Cinnamon Kitchen – Vivek Singh Spicing Things Up at Battersea Power Station

Name: Cinnamon Kitchen Battersea

Where: Battersea Power Station, 4 Arches Lane, SW11 8AB, http://www.cinnamon-kitchen.com/battersea/

Cost: A 3-course meal here will cost on average £45pp excluding drinks or service. Starters cost from £6.50 to £17.50, mains are priced from £14 to £29 while desserts from £2 to £8.

About: Readers of The London Foodie will know that we are fans of Vivek Singh’s vibrant Indian cooking – I have written about his restaurants on a number of occasions – his small-eats, casual Cinnamon Bazaar (reviewed here), or the flagship, more upmarket Cinnamon Club (reviewed here), and more recently at Taste of London when I had a most fantastic Chaat at the Cinnamon Kitchen stand (see here).

For the best Indian cooking at @tasteoflondon head to @chefviveksingh of @cinnamonrestaurants - I had a number of Indian dishes that got me scraping my plates: . My top recommendation is his Chamiya’s Chaat, this was heavenly - a mix of sweet, spicy, salt and sour flavours - with cured watermelon, pomegranate seeds, spicy coriander chutney, yoghurt, chickpeas and herbs, among other things - it was fresh and so good, a personal favourite. . Coorgi Double Cooked Pork Belly - was very tender and served with Kokum berries and curried yoghurt. . Kolkata Open Blue Cobia - grilled white Black King fish fillets, was buttery and dense, with a super zingy mustard and coconut curry sauce. . Lamb Galouti Kebab - lamb patty over a fried roti served with pomegranate seeds, yoghurt and spicy coriander chutney. . @chefviveksingh’s cooking was vibrant, fresh and full of flavour - his signature dishes at Taste are some of the best of the festival, but hurry it all ends tomorrow! 😩 . 🇮🇳 🍛🇮🇳🍛🇮🇳🍛🇮🇳🍛🇮🇳🍛🇮🇳🍛🇮🇳🍛

A post shared by Luiz Hara (@thelondonfoodie) on Jun 16, 2018 at 10:14am PDT

Following his 10th anniversary at Cinnamon Kitchen Devonshire Square, I was intrigued to hear of Vivek Singh’s new venture South of the River. Cinnamon Kitchen Battersea is part of the multi-million regeneration project of the Grade-II listed Battersea Power Station (so long overdue).

Situated in Circus Village West, Cinnamon Kitchen Battersea has a minimalist industrial décor with railway arch façade, exposed brick walls and an expansive open-plan kitchen.

It is a large restaurant, modern and sleek, serving Vivek’s contemporary Indian dishes paired with cocktails by mixologist Tony Conigliaro of 69 Colebrooke Row, one of my favourite cocktail bars in London, also reviewed here. And so we headed south to check it out.

What We Ate: The menu is divided into Appetisers, which include a section on Grills, then Mains, Sides, Breads and Desserts. The recommendation is of 2 appetisers/grills plus a main dish and a dessert per person.

Vivek Singh - working through the food orders at Cinnamon Kitchen Battersea

With that in mind, we kicked off with banana leaf wrapped sea bass with chilli, tomato and kokum crust (£9) from the Grill section – not much of a looker, what it lacked in presentation, it more than made up in flavour – spicy, well seasoned and fresh. Served with a mildly curried sour cream and a carrot and chilli cream, this was a good start to the meal.

The Keema Litti rustic lamb dough ball with anchovy chutney (£6.75), also from the Grill section, was intensely flavoursome wrapped around freshly-baked pastry and served with a vibrant mint and anchovy sauce.

Bombay street food (Vada Pao) – was a toasted bun (Pão is bread in Portuguese) with a chickpea burger (Vada) and coriander cream, tapioca cake and chilli paneer - this looked like cubes of prime beef, but slicing into it revealed the creamy white, surprisingly firm flesh of the curd cheese (£8.50).

Wild African prawn (£17.50), came with a coriander and garlic crust, it was butterflied but cleverly served in its own shell – it was wonderfully aromatic and succulent from having been grilled in the shell, and easy to eat without any of hassle factor.

For mains, we went for the clove smoked lamb rump (£24), served with fennel and nutmeg sauce and saffron rice. The lamb was tender and medium rare as requested, the spice level was just right - rich, exotic and warming without blowing your head off, and with some delicious cardamom and clove spices.

King prawns in Bengali turmeric curry (£25), came with a deliciously rich ghee rice and spinach poriyal. We enjoyed this but felt it was a weaker option compared to the lamb or the magnificent African grilled prawn.

Despite being on the Sides section, the biryani was a main course in its own right and we could not resist but order it – Lucknow-Style Chicken Biryani (£15) with a Burhani Raita was one of the highlights of our meal - flavoured with lemon and cumin, the rice was perfectly cooked and the chicken meltingly tender.

With our biryani and mains we ordered a delectable Dal Trio (£7) of - yellow, black lentils and chickpeas.

The Peshwari naan (£5.50) was freshly made, it was rich with sweet sultana, burnt coconut and ghee flavours.

For dessert, the Himalayan Queen (£7.50) was a trio of pistachio kulfi, mango and thandai ice cream covered with spiced meringue and flamed with rum.

Finished off at the table, this was Vivek’s Indian reinterpretation of the 70s classic Baked Alaska.

Lassi panna cotta (£6.50) came with a mango mint salad, fresh mango and mango purée, crisp dehydrated raspberries and edible nasturtium flowers, it was fresh and a light dessert to end a fabulous meal.

What We Drank: All cocktails, created by award-winning mixologist Tony Conigliaro specifically for the Cinnamon Kitchen Battersea, are priced between £9 and £12.50.

Coconut Kir was a refreshing cocktail with champagne, toasted coconut, coconut liqueur, and Wyborowa vodka (£12.50). Equally good, if somewhat stronger, was the Assam Manhattan (£8.50) made with black assam infused buffalo gin, vermouth, maraschino, black cardamom - spicy and delicious.

Entry-level wines, both priced at £22.50 from El Muro, Carinena, Spain, were a Macabeo White and a Tempranillo/Garnacha red. We shared a bottle of Sangiovese 2013 from Fico Grande Romagna DOC £30 that worked well with most of the dishes we tried on the evening, particularly the lamb ones.

Likes: the Lucknow-Style Chicken Biryani, the Wild African Prawn and the Peshwari Naan, as well as the cocktails were the highlight of our visit. The food was well seasoned, vibrant and fresh and I could not fault it.

Dislikes: it is nearly impossible to find a suitable/free parking space anywhere near the restaurant.

Verdict: Vivek Singh’s Indian cooking is full of flavour, zingy and fresh. His latest venture, Cinnamon Kitchen Battersea is a very welcome addition to the regeneration of the Power Plant and elevates Battersea’s restaurant scene as a whole. Highly recommended.

#TheGrandJourney – A Multi-Sensorial Experience That is All About Flavour

For most people, it is rare the opportunity to consider the flavour profile of a single ingredient and the role it plays to a given dish – but even more so, the opportunity to reflect on 10 different ingredients, their usage, provenance and quality. 

As a food writer, I relish the prospect of such experiences - #TheGrandJourney by Bombay Sapphire is a multi-sensorial experience that is all about flavour, and it is taking place right now (17th to 23rd July 2017) in London’s Banking Hall.

Bombay Sapphire uses 10 different botanicals from around the world selected by the brand’s Master of Botanicals Ivano Tonutti. I am told only the finest and sustainably sourced ingredients go in to produce the brand’s gin, these include juniper berries (Italy), grains of paradise (West Africa), almonds (Spain), lemon peel (Spain), cubeb berries (Java), coriander seeds (Mexico), angelica root (Germany), cassia bark (IndoChina), orris root (Italy) and liquorice (China).

Liquorice from China - one of the 10 Bombay Sapphire gin botanicals

For #TheGrandJourney, Bombay Sapphire built a train - the Laverstock Express (named after its distillery, Laverstock Mill in Hampshire) and is taking “passengers” on a Gin of Ten Journeys, illustrating through a multi-sensorial food and gin pairing dinner, the 10 botanicals and places around the world where these are found.

Collaborating with the brand is Michelin-starred chef Tom Sellers of Story Restaurant who created four dishes specifically for this campaign. Using Spanish lemon peel, Tom’s scallop two ways was a delightful dish of raw and pan-fried scallops – Tom mixed diced raw scallops and apple with lemon, crème fraiche and fine slices of radish. The pan-fried scallop was served with a super-light and zingy lemon foam, a very sophisticated hollandaise-style creation brimming with flavour, zinginess and intense citrus flavours.

Another fantastic dish, this time using Spanish almonds, was Tom’s Spanish Iberico pork (served pink) with roasted pear, fresh and sugared almonds and Amaretto jelly. I loved the toasty nuttiness of the almonds combined with the creaminess of the rare Iberico pork and the sweet touches in this dish – the sugared almonds, Amaretto jelly and roasted pear, all came together beautifully in a dish I will remember for quite sometime. Pork and almonds, who would have thought?!

Dessert was also memorable – a refreshing ice cream of herbaceous angelica (considered the 3rd most important botanical in gin, after juniper berries and coriander seeds), with salted blackberry and bitter chocolate.

But the gin botanical inspired creations were not only limited to food – there were a number of cocktails devised by brand ambassador Sean Ware using these ingredients. There were a few favourites – the cubeb berry was a peppery cup of Bombay Sapphire, coffee and cardamom cold infusion with Benedictine and tri-pepper tincture. 

Using orris root, we were served a zesty coupette of Bombay Sapphire, fig and bergamot liqueur, violet leaf tincture, bergamot juice and crème de violet – this was intensely floral.

Perhaps my favourite of the lot was Sean’s Maghreb High Ball – made from 1 part each of Bombay Sapphire gin, water, and Moroccan liqueur (a heady concoction of vodka, dried mint leaves, coriander seeds and saffron) to 2 parts of honey mead, garnished with fresh mint leaf, this was as exotic and spicy as it was refreshing.

Before #TheGrandJourney, three of Bombay Sapphire’s 10 botanicals were new to me - grains of paradise, cubeb berries and orris root. On further research, I discovered that grains of paradise are melegueta or malagueta pepper. This is a native plant of West Africa brought in to South America, especially to Brazil by the Portuguese who had a number of colonies in the continent at the time. Malagueta is the most popular pepper used in Brazil and I love using it in food for its pepperiness and citrus undertones.

I also discovered that cubeb berry is an Indonesian plant that is cultivated for its fruit and oil. Dried, they’re similar in appearance (and taste) to black pepper. I learnt that cubeb berries have long been used alongside juniper as their combination pairs well with other core gin botanicals. 

Cubeb berries - one of Bombay Sapphire's 10 gin botanicals

Have you ever wondered why gin can have such an intense floral quality? Well, one of its botanicals, orris is the root of the iris, specifically from the Iris Pallida and Iris Germanica plants. These are beautiful, blooming flower species that grow widely across the world. A lot of work goes into harvesting orris; after three to four years of growth, the roots are dug up and left to dry for at least 5 years, before being ground to powder for use as a botanical in gin. Dried orris root take on a floral, sweet smell and unsurprisingly has been used in perfumes for years.

If you have not been able to secure a spot for #TheGrandJourney, you will be pleased to hear that Bombay Sapphire will be collaborating with ten leading cocktail bars across Europe, five of these in the UK. For the next twelve weeks from the 17th July 2017, five UK bars well known for their outstanding creativity in cocktail making will be serving limited edition tipples using Bombay Sapphire’s 10 botanicals. In London, bars taking part include The Berkeley (angelica), Three Sheets (coriander seed) and Scout (liquorice), while in Manchester the Science and Industry (grains of paradise) and in Edinburgh the Panda and Sons (cassia bark).

Discovering new flavours, ingredients and how to use them in my cooking and cocktail making is what makes me tick – I have been hugely inspired by #TheGrandJourney and have created my own recipe using two of Bombay Sapphire’s botanicals: liquorice and juniper berries. If you would like to try my meltingly tender, super ‘Slow-Braised Pork Belly in Honey Mead, Soy, Liquorice and Juniper Berries’ dish, you can find the full recipe here.

For more information on Bombay Sapphire gins, cocktails and The Grand Journey, visit their website at http://www.bombaysapphire.com.

Celebrating the Year of the Monkey at Hakkasan

Name: Hakkasan (Chinese New Year Menu)

Where: 8 Hanway Place, London, W1T 1HD, http://hakkasan.com

Cost: Hakkasan’s Chinese New Year menu consists of 4 courses, or 9 dishes, costs a lucky £88.88 per person, and includes a cocktail each.

About: Opened in 2001, Hakkasan has long been a favourite of mine for its exquisite dim sum and Chinese food and is one of the few places in London I return to often. Hakkasan is the jewel in the crown of its group, which also includes two other Michelin-starred restaurants – Yauatcha and HKK.

Celebrating the Year of the Monkey at Hakkasan

I visited Hakkasan recently to experience their Dim Sum Sunday Menu (see review here). I believe this is still one of the best and most reasonably priced lunch menus in London right now – for £58 per person, guests can enjoy a 4 course lunch, ½ bottle of Champagne (or a full bottle between 2 people) and 2 cocktails each.

Chinese New Year is a great time to visit Chinese restaurants of this calibre as many will have specially designed menus for the occasion. So I hurried along to Hakkasan Hanway Place to try their Year of the Monkey menu which is available from 22 January until 22 February 2016 only.

What We Ate: The CNY menu is divided into 4 courses – soup, dim sum, mains & accompaniments and dessert. 

Course 1 - Soup of double-boiled fresh ginseng and chicken with bamboo pith and wolfberry

The broth had an intense chicken flavour with fresh ginseng root, which with its earthy, burdock-like flavour, was for me the highlight of the dish. I also enjoyed the gossamer-like texture of the bamboo pith. 

Course 2 - Japanese Wagyu beef with pine nuts in a crispy golden cup and a selection of dim sum

With little pieces of Wagyu beef, stir-fried with tiny cubes of Chinese chives, peppers and onion served on crispy pastry cups, this had a delectable crunchiness, wok-breath and richly flavoured beef.

The dim sum arrived in a platter of four. The har gau were well presented and delicate, while the scallop shumai had a thick slice of plump scallop, with a scattering of tobiko eggs – the pastry was ethereally light and so fresh it melted in the mouth. The Chinese chive dumpling with prawn was also good, and the duck and yam bean dumpling had a great hit of cracked black pepper.

Course 3 - Selection of 4 main dishes plus 1 rice

The wok-fried lobster in a spicy truffle sauce had chunky nuggets of tender lobster that tasted deliciously buttery and were topped with slices of aromatic fresh black truffles, Chinese black fungus, choy sum and tiny pieces of crispy deep-fried pastry which added an extra layer of texture to the dish. This was without a doubt the highlight of our meal, and one of the best lobster dishes I have eaten recently.

The Pipa duck is a regular favourite at Hakkasan, with its lovely crispy caramel-like skin, a sweet little layer of fat, and richly flavoured, slightly gamey meat.

The grilled Chilean seabass was also terrific. With a honeyed, slightly charred exterior, and a buttery texture to the flesh, the fish came with a scattering of well-made tempura of shimeji mushrooms.

The vegetable dish was an intriguing stir-fry of Hericium mushroom, with a meaty texture and delicately earthy flavour, combined with lotus root, asparagus and lily bulb in black pepper.

The dried scallop and crabmeat fried rice was a luxurious accompaniment to the duck, fish, lobster and vegetable mains.

Course 4 – Dessert: The Golden Halo

A ring (halo) of soy caramel and peanut brittle, topped with banana delice ice cream, a sphere of chocolate mousse encased in a wafer-thin chocolate shell, and flakes of real edible gold leaf. This was a light but intricate dessert with intense flavours of banana, peanuts and caramel. A monkey’s delight!

What We Drank: The CNY menu features one '9 Hou' cocktail per person, included in the set price. Made from Eldorado 3 year old rum, Amontillado sherry, banana, guava, lime, agave syrup and walnut, this was complex, well balanced and refreshing. 

With our meal, we shared a bottle of Sylvaner 'Sylvacello' 2012, from Cave de Turkheim, Alsace (£29) chosen by the sommelier. Straightforward, this had fresh, grapefruit notes but lacked any complexity. 

Likes: the lobster dish was the highlight, the rice of dried scallops and crabmeat was also terrific.

Dislikes: none.

Verdict: With Wagyu beef, truffled lobster, Chilean seabass and the finest Peking duck, Chinese New Year menus don’t get much better than this. Don’t wait too long, this special Year of the Monkey menu by Hakkasan ends on 22nd February 2016. Highly recommended.

Sunday Brunching at The Richmond

Name: The Richmond

Where: 316 Queensbridge Road, London E8 3NH, http://www.therichmondhackney.com/

About: This was our second visit to The Richmond in Hackney, but this time we came to try their Sunday Brunch menu - you can see our earlier review here.

The Sunday Brunch menu offers the extensive selection of British oysters for which The Richmond has become known for (also available at other times), as well as a selection of meat and fish dishes that reflect an Antipodean, rather than a traditional British version of Sunday lunch. This is not surprising since the restaurant is owned by Australian executive chef Brett Redman (formerly of The Pavilion Café in Victoria Park).

The Richmond looks even more elegant in the daylight – the dining rooms and bar are tastefully designed in a striking, dominant red colour, with bare dark wooden tables and subdued lighting.

What We Ate: From the starter menu, we chose the English crab muffin (£7) - tender fresh crab over a toasted muffin, the whole thing dusted with lovely Espelette pepper – perfection.

The Grilled dived scallops and preserved lemon butter (£7) was also delicious - plump and meaty, and still adherent to its shell, although definitely singular rather than plural as described on the menu.

For main course, we had the lamb shoulder (£17) - slow cooked for 12 hours, then roasted, this combined crispy skin with the tenderest of meat, and was served with confit tomatoes, anchovies, samphire and aubergine – the blending of land and sea ingredients here worked well, the saltiness/umaminess of the samphire and anchovies (two of my favourite ingredients) with the lamb meat was so damn clever.

I hardly order chicken in a restaurant, unless it is of outstanding quality and The Richmond’s did not disappoint. Their spit roast poussin with pumpkin and sage stuffing (£18) was served with a rich, concentrated and velvety Marsala gravy that saw me scraping my plate! The poussin meat was sweet and succulent, and of excellent quality. The restaurant uses a wood fire to cook all its meats.

To accompany our mains, we shared a side dish of cauliflower cheese (£4) – the cauliflower was cut up into tiny pieces, mixed with cream and cheese and finished off under the grill for a crusty top – I congratulate the chef for making such an uninspiring vegetable taste so utterly delicious!

Deep-fried desserts are just the best things on any menu as far as I am concerned and so the apple beignets (£7) had to be ordered. Served with a fromage frais sorbet, the beignets were airily light, filled with apple puree, and dusted in cinnamon. I loved these babies.

We also had the brown butter financier (£7) - served with poached pears in cinnamon (I can never enough cinnamon in my life!) and crystalised almonds, this was also very good.

What We Drank: The Richmond is renowned for their cocktails and I urge you to order them when you visit. Sunday brunching can only mean Bloody Mary and that is what I had – lightly spicy, and strong, it got our brunch off to a very good start. Dr G opted for The French 75 which blended gin, sparkling wine and lemon, and had a refreshing intensity of lemon.

The wine list is extensive, and focuses almost exclusively on Europe. There is a good selection of wines by the glass or 500ml carafe. The entry level white is a Cotes du Rhone at £29, while for the reds, it is a Tempranillo from Castilla, Spain at £27. There are also some well-chosen British craft beers, as well as a couple of Belgian and USA options.

From it, the sommelier suggested a Loire red to accompany our challenging combination of lamb and poussin main courses. The Domaine de Veilloux 2013, Cheverny  a blend of Pinot Noir, Gamay and Cabernet Franc (£34) was light, but with a good weight of red cherry fruit and little tannin. This was a good choice that stood up to the lamb without overpowering the poussin.

Likes: There is some excellent cooking skill on display at The Richmond, and it's great to see a neighbourhood restaurant where complete confidence in the skill of the chef is justified. Service was faultless.

Dislikes: None. 

Verdict: Fantastic cocktails, highly skilled cooking and a gorgeous restaurant, what is there to dislike about The Richmond? There are very few places in London I can think of where I would rather be for Sunday Brunch. Highly recommended.