices and with tender and succulent venison (a meat that can sometimes be rather dry if not properly cooked).

The prawn paithya featured Bengal king prawns in a tomato and onion sauce. Paithya (or pathia) dishes are cooked in a hot, sweet and sour sauce, based on tamarind pulp with garam masala spices, garlic, onion, jaggery sugar and tomato. I loved this but felt that the accompanying sauce tasted similar to the earlier scallop and tomato dish.

The final main was a well made chicken biryani, served with a refreshing  cucumber raita.

To accompany, there was an odd dish of spinach with garlic, cumin and cottage cheese, which I thought had a slightly odd, muddy texture (the spinach had been creamed with the cheese) - for me, the only weak dish on the menu.

The other accompaniments were a deliciously buttery naan, made on the premises, and a side dish of lovely okra fried with onions, tomatoes and fresh coriander.

The dessert of the day was milk dumplings – these were served hot with a warm cardamom syrup topped with chopped pistachio nuts. Though a delicately flavoured dessert, we felt it was not at par with some of the other dishes on the menu. Also a tiny dumpling per person does not quality as a proper dessert course in my opinion.

What We Drank: We shared a bottle of Duas Quintas Tinto 2012, from Ramos Pinto, Portugal (£26) - a fruit-driven, very drinkable red with soft tannins. 

Likes: We loved the crispy spinach starter, the grilled scallops and tomatoes as well as the venison main. Great service.

Dislikes: The dessert was uninspiring and a tad ungenerous, the spinach and cottage cheese accompaniment had a challenging texture though flavours were pleasant.

Verdict: There is some very good cooking at Thali. Dishes are delicately flavoured and expertly executed. I would love to return one day. Recommended. 

The New Tasting Menu at Tamarind of Mayfair

Words and Photography by Matthew Brown and Luiz Hara

Name: Tamarind of Mayfair

Where: 20 Queen Street, London, W1J 5PR, http://www.tamarindrestaurant.com/

Cost: We visited Tamarind of Mayfair to try their new ‘Taste of Tamarind’ menu, available every day until 9:30pm. It’s a six-course set menu, priced at £65 per person, or £115 with a pairing that includes some exceptional wines. 

The restaurant has several other menus. The lunch set-menu is £21.50 for two courses, and £24.50 for three. Sunday Lunch is £32 per person, and a pre- or post- theatre 3-course menu is £35. The à la carte menu is pricier but not excessively so, though there are decadent options, such as a Lobster Masala (£39.50) and Tiger Prawn Kebabs (£34.50) available. 

About: This year marks the twentieth anniversary of Tamarind of Mayfair’s opening on Queen Street. It was the first fine-dining Indian restaurant anywhere in the world to win a Michelin star, and it’s now the flagship for an international group with venues from Kensington to California.

Situated on a quiet Mayfair street, there’s no doubt that this restaurant is still the jewel in the group’s crown. The gold-pillared underground dining room feels as though it’s in a great ocean liner.  It is an elegant restaurant overlooking a busy open plan kitchen offering impeccable service and great food.

What We Ate: Our meal began with a delicious Channa Chaat - spiced potato and chickpeas - served in a patty that had the shape and depth of colour of steak tartare, and just as indulgent. This was delicious - the chickpeas were soft, served with crispy fried gram flour for bite and a thick tamarind and sweetened yoghurt sauce for acidity and freshness. 

To follow we had the grilled scallop served with smoked peppers and spiced tomato chutney, which was not as successful (although any dish following that marvellous Channa Chaat would be at a disadvantage). The scallop flesh was soft, and the chutney well-spiced, but the tomato flavour was overwhelming in our opinion - the dish lacked the complexity and freshness of the Channa Chaat.

Tandoor-grilled baby chicken breast was better, with charcoal-smoked crispy skin and butter-soft flesh, served with fenugreek leaves wrapped in vermicelli and a spiced tomato purêe.

Up to this point the portions had been small, and a rich but tiny tamarind and date sorbet did little to assuage our hunger. The fourth course was however more substantial, and very well made - lamb chops served with spiced spinach, a creamy makhni daal, pulao rice and naan bread. The daal was dark and creamy, the spinach rich but light and the lamb chop was an excellent choice of meat.

For dessert, we had carrot fudge served with white raisins and melon seeds. This was soft and buttery, and served with a rich, nutty pistachio kulfi.

Tamarind clearly pays as much attention to its desserts as it does its savouries, and even the petit fours - salted caramel truffles and mint leaves coated in white chocolate, could have been a dessert in their own right. They were delicious.

What We Drank: With the sublime Channa Chaat was paired with an equally vibrant wine - a Riesling Trimbach 2007, from Cuvée Frederic Emile in Alsace, with apricot flavours and plenty of minerality, this was more than a match for the rich tamarind sauce.

With the scallop came a delicious Chablis Premier Cru Les Lys 2013, with fine citrus fruit and melon notes.

With the tandoori chicken came a chardonnay from Italy, the Cevaro della Sala 2012, with exotic tropical fruit flavours to match the weight of the dish.

To accompany the lamb, we had a glass of Dom Chante Cigale 2011 from Chateauneuf-du-Pape. Another respected vineyard on a flight of strong European wines, this complex wine made of several varietals had soft tannins, berry fruit flavours and great length.

Our dessert wine was an Andrew Quady Orange Blossom Muscat from California – sweet enough not to be overwhelmed by the dessert but with enough acidity to give it some grip. 

Likes: The tasting menu is well balanced and varied in character. The Channa Chaat warrants a visit to Tamarind of Mayfair on its own right. It can be hard to partner Indian food with wine, but Tamarind’s sommelier has chosen some excellent wines that are also a reason to visit in themselves.

Dislikes: The scallop dish was the weakest link in our opinion, and besides I could have done with a little more carb in the first three smaller starters.

Verdict:  With vibrant and well-balanced flavours, Tamarind’s tasting menu is an excellent option for those wanting to experience Michelin-starred Indian cooking in the heart of London's Mayfair. Highly recommended.

India Pale Ale - The Belgian Connection?

Words & Photography by Greg Klerkx and Luiz Hara

Beer is seemingly everywhere on London’s fine dining scene these days. It’s no longer odd for a Michelin-starred sommelier to recommend a fruit-infused brew instead of, say, a Muscat to finish, or even to hear the more heretical suggestion of a witbier to start. Craft brewpubs abound, growlers are the new must-have foodie toy, and everyone and their beer-making mother is trying to hop (no pun intended) onto the beery bandwagon.

Uber-hip Belgian brand Vedett has been a fixture on the discerning beer drinker’s scene for longer than most, though many Londoners may only have encountered Vedett’s squat, cheerily-coloured bottles with their moules et frites at the local Belgo. Until now, Vedett, a self-described ‘cult’ brand in the larger Duvel group, has made only two beers and made them very nicely indeed: a hop-tastic, aromatic and eminently drinkable Extra Blond and a lightly fizzy, almost candied Extra White. So far, so Belgian.

This month, the laid-back label is taking a much bigger leap into the fray with the launch of Vedett Extra Ordinary IPA. IPA beers aren’t unknown in Belgium, though they are a fairly recent development and tend to be bolder, darker and punchier in flavour and alcohol content – Vedett’s is a hefty 5.5% – than English IPAs. They most closely resemble American IPAs and often use American hop varieties, as does Vedett’s.

Vedett offered a chance to sample its new IPA and other beers at Cinnamon Kitchen, the suit-and-tie branch of Vivek Singh’s very successful Indian restaurant empire. The intent was to show off great beer and great food, but also to demonstrate the versatility of beer as a stand-alone food beverage – suitable not just as a novelty against one course, but fully capable of carrying a sophisticated four-course menu.

The Vedett Extra Ordinary IPA featured twice during our meal, initially with a some rather delicious canapés that showed Cinnamon Kitchen to very good advantage. Particularly delicious was baked tilapia with Bengali mustard and sweet pepper coulis, which managed the difficult feat of packing a huge flavour punch whilst not steamrolling the delicate tilapia. Potato and green pea cakes with tomato chutney were also lovely: robust and zingy, moist and crispy in the right proportion.

As for the IPA, it was absolutely delicious: not as overwhelmingly hoppy as some IPAs, yet still firm and treacly, dark gold in colour and eminently drinkable. Though the Vedett representatives on hand were somewhat modest about their entry into the crowded IPA field, they should feel very confident. This one deserves to be a hit.

The evening’s other beer-food pairings also worked a treat. Vedett’s workhorse Extra White provided a gently fruity, slightly lemony complement to Tandoori salmon with dill & mustard, served with a wasabi-infused green pea relish.

The smoother, somewhat more elegant Vedett Extra Blond held up nicely against a Chargrilled chicken with yoghurt & coriander, and also went well with a rich, kicky black lentil daal served with naan bread between courses.

Cinnamon Kitchen’s shining moment of the evening came with its main course, an absolutely gorgeous Chargrilled lamb fillet with mint & onion sauce that was succulent and perfectly spiced, the lamb falling apart on the fork (and very quickly disappearing from the plate.) If the intention of the lamb course was again to show the Extra Ordinary IPA to good effect, it worked: the IPA was just as compelling here as it was at the beginning of the evening.

We finished with Shrikhand cheesecake, ginger & fennel seed crumble and glasses of iced Liefmans Fruitesse, a refreshing cherry-and-berry-infused beer that is a favourite at The LondonFoodie Supper Club. By that point in the evening, the point had been proved: the beer revolution in fine dining is here to stay, and justly so.