Cinnamon Kitchen City restaurant review: dangerously moreish
Located right in the heart of corporate London, Cinnamon Kitchen City – an outpost of Vivek Singh’s growing empire of high-end Indian restaurants – could easily have become a canteen for power-lunching City types. But Singh had other ideas, instead creating a restaurant that feels at once grand yet intimate; casual yet sophisticated. A place that certainly works for off-duty traders (found here both early and late in the day as various markets close) but one that also draws in a disparate crowd of Shoreditch hipsters, multi-generational families, and nervy Tinder daters.
The space itself is vast, with a large bar to your left as you enter from Devonshire Square, and the large restaurant to the right.
In the corner is the eponymous kitchen itself, which offers a theatrical backdrop of flames, smoke, and gastronomic toil to your meal. But as pleasing as the space is, it is the food that leads here.
Subscribe to The Week
Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.
Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
For those with a serious appetite, an excellent place to start is the sharing kebab platter for two, which features smoky grilled king prawns, chicken tikka served on the bone, slices of perfectly pink lamb fillet and soft tandoori cod. Some mixed grills have obvious star acts and also-rans, here it is difficult to pick a winner.
If you haven’t come with a seriously rumbling stomach, the palak patta chaat, a combination of deep fried spinach and carom fritter with yoghurt, tamarind and coriander chutney is a delicious and less overwhelming alternative.
Onward to mains where a spicy tomato tamarind sauce brings out the best of my dining companion’s monkfish, while my Tandoori chicken breast with pomegranate, mint chilli korma is also well pitched.
And because we are unashamed gluttons, we also opted for the trio of dahls, which each come in their own gleaming stainless steel pan – the yellow lentils and chickpeas both tasty, but the buttery black dahl is the best of the bunch.
Big flavours need a big wine to match, and the Fabre Montmayou Reserva Malbec we are recommended is nicely pitched, offering a robust but not overpowering compliment to our choices.
Ice-cream and kulfi with honeycomb crumble bring our overindulgent meal to an excessive conclusion – and as we leave we pledge not to put ourselves in the way of such dangerously moreish food again. A few weeks later we have already booked our return visit.
Cinnamon Kitchen City, 9 Devonshire Square, EC2M 4YL. To book, visit cinnamon-kitchen.com
Create an account with the same email registered to your subscription to unlock access.
Sign up for Today's Best Articles in your inbox
A free daily email with the biggest news stories of the day – and the best features from TheWeek.com
Arion McNicoll is a freelance writer at The Week Digital and was previously the UK website’s editor. He has also held senior editorial roles at CNN, The Times and The Sunday Times. Along with his writing work, he co-hosts “Today in History with The Retrospectors”, Rethink Audio’s flagship daily podcast, and is a regular panellist (and occasional stand-in host) on “The Week Unwrapped”. He is also a judge for The Publisher Podcast Awards.
-
The billion-dollar fight over the 'holy grail' of shipwrecks
In The Spotlight Several nations have staked a claim to the San José's treasure but who has the right to it?
By Chas Newkey-Burden, The Week UK Published
-
Kate Winslet's eight-year battle to bring the life of Lee Miller to the big screen
The Blend Lee, based on the 1985 biography The Lives of Lee Miller, has been a long time in the making
By Olivia Cole Published
-
'Miracles in the mud'
Today's Newspapers A roundup of the headlines from the US front pages
By The Week Staff Published
-
The Count of Monte Cristo review: 'indecently spectacular' adaptation
The Week Recommends Dumas's classic 19th-century novel is once again given new life in this 'fast-moving' film
By The Week UK Published
-
Death of England: Closing Time review – 'bold, brash reflection on racism'
The Week Recommends The final part of this trilogy deftly explores rising political tensions across the country
By The Week UK Published
-
Sing Sing review: prison drama bursts with 'charm, energy and optimism'
The Week Recommends Colman Domingo plays a real-life prisoner in a performance likely to be an Oscars shoo-in
By The Week UK Published
-
Kaos review: comic retelling of Greek mythology starring Jeff Goldblum
The Week Recommends The new series captures audiences as it 'never takes itself too seriously'
By The Week UK Published
-
Blink Twice review: a 'stylish and savage' black comedy thriller
The Week Recommends Channing Tatum and Naomi Ackie stun in this film on the hedonistic rich directed by Zoë Kravitz
By The Week UK Published
-
Shifters review: 'beautiful' new romantic comedy offers 'bittersweet tenderness'
The Week Recommends The 'inventive, emotionally astute writing' leaves audiences gripped throughout
By The Week UK Published
-
How to do F1: British Grand Prix 2025
The Week Recommends One of the biggest events of the motorsports calendar is back and better than ever
By Rebekah Evans, The Week UK Published
-
Twisters review: 'warm-blooded' film explores dangerous weather
The Week Recommends The film, focusing on 'tornado wranglers', stars Daisy Edgar-Jones and Glen Powell
By The Week UK Published