Earlier this week we headed down to Cinnamon Kitchen in Devonshire Square for a 3-course meal and of course to talk business. Initially I wasn’t mean to be attending this review dinner but DJB pulled out because the team he supports (United, whack!) were playing that night. A 3-course meal and drinks after a hard days work? I wasn’t going to pass on such an offer and 3 hours later, I didn’t regret the decision I had made. More after the cut.
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http://www.cinnamon-kitchen.com/
The Background
The Cinnamon Kitchen is a now restaurant bar concept created by the same people behind the Cinnamon Club. They’ve drawn upon the same ethos as the original restaurant. What shocked me was the fact the restaurant served a modern Indian cuisine. As I’m Indian, I rarely go out to an Indian restaurant as I know my Grandma cooks the finest Indian cuisine ever. As well as that most of Indian restaurants in London aren’t very classy and serve really bland food with menus consisting of the typical food. Just go down to Brick Lane and you’ll see what I mean. I mean there are still some very nice restaurants there but the majority you’ll know the food was blatantly microwaved. Cinnamon Kitchen however is a class above all of them.
The Atmosphere & Design
The location of the restaurant itself – Devonshire Square pretty much highlights what type of restaurant it is. It’s classy and located right in the heart of Liverpool Street area so you know it’s regular customers are the professionals who work around there. The design is fairly modern but there are remnants of historic Indian architecture featured within it. Those are the geometric patterns and the elegant lighting that sets the mood perfectly. Cinnamon Kitchen is split into 5 different rooms – tandoori bar & grill, main dining room, outdoor terrace, anise and the private dining room. From the private dining room, you can actually peep the Chefs while they’re hard at work preparing your meals.
The Service
We were greeted by 2 hostesses as soon as we arrived before they introduced to us to the manager who proceeded to show us around the restaurant. I guess that’s a blogger privilege as I doubt he comes out to greet every customer in such a manner. I noticed that the majority of the staff were actually Indian, this definitely adds to the authenticity of the place. I honestly dislike it when I go to a Chinese restaurant and the staff including the chefs are all English, it just loses a bit of identity in my opinion, however good the food is. If you ask Yang, then you’ll know how hilarious I find the really strong Indian accents but the staff here are well-spoken and expressed themselves eloquently.
The Anise/Bar
Before the meal, we decided to hit the bar to get a few drinks as it had been a long hard day of work. We both ended up ordering Mojito‘s but mine was a little different to the traditional cocktail, it was a mango mojito. Those that know me, know that my favourite fruit is mango, it’s an Indian thing – as a nation we’re obsessed with it. The bartenders was nice enough to give us a guide on how to make a mojito. Interesting tip: clap the mint leaf and the flavours will come out.
The Food
The Appetiser
To be honest, I’d have happily just ate the mains and went home but as we were doing a review, a 3-course meal + appetisers is standard. That’s the appetiser we had chosen, well the waiter chose for us as we had no clue what to pick from the menu. It was lush but would you really pay £7.50 for 2 small chicken nugget sized pieces of meat?
The Starter
Although this dish isn’t actually listed on the menu, it’s a combo platter of most of their starters. The platter was incredibly filling as it came with a vast array of meats, sauces as well as variety of Indian breads. I usually don’t mix and match meat and fish but this time it was just too mouth watery to turn down. My favourite had to be the lamb curry-esque thing and the worst thing was the yoghurt cakes. Digusting.
The Mains
roast rack of herdwick lamb with saffron sauce pilau rice £20.00
Again we had an issue with picking items from the menu as they had a variety of things from duck to deer, yes deer. We both ended up picking the same thing after the Waiter sold it to us in his description. The food actually took quite a while to be prepared but at the same time, we weren’t complaining as we were crazy full from the starter. Due to the length of the time that it took for the mains to be prepared, they sent out a ‘mid-meal’ snack which was apparently standard protocol. I beg to differ, they just took time and as we’re reviewers so we’re getting a free dessert to fatten us up in between meals.
However when the food finally arrived, it was exceptional. The lamb was so soft that it was easy to slice and dice. Yang was loving up the okra (lady fingers), I find them quite gross to be honest. They look odd. I actually didn’t have any more space in my stomach for the large portion of lamb that was sitting in front of me.
The Dessert
Yang: As stuffed as we were, it really wasn’t that hard for our waiter to convince us to try one of their irresistible desserts. I open the menu and immediately started looking for Cheesecake! Unfortunately they didn’t have any but what I got in the end I wouldn’t trade for any cheesecake. I got the pineapple slice sorbet as you can see in the photos, food must be a form of art at the Cinnamon Kitchen because the presentation was absolutely spot on. The Pineapple slice was very well marinated as it was topped with a scoop of Lemon Sorbet and a delicious sauce that was to die for!
I went for the pistachio cake with lemon sorbet. I’m not big on desserts, I just don’t want the extra fat/calories. I wasn’t too keen on the cake as it smelt too much of eggs but the sorbet and pistacchio stick covered in chocolate was pretty delicious.
Final Thoughts
I’d definitely recommend the place to anyone but at the same time be vary of the costs, it’s not the place you would take every female to. I’d definitely only take a real girlfriend/fiancé to this place considering some of the extortionate prices. Saying that, it’s a good place to take a chick to impress her, seal the deal. You know what I mean. Until next time folks.
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