The Cinnamon Club

Our first visit for a couple of years, and we were quickly reminded why we hadn’t rushed back. On arriving, the front desk had lost our reservation, and weren’t exactly over apologetic; ie it was clearly our fault. However, it was relatively quickly resolved by someone with a little more experience and tact, and a table found.

The Cinnamon Club attracts a mixed but slightly odd London crowd of Eurotrash, “special night outers”, politicos and associated PR / hangers on. Despite this, the atmosphere was quite pleasant, and certainly very buzzy, which we liked. They clearly do a roaring trade.

Some clearly don’t like it, but we thought that the ex-library décor and furnishing was very warm and pleasant, and a bit clubby but in a very nice way. However, we weren’t so keen on the modern bar downstairs. We really liked the upstairs bar, although service could have been better.

The food is PR’d and priced as very sophisticated, refined high end Indian. We felt that most of our dishes were quite mediocre, and lacked either real quality or excitement. The baby squid starter was fine, although a bit cold when delivered, and the… More

Whilst the food was fantastic, the room is so big that it's incredibly noisy and cold. The service was painfully slow starting with a five minute wait in the bar turining into forty minutes! At the bar it was also nearly impossible to be served. It's a shame that such delicately flavoured and precicely presented food is spoilt by such bad service and atmosphere.

Date: Friday 9 August 2008

In the red corner – A new Hyderabadi dish claiming to be the hottest curry in the world. Sparring partners are minced lamb, taramind sauce, kashmiri powder…and a parade of chillies so nails they look like the police lineup after a raid on a vegatable crime family. Trainer: Vivek Singh, chief chef.

In the blue corner – Slightly sweaty 30-something, a Bellini and three flutes of champagne down. Undefeated, but has fought mainly local journeymen, including the Bengal Lancer's Kalapuri chicken. Trainer: Nicole

Build up

The dish was commissioned by Virgin as part of a stunt to acommpany the launch of Virgin's Bollywood TV channel. Singh's brief was to try and enter the Guinness Book of World Records for producing a curry that could be recognised as the hottest in the world.

Curiously, Virgin's involvement seems to have figured little in the ensuing publicity, which has included press reports and an appearance on Jonathan Ross, where the host braved the dish wearing fire-proof goggles.

Let's get ready to rumble

At this stage I had no idea whether the Burner was the hottest collection of… More

“It's a bit too much like a library in there” is what some say when describing a venue lacking in atmosphere. “It used to be a library in there” could be a fitting way to note the slightly staid formality that hangs in the air of The Cinnamon Club. Remember, this is the MPs' favourite, and it's adorned with a relic of its past – an austere looking old-fashioned bookshelf, which lines the back wall. The ambience is largely a sum of these parts: relics, MPs, old-fashioned, austere. But enough about that, because a restaurant should be judged mainly on its food – and it's here The Cinnamon Club scores highly.
Flavours are subtle, perhaps too subtle for some diners, and well presented. Beef kebab is garnished with beautifully executed coriander paste, offset with star anise flavoured gel and arranged on the plate with a geometric precision. A main of tandoori guinea fowl and dhal was aromatic and demonstrated a deftness of flavouring a world away from posturing curry houses – but perhaps lacked true wow factor. Some believe Indian restaurants aren't a great place for desserts – if this is the case, and I can see the argument… More

While the food at Cinnamon Club was of a high standard, the restaurant thought fit to put us in a freezing side room which completely ruined the experience. Initially we were placed in a corner which served as a storage space and was next to a window with a strong draft. When we asked to move we were still placed at a table in the same cold room with a tiny blow heater to warm the corner but the silly blow heater wouldn't work consistently so we still had to wrap up in shawls. It was ridiculous to be struggling with a blow heater at such a posh restaurant and while the service was otherwise good, the staff completely ignored the fact that we were putting multiple sweaters and shawls on and I even wore my coat, plus we were clearly struggling with the heater. It was completely ridiculous and no one offered us a better table. The side room emptied out by 10 as it is a sort of overflow room and though the main room was still filled with people, we were sitting there alone in the freezing side room, which wasn't particularly atmospheric. Plus the vegetarian options are limited for the vegetarian in our party, and the veggie dish… More