Reunion party in central London

For an annual get-together of ex-housemates etc, we decided this year to try out Cinnamon Soho in Kingly Street, just off Regent Street and down from Carnaby Street. This is the second offshoot of the wonderful Cinnamon Club in the old Westminster Library, after Cinnamon Kitchen; hopefully rather more accessibly priced.

There were 12 of us this year, so we were put downstairs, so it’s hard to gauge the general atmosphere. We’ve gone early, at 6.30pm as we were asked to, and we have been told that we will be limited to two and a half hours. Over the evening downstairs filled up with other groups and one unfortunate couple. It’s an uninspiring room, but between us we create a lively ambience.

The charming lead waiter took the drinks order promptly, and continued to be responsive as we went through the evening.  We mainly drink the Colombard Sauvignon Blanc from Horgelus, South West, France at £21 a bottle. He didn’t rush us to order though, and in the end they didn’t worry about the time limit.

Unusually there were no papadum options to keep us going, so we quickly agreed to get three plates of the “balls” selection between us while we continued to work through the menu choices. The balls were Crab Cakes, Potato Bondas, Vegetable Shikampur, Spiced Game, and Bangla-Scotch Egg. The crab and the scotch egg were good and spicy, but the others a little indistinguishable.

The booking email had offered a limited choice, but on the night were given the full menu, which was pleasing and gave us plenty of interesting options. We each chose a starter and main. I had the burnt chilli chicken, Indo-Chinese style, which was excellent with a real fiery kick.  B had the stir-fried shrimp with curry leaf and black pepper which was delicious - the little pastry cases stuffed full of flavoursome shrimps.  Other starters chosen were Kingly Seekh Kebab wrapped in a naan bread, which looked rather filling but was pronounced lovely,  Bhangra Burger with three dips – actually three little burgers, and again a largish portion – and  Tandoori chicken leg with fennel & coriander.

My main course was “Laal maas”, described as “fiery Rajasthani Lamb curry”. The meat was in a rich sauce, and was melt in your mouth, but it was not as fiery as the chicken starter really.  B had the  seared duck breast with sesame tamarind sauce, another good dish.  Other choices included: spice crusted Hake with Colombo curry sauce (looked very good); smoked saddle of Cumbrian lamb, mint onion sauce (a popular choice, generally approved); and spiced chicken korma.  We also ordered  black lentils (not as good as elsewhere),  Tandoori aubergine crush (something of a mush),  stir-fried okra with dried mango (though the mango didn’t shine through), a caper kachumbar (which was very refreshing) and a selection of breads.

As well as ice creams and sorbets, the desserts we had were a tasty, if smallish, mango brulée, and a chocolate and cumin cake.

Eight bottles of wine helped the total up to £560 (including service), or over £46 a head which bearing in mind that one of our number was a 9-year old is not cheap. But for the quality of what we had in such a central location, we all came away happy and satisfied, and we would certainly try it again.