This week is National Vegetarian Week (21st – 27th May). The idea is to promote inspirational vegetarian food and raise awareness of the benefits of a meat-free lifestyle.

Whilst one does occasionally come across the odd vegetarians who seems to subsist on little more than beans on toast, cheese and chips, I am sure most of us know that it is perfectly possible to follow a healthy, delicious and varied vegetarian diet, if one chooses.

Indeed, my mum was a vegetarian until she moved to the UK in her early 20s, and most of my relatives in India follow a vegetarian diet. Although she did eat meat for a couple of decades, mum has moved back towards vegetarianism, though she is most accurately described as pescetarian, as she has retained fish and seafood in her diet.

Whilst I can’t see me giving up meat any time soon, there are certainly many reasons to reduce the amount of meat I eat, including my health, the environment (it takes more energy and land to produce meat than fruit and vegetables) and of course, my wallet. (What meat I eat I want to be good quality, responsibly reared and delicious and that means paying more for it).

With so many vegetarians in India, it’s no surprise that the cuisines of that country – I use the plural because there are such enormous regional differences – offer a great way for vegetarians, and those simply wishing to reduce their meat intake, to enjoy meat-free meals that look, smell and taste great.

I know this and yet, I’m not very good at putting it into practice.

Recently, I heard about the special menu that Cinnamon Kitchen has devised in celebration of National Vegetarian Week, and was invited along to sample it ahead of it’s launch today. The set menu features 5 vegetarian courses, is priced at £25 per person and is available from the 21st to the 31st of May.

Cinnamon Kitchen is is the 2nd restaurant in a group of three, the first being The Cinnamon Club which opened a little over 10 years ago. Cinnamon Kitchen opened in 2008 and the latest sibling, Cinnamon Soho, just a couple of months ago.

Executive chef of the group is Vivek Singh but CK’s menu is the work of head chef Abdul Yaseen. Yaseen worked with Singh for almost a decade, before taking the head chef role at Cinnamon Kitchen when it opened.

Cinnamon Kitchen has an enviable location within a beautifully modernised old warehouse complex located in a leafy square a stone’s throw from Liverpool Street station. The restaurant entrance opens into the enormous glass-covered Western Courtyard where outdoor tables benefit from lots of light (or a view of the stars) yet are protected from rain and wind.

Inside, to the left is the Anise bar lounge and to the right the main dining area, with space for over 100 covers. As is common for Indian restaurants these days, it’s an attractive space with warm brick walls, modern furniture and enormous globe light fittings. Along one side is an open tandoori grill with a long row of bar stools, like a Japanese sushi bar. Behind, frosted windows give hints of frenzied activity in the main kitchen.

My friend Rachel and I chose a table in one corner, from where we could watch the restaurant fill to bursting with local office workers and empty again only an hour later.

Whilst I do often order vegetarian dishes when eating out, it’s rare for me to choose an entirely vegetarian selection for all courses, so I was genuinely curious as to whether I’d miss meat during the meal.

Before we started on the set menu, we were served an amuse, sent to all the tables. A spherical bread-crumbed potato fritter served on a stick, with gooseberry chutney and a little natural yoghurt, the fritter was soft and crunchy, and the gooseberry chutney a perfect balance of tart, sweet, spiced fruit. My only suggestion would be to be more generous with it, as just the tiniest smear was dabbed onto the potato fritter.

As the first two dishes from the set menu were served chef Abdul Yaseen came to tell me more about the dishes themselves and shared his cooking philosophy for Cinnamon Kitchen.

I tasted of one of the dishes and commented on how absolutely familiar and authentic the taste was, a surprise given the modern presentation of the dish. He responded that his “food is very much within the roots of Indian cuisine“… he aims to share a “modern Indian cuisine” which is “not fusion but innovation“, that is to say he “stick[s] to traditional recipes but play[s] with textures and presentation“. He wants to create “layers of flavour” and “to highlight the ingredients“, which themselves are “adapted to the seasons” here in the UK.

A shot glass of ambi panna was served ice cold. Chef Yaseen told us how he uses the first of the season’s raw mangoes, smoked in a hot oven before being combined with mint, fennel, cumin. Such a lot of flavour in such a small glass! I assume there’s also some chilli to create the intense combination of chilli heat and ice cold temperature… This amuse bouche really slaps the palate awake before the meal to come!

The menu describes the starter as smoked tomato & morel soup, pickled mushroom salad, coriander and lemon cress but chef Yaseen referred to the soup as rasam, a popular South Indian soup featuring tamarind water, tomato, pepper and chilli.

As we tasted it, we immediately thought back to Yaseen’s words about layering flavours and using texture to present traditional dishes in a new way. Slices of morel and a few micro herbs gave more substance to the thin, fragrant and incredibly rich soup. The pickled mushrooms and salad added bouncy chew, sharp vinegar and fresh vegetal notes. Salty, sour, bitter, sweet, and umami – all five taste sensations were present in this one dish and all were perfectly balanced.

The “middle course” of hara kebab, chickpea and sesame cake, English asparagus, curried yoghurt, aubergine crush was also very good. The first thing both of us tasted was the aubergine, deeply, deeply smoky and silky soft, and with a little crunch in the form of diced raw red onion. The spinach kebab was soft and rich with a hint of crispness to the surface. The chickpea and sesame cake was cleverly lifted by sweet pepper. The asparagus spear was perfectly cooked with just the right amount of bite, and with lovely charred flavour to complement the aubergine. I liked the curried yoghurt better than Rachel, though it didn’t have as much flavour as it could have, I liked its tartness. This course really was superbly conceived.

I loved the presentation of the main course of stir fried baby aubergine, cauliflower stuffed potatoes, curried petit pois, slow cooked onion gravy; simply plated, just like it might be at home, but taken to another level by the clever use of a hollowed out potato as edible bowl to the stir fried cauliflower! All the flavours were once again excellent, and very much familiar to those who’ve grown up eating Indian home cooking. The pea curry was probably my favourite, with the peas cooked just enough, bursting freshness in the mouth. The gravy pulled the plate together nicely. I even enjoyed the rice, served plainly but with that distinct delicate flavour of good basmati. My only criticism is that whilst the tomato-y flesh of my baby aubergine was soft and tasty, the skin was very tough, actually difficult to chew.

For dessert, Chef Yaseen stepped away from the Indian tradition and served a lemon grass panna cotta, seasonal berries compote, toasted fennel seeds. Those fennel seeds were the only nod to India, and actually I think they were superfluous. The panna cotta was superb, with wonderful wobble and the most delightful lemon grass flavour, gentle at first but singing by the end of each bite. The berries were cooked so briefly that they had a concentrated compote flavour but were still full of fresh juiciness and perfectly matched with the mint. I loved this and could happily eat it again and again.

Full to bursting, we ordered masala chai, which was served with petits fours. As we drank our delicately spiced tea we reviewed the wine choices sommelier Carlos Pinto had chosen to match with the special menu.

With the first two courses, he selected a pinot blanc from Alsace (Domaine Dopff). With the main, he served a Burgundy pinot noir (Domaine Chanson). And with dessert, a Bera Moscato d’Asti from Piedmont. Rachel felt that the matches were very well chosen indeed, and really worked well to bring out the best in both food and wine.

By the end of our meal, we agreed that the menu was a big success. Neither of us had missed meat for a moment, and the variety of flavours, textures and visual presentation were hugely appealing. For £25, it was also excellent value.

The menu is available until the end of May, and I hope it proves sufficiently popular that Cinnamon Kitchen decide to offer something similar on a permanent basis.

Kavey Eats dined as a guest of Cinnamon Kitchen.

Tweet

When I was first sent a press release about Namaaste Kitchen in Camden, I was intrigued. Owner, director and “patron chef” Sabir Karim has described the restaurant as an “Indian grill and bar”, with the grill open to view from the restaurant.

Unusually, drinks, bar snacks, and an all-day menu are served seven days a week which could prove useful when trying to dine outside of regular meal times.

But the main attraction for me was the year long regional food festival featuring dishes from a different part of India each month. In February diners tasted the delights of traditional Hyderabadi dishes; in March Karim showcased the cuisine of Goa; during our April visit we sampled specialities from Lucknow; in May diners can try food from Mumbai.

Karim has worked in the restaurant industry for many years, including time at Chutney Mary (which also offers food from across India). His first restaurant, Salaam Namaste in Bloomsbury opened in 2006 and Namaaste Kitchen was launched last year.

Incidentally, am I the only one slightly bothered by the two different spellings of namaste/ namaaste in the restaurant names?

2 images from restaurant website

In a continuing trend away from flocked wallpaper or faux Raj, Namaaste Kitchen boasts exposed brick walls, cream leather banquettes and seats and colourful modern art and light fittings.

Settling in, we quickly ordered drinks. A rich, thick Sweet Lassi (£3.50) for me made from good quality natural yoghurt with a decent tangy flavour. Mum enjoyed her Noon On The Equator non-alcoholic cocktail (£4.50) which included Tabasco, salt and pepper to spice up the orange, tomato and lemon juices, with grenadine for sweetness.

As we ordered, our waiter suggested we try their poppadoms and chutneys (£2.40 per person). We were particularly impressed on asking whether the poppadoms are fried or cooked in the oven, to be told they could accommodate either.

The chutneys were excellent, with one that was so good that mum and I spent a considerable portion of our lunch tasting and re-tasting in an attempt to work out what could be in it. Understandably, Mr Karim kept the recipe close to his chest!

He did tell us that the mango chutney was enhanced by the addition of pineapple. Certainly this gave a rounder flavour.

The green chutney was freshly made but fairly standard and not dissimilar to mum’s green chutney recipe, though we found it a touch bitter.

The tomato one is the one that blew us away! It was sweet and rich with a really distinct spicing. The tomato was still fresh tasting rather than cooked down long and slow. Mum guessed that it had turmeric, fennel seeds and perhaps smoked nigella.

I am going to be begging Mr Karim to reveal his secrets or at the very least, start selling it in jars to enjoy at home!

From the regular menu, Spicy Soft Shell Crab (£5.95) was OK. The texture was both crunchy and very soft, but let down by an excess of greasiness. The crab was very mild indeed and the key flavour that came through was of the green sauce dolloped over the crab. Listed in the menu as a “green pepper corn lemon sauce” to me it tasted the same as the green coriander chutney served with the poppadom. I guess the contents of that spoon must have been the “spicy fig n prunes sauce” and was nice enough, though not sure it was a particularly good match for the crab.

As we were still exclaiming over the last of the tomato concoction served with the poppadoms, a second dish of this was kindly brought out for us, and this worked better with the crab than the chosen condiments.

Also from the regular menu, the Chingree Samosas (£3.95) were disappointing. Described as “spicy prawns wrapped in home made filo pastry” the wrappers were very thick and soggy. The filling was stodgy with little taste of prawn, though I did spot one. The “crystal raw papaya chutney” served alongside tasted good but was a little lacking in moisture.

Our third starter was chosen from the special Lucknow menu. The Dal Chini Macchi Tikka (£5.50) made up for the other two starters. Three generous chunks of salmon fillet were nicely coated in spice and additionally flavoured using the dhungar (smoke) method of tempering that infuses the food with a pleasant smokiness. The fish was soft and moist within a crunchy, spicy coating.

For our mains, we stuck more closely to the Lucknow menu, as mum grew up in this region of India and would be able to comment on the authenticity of the dishes. Our first choice was the Lucknowi Shahi Kofta (£10.95). Shahi translates as fit for a king (or Shah) and usually describes a rich sauce often thickened with ground nuts as well as cream or butter. Kofta is often translated as meatball (or meat kebab) but in India it can also refer to vegetable croquettes, as in this case. The deep-fried balls of vegetables were fabulous, with the textures of the different mixed vegetables still distinct, having not been overcooked to a mush. The sauce was suitably rich and beautifully flavoured and it was nice to find large chunks of cashew nuts left whole for additional bite. Both mum and I were impressed with this dish and mum agreed that it was certainly like versions she’s had in Lucknow.

Also from the Lucknow menu, we chose the Peethiwali Macchli (£13.95). The menu explained that sea bass fillets are coated in a rice batter before being fried in mustard oil and simmered in an Avadhi sauce. (Lucknow is located in what was originally known as the Avadh region and hence the cuisine of the area is often referred to as Avadhi). Again the fish inside the crispy coating was soft and moist and the flavours in the coating and sauce were delicious. I was a little disappointed to encounter quite a few fish bones in this dish, but again, we both enjoyed it very much.

From the regular menu side vegetables dishes we tried the Sesame Baby Aubergine (£3.50). Cooked with mustard and curry leaves this reminded me a lot of mum’s stuffed aubergine recipe, which is best made with small sized vegetables. The only negative here was that my little aubergine was undercooked, with that slightly tongue-furring texture that aubergine has until cooked through. But mum’s pieces were cooked all the way through. Good flavours.

We also tried a South Indian style stir fry Vegetables (£3.50) which we quickly realised wasn’t a good fit with anything else we ordered.

Roomali roti (£2.25) was nothing like the soft, draping ones I so enjoy at Dishoom. Rather it was dry and brittle, and we left it to one side.

But the Sheermal (£2.95) from the Lucknow menu was lovely. A rich, thick and soft bread baked in the tandoor and flavoured (and coloured) with saffron milk, this was like a sweet naan and very nice with the fish and vegetable curries.

As mum’s a pescetarian, I’d intended to avoid meat dishes as there were plenty of seafood and vegetable ones for us to choose from. However the friendly restaurant manager Mannu Dahiya recommended that I try the lamb chops, and since the restaurant prides itself on its grilled offerings, I agreed to try a half portion. They were pretty good, with robust spicing and soft meat, cooked deftly to retain a touch of pink inside but with the lovely flavour of charring on the surface. My only disappointment was that, typically for Indian style, every last scrap of fat had been trimmed away, denying me the very special pleasure of lamb chop fat cooked over charcoal. London Turkish restaurants get this right, always leaving a tasty layer of fat on their lamb chops.

Full to bursting, but when we learned that the Rasmalai (£3.95) is made in house, we ordered one portion to share. This sweet dessert is made from paneer or milk curds, cooked in cardamom-flavoured milk or cream. Usually, the balls are served in the cooking liquid, but Namaaste Kitchen presented the dish in a more modern way, with the liquid served chilled in a small shot glass. The liquid was thinner than usual, though this worked well given the way it was served. The curd ball was well flavoured, and not as sweet as it can often be in India. This was definitely a good thing!

We finished with Masala Chai (£2.50 per person) which was served in individual tea pots. We both liked that the tea is made unsweetened, allowing customers to sweeten to their taste, enjoy unsweetened or use artificial sweeteners if they prefer. As mum’s diabetic, this is really helpful.

In the main part, we really enjoyed our meal with some dishes really standing out above the rest. A few let downs mean the meal wasn’t wholly fantastic, but I’d certainly visit again.

We were looked after by a friendly team including Johnny, our waiter and Mannu, the manager who took our order and was able to give us some extra information on the dishes. It was good to see that the owner, Mr Karim, was also on site, and he answered a few more of our questions about the special menu in particular.

Kavey Eats dined as guests of Namaaste Kitchen.

Tweet