Cinnamon Bazaar - great foood, shambolic service

We’re meeting J&K to mark K’s birthday the next day.  Our first choice, House of Ho, is fully booked up – odd as it’s a big place.  Dishoom also can’t take the booking – not for the first time.  B finds an offer on Bookatable of 9 dishes and a cocktail at Cinnamon Bazaar, so goes ahead and books that. We’d been interested to try this latest incarnation of the Vivek Singh Cinnamon chain, because we have liked both the upmarket original Cinnamon Club, and the tapas-style Cinnamon Soho, and very recently enjoyed the “Desert Island dishes” (DIDs) at Cinnamon Kitchen.
After some drinks in Davy’s, we arrive at the restaurant a little later than originally planned. It’s a nice bright room with interesting streamer decorations around the high ceiling. We’re shown to a table by the rear fire exit – nice and light, but I doubt health and safety would have approved of B putting her coat on the steps! 

Menus are brought, but nothing said about the offer, so we ask. No, they’re not doing it. Not their fault if Bookatable got it wrong. No recognition that we might be disappointed. So, with no cocktails on their way, I quickly scan the wine list and choose a Macabeo at £25.  This takes an age to arrive, while the waiter is harassing us to choose our food – when we had been expecting to have a fixed menu.
We do then order starters and mains. The waiter says – “it will all come together” (ie “our convenience is more important than your enjoyment”).  I’m starting to sulk, but J goes off to sort him out.  

We’re enjoying our wine and conversation, but it does seem an age before any food arrives. I check my watch – it’s an hour since we arrived.  Eventually the four starters do arrive – J’s efforts paying off.  The Mirchi vada chaat (stuffed padron peppers) in yoghurt with pomegranate are super as the first dish I taste (and strangely not on website menu). The Kachori chaat (described as spiced onion dumplings, but actually much crispier) is also good. Crab bonda (crab in chickpea batter, similar to one of the DIDs) is full of crab flavour, and the shrimp dish drier and also very tasty. Portions were ample to share between four.
I’m beginning to feel they have redeemed themselves.  But another slow order of wine (regular readers will know that “quick wine” is important to us!), and an age for the mains  - presumably because they didn’t start on them straight away – makes me wonder again.  

When the mains do come, we’re presented with two cauliflower dishes instead of our order of one cauliflower and one aubergine.  We complain and they take one dish away, and return with the aubergine three-quarters of the way through our meal. They’ve also brought two pilau rice when we only ordered one. 

Once again, the quality of the food comes to the rescue. I’d chosen the cauliflower because Vivek Singh had given it us as an extra DID, and I’d been so impressed - it didn’t disappoint here either.  The aubergine when it comes is very good too.  Mains include lamb galauti, a very spicy burger-like patty on paratha, pepper fried shrimp which is sharp and dry, and a very rich and spicy mutton curry – all top favour dishes. We also have black dhal, B’s favourite.
Service is still slow and erratic, with no appreciation of the totality of the experience.  We do go for desserts – a mango brulee, chocolate golis (three elegantly flavoured pieces) and ice cream/espresso.  

The bill looks very reasonable, partly because it doesn’t include service. I would normally credit them for that approach, but unfortunately for them, because of the experience, I tip less than 10%.
Later when I look at the bill I’m a bit confused. Yes, they did charge us for two pilau rice when we’d only ordered one, but we had eaten them; and they charged us for two cauliflowers and no aubergine, but I imagine there would be little difference in that.  I seem to think we must have had a fourth main course that isn’t on the bill, but neither of us can remember what that might have been. And the mutton curry and the ice cream are listed at £0.00 – there may have been a set-price limit operating, but again it’s not clear from the website. No wonder the bill seemed reasonable.


So all in all?  Glad to have gone.  Food excellent.  Room and ambience fine.  Service all over the place, and insensitive.  Web presence (own website menus and link to Bookatable – which is still offering the 9 dish special offer) poor.

 

 

New development at St James’s Market

We’ve been terribly cultural and visited the Jasper Johns exhibition at the RA – how many versions of the US flag or the numbers 0-9 do you need? So we’re in need of sustenance, but haven’t planned anywhere. We consider Cicchetti on Piccadilly again, though when we went a few years ago it wasn’t brilliant. Then I remember a new complex I’d wandered around before a meeting recently, that links Lower Regent Street and Haymarket.

It’s called St James’s Market.  There are several new restaurants here. We look at a Scandinavian one called Aquavit – too much smoked fish on the smorgasbord.  There’s Veneta, an Italian from the Salt Yard group, a patisserie called Ole & Steen, and even Duck and Waffle Local.

But we decide we like the look of the menu at Anzu, a Japanese place, with a set menu at a very reasonable looking £12.95 for two courses.  There’s no-one else in there (it is 2.30pm), but (or so?) the welcome is warm and we get a seat in the window.  The style is light wood, with displays of large sake bottles.

The a la carte menu looks interesting too, but after asking for clarification about what the set dishes are (I’d guessed “Komatsuna” was tuna, but it turns out it was braised greens!), we decide to stay with the set lunch dishes.  The wine list goes up frighteningly - we find  a rosé from Provence at £28, and order some edamame beans while we decide on the order.

To start we have the king prawn dumplings – three gyoza-like dumplings with very tasty minced prawns fillings – and duck and watermelon salad – a very creditable sized portion of crispy duck, fresh watermelon and pomegranate seeds (a bit challenging with chopsticks!).  Very pleased with those.

Mains aren’t quite as successful. Japanese Mentaiko “Carbonara” is noodles with fish sauce and pollock roe.  It’s quite rich, and fishy, though the roe are surprisingly not that interesting.  Overall, just a bit heavy and sticky.  Our second choice is the soy-roast poussin – for which we are allowed a knife and fork. It’s fine, but nothing special.  We’ve also ordered some rice, which it turns out we don’t need, and eventually (after a little reservation) manage to persuade the charming waitress to let us take away.

A second bottle of wine skews the bill towards the alcohol, taking it to £99 including the now standard 12.5% service (OK, I’ll stop whingeing about it now).   A pleasant, rather than brilliant, lunch which maybe would have felt better with other people in there.

Saturday lunch with old friends

C&L sadly can’t join us, so there’s just the 5 of us meeting up for a get-together lunch.  T has suggested Barrica in Goodge Street, and as he’s a man who knows his food we’re happy to go along with that. It’s just a couple of doors down from Salt Yard, where we went for a Xmas do last year.  In between is the One Tun, so we meet there for drinks first, sitting outside on a balmy October day – not least because the Liverpool-Man U match was on inside!  

We’ve seen a number of old people (!!) going in, and true enough when we get there all the nice tables at the back have been taken by a group. So we’re given a high table with stools by the door. Not ideal, but we manage.  The style is classic tapas bar – hams hanging from hooks, marble bar-tops, tiles, but the service is friendly and fairly attentive, so it’s not too clichéd.

The menu distinguishes between bar snacks (La Barra), cured meats and tapas (La Cocina).   So as our wine arrives (Tempranillo and Verdejo), we order some tomato bread, aubergine-marinated olives (B reckoned the best ever), boquerones and corteza (puffy pork scratchings) to keep us going.  Unfortunately the guindillas  (stuffed chillies) weren’t available.

To follow we have a ham selection plate (good Serrano, some odd black salami), padron peppers (B gets the hot one first up), duck egg and asparagus (just try dividing that between 5!), two portions of garlic prawns (H is not sharing!), calamares with garlic and romesco, chorizo with sweet potatoes, lamb and mushroom skewers and ham croquettes.  The prawns were voted a great success, as were the croquettes, but I found the lamb skewer a little tough.

We suffered from the typical tapas problem – everything came in a rush, we stuffed ourselves, and are finished within an hour.  No problem – more wine! 

They come round to ask if want dessert – instead we go for more croquettes, boquerones, and escalivada (a sort of vegetable lasagne) with goat’s cheese.

The jovial patronne comes around towards the end, livening the place up. We end up with 2 red and 3 white wines. The bill is a very reasonable £33 a head, so very good value.

Friday night with the girls

We’re meeting up with S and L in Victoria, and start off just with S at the Reunion Bar at the Grosvenor Hotel for cocktails.   After a couple each, we then toddle off down Wilton Road, to find L at About Thyme.

Amongst the various restaurants in Wilton Road, this one seems very homely in comparison. We’re welcomed warmly and shown upstairs to table near the front window.  It’s busy and buzzy enough, without being noisy.

The menu is unusually divided up into “Tapas” and “Mains”, but we decide to treat the tapas as starters.  S asks the waiter about the marinated sardines – are they cooked? He says No, so she chooses lamb kidneys in sherry instead. But I decide that I will order them.  Then the waiter comes back to apologise that they didn’t have them at all!  So I order the king scallops with morcilla (black pudding) instead. L has the beef carpaccio, a generous plate of meat with plenty of parmesan, and B garlic and chilli king prawns.  We are all well-pleased with these choices; my morcilla was a bit firmer like English black pudding than some are, but excellent nonetheless.

The wine list favours Spain, so I choose a Spanish Sauvignon Blanc called Orchidea (£27.50) – lighter and more floral than some, and going down well.  There are other reasonable wines on the list too.

For mains, we all choose meat, though there are a couple of fish and seafood options on the menu. L has the veal chop – a whacking chunk of meat, with a good brandy and mushroom sauce.  S goes for the pork shoulder (presa iberica), another substantial dish served with interesting mash (or is that an oxymoron?).  B’s lamb shank is huge, served with a “Moorish-spiced coconut sauce” which she finds a little odd. My simple choice of pan-fried calves liver with bacon, is also a large portion, served with chips, done nicely pink.

None of us manage to finish our meat!  The starters had been a good size, but the mains were generally huge. L asks for a doggy bag to take back for her chap., which they happily do.

Despite that, the three of then decide to share an iced soufflé with Grand Marnier.  Very tasty that is too.

With the three bottles between us, and the now-standard 12.5% service (I’ll have to stop moaning about that), this all comes to £62 a head – pretty good value, as L’s chap will also get a meal out of it!  The service has been excellent throughout, dishes arriving at a sensible pace.  Would certainly be happy to go there another time.  

Desert Island Dishes at Cinnamon Kitchen

As part of London Restaurant Month, Vivek Singh is doing his “Desert Island Dishes” at the Cinnamon Kitchen, sister restaurant to the prestigious Cinnamon Club, over in Devonshire Square, off Bishopsgate.  We’ve been once before and not been too impressed, but thought this special Sunday lunch might be worth a go.  The basic idea is to feature his favourite dishes, mainly originating in Bengali wedding feasts.

We’re booked in for 1.30pm, and shown to a table fairly near the door, out of range of the open-plan kitchen.  From an extensive, but fairly reasonable wine list we order the Pays D’Oc Vermentino at £25 – instead of the wine flight option at £45 a head.  It takes a while to arrive, and it becomes clear that the waiter forgot to place the order, so we have to prompt them again. The same happens with the fizzy water – not a great start.

The place is nearly full, which must mean it was worth doing the offer. The staff, although friendly, have the air and build of Russian mafia, so are a bit intimidating at first.  But we settle in and the set meal (non-vegetarian option) starts to arrive.  The man himself, VS, is wandering around and glad-handing, having selfies taken, and we have a nice little chat.

First up is the “appetiser” – a Bengali-style crab and beetroot cake. This is much more substantial than we expected – two large croquettes in effect.  The overall taste is of zingy fresh spices, nothing of the beetroot, with just a couple of pieces of identifiable crab, and a couple of little sauces.

“Starter” is bream in banana leaf with mango chutney. B finds it too fishy (!) but I think it is a good balance of flavours.

The main course consists of three meat dishes, plus pilau rice, raita and breads. The Laal Maas is a very spicy, lamb curry with strips of ginger, and very tasty.  The Bengali style shrimp curry is also good, but the chicken butter masala rather less interesting.  VS is wandering around again and brings us – “as a gift from him” – two of the dishes off the vegetarian menu (presumably not selling well!),  spinach, and an absolutely delicious cauliflower with vinegar.  Feeling quite full now!

We’ve got through the second bottle by now, so order more drinks to go with dessert. B just has another glass, but I choose to go for the sweet wine that was the selected accompaniment from the wine flight – a Sauternes.

The menu suggests there’s a choice of two desserts, but they just bring us both.  There’s an apple and blackberry crumble, rather de-contsructed, which tastes much like a posh muesli bar.  And gulab jamun  a splendid creamy dish with flavoured sweet rice balls.  Both excellent.  And as my glass of Sauternes is running low, the now-chatty Mafioso comes over and tops it up for free!

VS is on hand to sign any of his cookbooks you might want to buy, but B just gets him to sign our menu.

A splendid lunch – not cheap of course. And I don’t know whether it will represent what they might do on a normal day, but it has made us re-evaluate our previous view, and be prepared to try it again.

The Nova complex at Victoria

Nova at Victoria

The new development, Nova, at Victoria is open with a wide range of new restaurants and bars – and more to come.  So far, I’ve tried three of the restaurants, and had a quick drink in one other deli/bar.

 First, was Greenwood, which I went to with some work colleagues.  It’s almost certainly unique in having a barber’s in the bar!  It says it’s a Sports Lounge, and there is a TV room on the mezzanine, but the main bar is quiet and civilised enough.  The menu is a pretty standard burgers, pizzas and salads - I went for the falafel burger.  This was OK, but not special at £13.

 Then, with B, P&M and C, after the ladies had been round Buckingham Palace, we went to the Rail House Café.  The friendly waiter seats us upstairs at a table with high stools. There is a big downstairs area, and a relaxed-looking outside space with comfy sofas.  The menu is a little odd, more like a brunch menu – two of our party have the trendy smashed avocado on toast with feta, one with extra bacon!  The Freekeh salad (nope, me neither – apparently like bulgar wheat) went down well, also trendy with pomegranate seeds.  B has the yellowfin tuna tartare – small (a starter really), but good with shallots and wasabi. Only I have a “proper” main, seafood noodle. This is full of prawns, mussels and clams, in a spicy noodle sauce – too much for me.  Between us we share two crème brullees for dessert. £170 for 5 people (just 3 bottles of Vermentino at £21 each).

 After lunch we wander round and look in on Sourced, a deli/bar. We get some meats and cheese from the shop and then sit outside with a glass each. Very pleasant.

 Then last week, B and I are going to “5 guys named Moe” at the new pop-up theatre at Marble Arch.  So we decide to have a late lunch/early dinner (“lunner”?) at Aster at Nova. It’s “Nordic/French”; there’s a smart restaurant upstairs but on a weekend lunch we are in the main bar on the ground floor.  It’s quite busy and lively though. We decide on the fish platter and the meat platter. With the fish we get taramasalata, prawns, gravadlax  and smoked fish – “vendace”. The meat is reindeer salami, ham, pork belly crackling,  and a lovely black pudding roll. With a bottle and a couple of glasses of the house white this comes to £73, including 12.5% service.

 

Other recent venues

 Lobos tapas bar on the edge of Borough market. Busy and buzzy, but we get a table by the window overlooking an alleyway. Padron peppers, seafood (prawn, squid and mussels with chilli), chorizo and morcilla (gorgeous smooth black pudding), herb crusted lamb rack and Iberica ham. One bottle and a couple of glasses of Spanish blend (Silga). £93 incl 12.5% service.  Recommended. Also a branch in Frith Street.

 Bone Daddies is chain of Japanese noodle bars, with a speciality of 20 hour pork bone broth dishes. B’s seen the boss on a TV programme, so after Matisse in the Studio at the RA, we toddle along to Peter St in Soho. It’s busy, but we get to perch on high chairs in the window.  Service is brisk, clearly aimed at those on their lunch break. We have soft-shell crab in ginger sauce (lots of meaty crab), and salmon tartar (very sharp, with wasabi), and the TV special Thai green curry ramen with chicken and egg. All very good indeed, but not a relaxing experience – in and out in under an hour, with only time for one bottle of wine.

 Obia is the smarter of two new Italian restaurants in Purley.  We go there with neighbour K one evening. We pass on starters, and go into spaghetti with lobster, king prawns and scallops and chargrilled tuna, accompanied by chips and zucchini fritti.  All VG.  A couple of semifreddo desserts (yummmmm). With two bottles of Soave at £19.50, we get up to £130 for 3 people.