Cinnamon Club regional menus

[Andy Lynes]

The Cinnamon Club restaurant in London are featuring regional Indian cuisine in a series of four month-long promotions in 2004.

February: Chef Rakesh Nair present dishes of his native Kerala including Warm pickled beef with rice pancake, Dry spice crusted bream wrapped in banana leaf, raw mango chutney and vermicelli and Sweetened coconut in rice flour crepe.

March: Chef Bhagwan Singh (formerly of the Rambagh Palace) offers food from Rajasthan such as Smoked rabbit escalopes, Venison and millet curry and Lotus seed flavoured rice pudding.

April: Chef Abdul Yaseen cooks up kebabs. Diced goat marinated in garlic and chilli and Rabbit leg marinated in cashewnut paste and wrapped in a roomali bread are on the menu.

May: Executive Chef Vivek Singh adds some Indian touches to his favourite Oriental dishes to include his renditions of Balinese chilli fried squid, Malaysian seafood laksa and Schezwan date pancake with vanilla coconut ice cream.

New Breakfast Menu

The Cinnamon Club is open for breakfast weekdays from 7.30 – 10am and the menu has both new ingredients and new dishes. The Indian menu now offers Uttapham – rice flour bread with toppings of onion, chillies, tomatoes or peppers, served with a coconut chutney and a vegetable broth, as well as Pao Bhaji – Bombay style spiced vegetable with a cumin bun.

New producers are being used for the English breakfasts – Sillfield Farm for rare breed pork and leek sausages, Donald Russell in Scotland for oak smoked back bacon as well as black and white puddings and Martin Pitts organic eggs. Smoked salmon comes from Loch Fyne.

The full breakfast menu can be viewed here.

Information courtesy of Jori White PR

[elyse]

There's a Cinnamon Club?

Should I just shut up most of the time?

[foodie52]

One question....

When did a Full English Breakfast come to cost 16 pounds?

I'm in shock....

[Andy Lynes]

That is pretty much the going hotel rate in London which is one of the reasons I never have breakfast if I have to stay over in the capital. The Cinnamon Club is located close to New Scotland Yard, Channel 4 TV and the Houses of Parliment and so I would guess there are plenty of overpaid Senior Police officials and TV execs and MPs willing to pay those prices.

[Matthew Grant]

Brakfast is the least of your problems. I had the tasting menu with wines - £200 for 2 people - ouch!

[Andy Lynes]

What did you think of the experience overall? I really like the look of the place from what I can see of it on the website, but it does seem slightly reminiscent of a Conran enormodome, in scale if nothing else.

[Matthew Grant]

The dining room is vast and perhaps a little dark (very Westminster). The food was good but I'm not sure how comfortable I felt paying those prices. Too many dishes were desribed as 'with spices' and contained no specifics. Overall the execution was very good. A prawn dish with Orange and 'spices' was exceptionally well balanced. I can't remember the other dishes well enough to comment further.

The bar downstairs was cool but didn't have enough people in it to carry it off. the Lassi cocktails were great.

[Andy Lynes]

Very nice press lunch at the Cinnamon Club on Tuesday which I'll write about later. For now, news that Iqbal Wahhab is attempting to open a Cinnamon Club in New York but is still looking for a site as the last one fell through, and that he has a second London venture on the cards, but not another Indian restaurant. More details when I have them.

[Andy Lynes]

Kerala Food Festival - Press Lunch 13 January

The Cinnamon Club is spotlighting the range of regional expertise in their kitchen over the next few months and first up is Rakesh Nair with the cuisine of Kerala. Here is the menu from the lunch: (NB the dishes will appear, individualy priced, across the restaurants menus in February)

Travancore style crab rasam soup

Reisling, Plantagenet Museum Release, Western Australia, 1998

Warm pickled beef with rice pancake

Gruner Veltliner, Ate Reben, Brundlmayer, Austria 2001

Dry spice crusted breaqm wrapped in banana leaf, raw mango chutney and rice vermicelli

Semillon, Brokenwood, ILR Reserve, Hunter Valley, Australia 1996

Malabar style chicken with dry roasted spices served with paratha

Condrieu, Domaine du Monteillet, Rhone, 2002

Banana fritters with palm jaggery and Sweetened coconut in rice flour crepe

Welsch Riesling, Hopler, Noble Reserve, Austria 1981

I'm no expert on Indian cooking and Kerala regional cuisine is new to me so I cannot attest to how authentic or otherwise the food was, or how it compares to other examples that may be available in London. However, Camellia Panjabi's 50 Great Curries of India tells me that Kerala is located on the South Western tip of India and that it's characteristic ingredients include coconut, cardamom, pineapple and red banana. Chef Nair told us that all the dishes presented included coconut and that the food was typical of the region.

The soup came as a hot and spicy consomme with large chunks of claw meat. Delicious, with more chili heat than I had expected (but then, what do I know from kerala cooking) and pretty much killed the riesling, which was great by itself however.

The pickled beef was presented as a mound of chunks on top of the rice pancake, topped with a tangle of probably-not-that-typical rocket leaves. The pickle flavour was quite pronounced, but I was assured by exec chef Vivek Singh this will mellow as the beef ages. It put me a little in mind of Malaysian rendang. Again, it was another hot dish and the Veltliner struggled. Malcom "Superplonk" Gluck felt that a Shiraz would have faired better, but commented that he loved Brudlmayer wines and thought them some of the best in the world.

Next up was the first highlight of the meal for me, the bream. Steamed in the leaf, the flesh was cooked to perfection. The chutney was slightly reminicent of romesco sauce and the vermicelli noodles, apparently made in house, were served with curry leaves, shallots and chili. Being a milder dish, the semillon worked well.

Malabar chicken was another winner, two very tender, braised drumsticks in a cocunt based sauce just perfect for mopping up in the many layers of the moreish paratha bread. The Condrieu was another fine wine, but at £64.00 it should be, and again held its own with the gentler, warming flavours.

What can I say about bananas deep fried in a gram flour batter, served with jaggery sauce and ice cream and a stunning dessert wine? Heaven. The coconut rice crepe, served on the same plate was as the fritter, was put in the shade by the star turn, but fine for those that may not like banana fritters, poor misguided fools though they may be.

I liked the room very much, the wood paneling and mezzannine level breaking up the large space giving it an intimate, clubby feel. Although populated mostly by hoardes of grey suits from the Palace of Westminster (and not forgetting the mayor of London) the restaurant was probably one of the few dining rooms in London to be rocking on a mid-January lunchtime.

[Andy Lynes]

The Cinnamon Club will be running a series of regional Indian food festivals again this year between February and Ma, starting with a menu dedicated to the Royal Food of Marwar. Executive Chef Vivek Singh says: “Not only do the festivals encourage my 20 strong team of chef's inherent creativity, but they also broaden our customers’ knowledge of Indian food in a way that many London restaurants cannot. While London has many very good Indian restaurants, the leaning has always been towards Punjabi cuisine.”

The restaurant has provided the following information about the festival menus:

FEBRUARY: MARWAR

The food of Rajasthani Marwar is traditionally lavish, thanks to the royalty who settled there centuries ago. Well established estates still provide ample game, which when accompanied by pulses (the region lacks fertility required to grow wheat successfully) and exotic spices, produces a cuisine that is earthy and rich. Surendra Singh Nathawat previously cooked at the Ram Bagh Palace Hotel, in Jaipur which is owned by the Royal Family of Jaipur. .

Hunter’s style lamb escalopes cooked with garlic and chilli £7.50

Perch in yoghurt and chickpea soup with cumin £6.50

***

Pheasant jungle curry with leg, breast cooked in tandoor £17.00

Slow braised lamb shoulder with green chillies and mustard, served with dried fruit pilau £17.00

***

Haandi Kheer - Rice and Lotus seed pudding finished with cashew and raisin, served hot £6.50

Apple jalebi - apple fritter in saffron syrup served with apple sorbet £6.50

MARCH: TAMIL NADU

Chennai (formerly Madras) is the capital city of Tamil Nadu, but as Madhur Jaffrey points out the region is not a living endorsement of Madras curry powder! On the contrary, the region’s food is typical of Southern Indian cooking - aromatic and very slightly sweet. Raju Ramachandran comes from a small town Tiruchirapalli, close to the temple town of Madurai and worked previously for the Taj Hotel Group in Madurai. His family have relatives in Sri Lanka (like many Tamil people) and the cross over of cuisines from Tamil Nadu and Sri Lanka are quite evident in Raju’s cooking.

King Prawn pepper fry with seafood ‘rasam’ £8.00

Green moong lentil pancake with spiced vegetable £6.50

***

Kozha Urundai Kozhambu – Lamb koftas spiced with garlic and star anise simmered in coconut, red chilli and coriander sauce £18.00

Meen Porichatu - Tawa fried mackerel with fennel and coriander sauce £16.00

***

Moong lentil ‘kheer’ brulée £7.00

Tender coconut and jaggery in pancake £7.00

APRIL – NORTH WEST FRONTIER

While the tandoor is considered the quintessential medium for Indian cookery, it was the mogul rulers who brought the tandoor with them from the Middle East. It was also the moguls who encouraged the eating of meat in a society that had previously only eaten vegetables. Their path through India began at the North-west frontier, which remains where evidence of a middle-eastern influence on Indian cookery is strongest. Awanish Kumar-Roy joined the Cinnamon Club from Oberoi Hotels, where he was stationed in a number of the regions hotels in Delhi and Bombay.

Banjara Tikka – Guinea fowl marinated with peanuts, spices and dried mango,

chargrilled in the tandoor and served with masala naan £7.50

Peshawari kebab- Diced lamb kebab with red chillies and pineapple juice £7.50

***

Baloochi Raan - Leg of Pyrenean milk fed lamb marinated in spices with malt vinegar, slow braised and then finished in the tandoor £22.00

Turra Kebab - Boneless leg of corn fed chicken marinated with green chillies, coriander and caramelised onions, then cooked in the tandoor. Served with dried fruit naan £16.00

Kabargah - Lamb chops simmered in milk with whole spices,

fennel and dried ginger, then batter fried £20.00

***

Lucknow style pancake with saffron ’rabri’ £7.50

MAY – KERALAN SEAFOOD

Keralan cuisine is dominated by seafood, unsurprising given its long coastline. Often considered as ‘God’s own country’, Kerala’s soils are fertile, and produce endless coconuts as well as peppers and cardamom. The regional cuisine is light and fragrant, simultaneously hot and sweet. Rakesh Ravindran Nair joined the Cinnamon Club in 2002 having trained in Trivandrum, Kerala.

Sardine Pickle £6.00

Stir fry of squid with garlic, shallots, coconut and chilli £8.00

***

Alleppy style curry of king prawns with green mango

and coconut served with ‘appam’ bread £22.00

Red spiced bream with hot masala crust £17.00

***

Plantain and coconut fritters with jackfruit ice cream £6.50

Moong lentil and rice ‘payasam’ with sweet spices £6.00

I went along to a special preview dinner, held in the book-lined ground floor bar. The menu was as follows:

Celebration of Keralan seafood by Rakesh Ravindran Nair

Sardine Pickle and Stir fry of squid with garlic, shallots, coconut and chilli

Muscat / Parellada, Terrasola, Jean Leon, Penedes, Spain, 2003

***

Royal food of Marwar by Himmat Singh Nathawat

Jungle style Pheasant curry with leg, breast cooked in tandoor

Pinot Gris, Lerchenberg, Les Alouettes, M Kredenweiss, Alsace, France, 2002

***

North-west frontier cooking by Awanish Kumar Roy

Baloochi Raan - Leg of Milk Fed Lamb marinated in spices with malt vinegar, slow braised and then finished in the tandoor

Pinot Noir, Barrel Selection, Bannockbrae Estate, Central Otago, New Zealand, 2002

***

Tamil Food promotion by Ramachandran Raju

Moong lentil ‘kheer’ brulée with tender coconut and jaggery in pancake

Riesling, Cordon Cut, Mt Horrocks, Clare Valley, Australia, 2003

Highlights of the meal for me were the seafood (the sardine and stir fry of squid will be served as two seperate dishes on the actual menu), which was beautifully and delicately spiced, the pheasant curry and the nan served with the lamb. Less successful was the breast of pheasant; it was just too late in the season to be roasted and the result was a little dry. The lentil brulee lacked a cripsy top and had a slightly mealy texture.

It was perhaps unfortunate that I had recently had the opportunity to remind myself of how wonderful the slow braised lamb finished in the tandoor at Bukhara restaurant in Delhi is (and I didn't even have to go to India; the executive chef gave a demonstration at the Restaurant Show late last year). There is nothing at all wrong with the Cinnamon Club version which is served with a delicious sauce, but I prefer the dry style of the "original."

The wine pairings were very successful, especially the knock out pinot noir which was so good I joined in a demand for more, and the Mount Horrocks dessert wine which was beautifully balanced with good acidity and not too high in alcohol, which is more than could be said of me by the end of the evening.