Cinnamon Club celebrations

Although TV chef Vivek Singh has opened up cheaper and simpler branches of his Cinnamon empire in Soho and the City, the Cinnamon Club in the old Westminster Library remains my top choice of Indian if we’re celebrating.  So I’m thrilled that H decides to have her 60^th birthday dinner there, and all the gang are joining her.  Then typically at the last minute C&L drop out, and we are 6 instead of 8.  We’re still seated at a table for 8 though, which restricts the conversation a little, but as you may see from photos I’ve posted , we still had a great time.

The charm of the old library still remains, and as it’s a Saturday close to Christmas the place is buzzing and lively. Despite its evident sophistication the place isn’t at all stuffy or formal, just classy.  Inevitably the wine list prices reach dizzying heights, but we manage to find a Bergerac Sec Sauvignon Blanc at £30, and later a Cahors Malbec at £32, both of which were fine.

Proceedings get kicked off with a “pre-starter”  - a light potato based snack.  Three of the group have the chicken breast to start – barbecued with a pineapple salsa.  Other selections were partridge breast  char-grilled with onion raita,  and mushroom galauti  (traditionally a minced lamb dish from the Awadhi cuisine of Lucknow, Google tells me, but here done with mushrooms instead)with tandoori Portobello mushroom.  I have the tandoori cod with mango puree – excellent.

We’re similarly limited in our choice of main courses, with three going for the tandoori prawns, which do come with a zingy curry sauce.  Two others had lamb saddle, and I have the red deer saddle. The deer was sensational – tender, spiced with cumin and cinnamon in a light gravy and accompanied by pickled baby root vegetables. We also have some breads and black lentils – again lovely, dense and rich.

As we’d told them it was H’s birthday,  they then arrive with a small “birthday plate” of of cake and ice cream, and a free glass of Franciacorta, an Italian sparkling, very generous. We’ve had three bottles of the Bergerac and just one of the Malbec, plus some water, taking the bill, with the inevitable 12.5% service charge, up to £415, or about £70 a head. So not somewhere to substitute for your local curry house, but a great place to celebrate.