London Restaurants | London Guide

The country’s finest Indian chefs unite for Action Against Hunger

Six of the UK’s best Indian chefs are teaming up to prepare a five-course Diwali banquet in aid of international humanitarian organisation Action Against Hunger.

The event constitutes an unprecedented collaboration between an award-winning group of experimental chefs. Together, they have rewritten the rulebook on Indian fine dining – some of them winning Michelin stars for their restaurants – and lead the world in their modern interpretation of Indian cooking.

The banquet, on Sunday 14th November, coincides with Diwali, popularly known as the Festival of Lights and celebrated by multicultural followers and in Hinduism, Sikhism and Jainism as symbolic of good triumphing over evil. It will be held at Cinnamon Kitchen, the City outpost of renowned chef Vivek Singh, with the venue fittingly dressed in a sea of candlelight.

Vivek will be joined by fellow chefs Alfred Prasad of Tamarind, Navin Bhatia of Dockmaster’s House, Jitin Joshi of Benares and Vatika, and Anirudh Arora of Moti Mahal, while Vivek’s Cinnamon Kitchen colleague Abdul Yaseen will start the night by providing pre-dinner canapés and delicately spiced cocktails.

After dinner, the night will feature a luxury auction, hosted by comedienne Helen Lederer (The Young Ones, Absolutely Fabulous) and offering the chance to win exclusive experiences such as a cooking masterclass with Vivek at Cinnamon Kitchen, a cookery demonstration class with Atul Kochhar followed by dinner at Benares, as well as a range of top holidays.

All proceeds from the evening will go to Action Against Hunger, an international humanitarian organisation committed to ending child hunger. Action Against Hunger runs life-saving programmes in some 40 countries benefiting 5 million people each year.

Tickets to this exclusive event, beginning at 6pm on 14th November, are priced at £85. To purchase tickets or for more information, please visit diwali-banquet.tk, or contact Lizzie Charles on 0208 853 7570 or e.charles@aahuk.org

Warm Up With Chilli Crab This Winter at Awana

Acclaimed Malaysian restaurant Awana is proud to unveil their unusual and delicious Chilli Crab dish, available this winter.  Chilli Crab is a regular feature in the hawker markets of Malaysia and Singapore and is hard to find in London.

Chilli Crab is the dish of choice for all seafood lovers and involves whole blue swimmer crabs stir-fried with birds eye chillies, ginger, onion, garlic, fresh tomatoes and brown crab meat. It is served with the traditional Malaysian bread roti canai, perfect for mopping up the smoky, sweet sauce the crab is served in.

This dish can only truly be enjoyed using your fingers to extract the succulent meat in the crab claws, so be prepared to roll up your sleeves and get messy!

This exotic dish will be available for the duration of the autumn, and costs £17 as a main course. Order Awana’s Chilli Crab for a true taste of a Malaysian night market this winter.  

Awana
85 Sloane Avenue
Chelsea, SW3
0207 584 8880  

Dishoom Offers Cheap Breakfast in Covent Garden

Get a bargain Bombay breakfast at Dishoom during the London Restaurant Festival! 

Dishoom, London’s first Bombay café which recently opened in Covent Garden, is a late entrant to the London Restaurant Festival, offering a host of special offers including breakfast for just £5 and a veritable Bombay banquet for only £22.50 a head.

Between 4th and 18th October, start the day at the bustling, light and airy café with a delicious Bacon Naan Roll, made with smoked back bacon, homemade chilli jam in freshly baked naan bread, or a Bombay Omelette, spiced and served with grilled vine tomatoes on toast.

With freshly squeezed orange juice and a cup of homemade house chai, and all for just £5, it’s a great start to the day that won’t hurt your wallet.

The café, on Upper St Martin’s Lane, is also serving up two set delicious menus, designed for sharing, especially created for the festival – and more importantly, with double dip-proof price tags.
Lunch comes in barely more expensive at £7. Start with a cooling lassi – choose from salted rose and cardamom, mango and fennel or the spice of a Bhang lassi; fill up with a Roomali Roll filled with chicken, lamb tikka or paneer and mushroom; and wash it down with house-infused chai.
A £22.50 per head menu is a more fully fledged immersion in Dishoom, with four starters to share including zesty calamari and spiced minced lamb, main dishes including grilled lobster tail cooked with ginger, chilli, lime and coriander and a choice of freshly shaved gola ice flavoured with fresh fruits and authentic kulfi to finish. Start your meal with a rose, lychee and raspberry Bellini and finish it with chai.

Dishoom
12 Upper St. Martin’s Lane
London, WC2H 9FB
020 7420 9320
www.dishoom.com

Free Cava at Camino Restaurant, Canary Wharf

Join Camino in celebrating the opening with a free bottle of Cava for everyone! 

Download voucher here

 

Following the success of the original King’s Cross location a new Camino opened to the public on the banks of the Thames on September 15th 2010.

 

The new location boasts views south and west down the river from a spacious terrace partly shaded by a canopy of trees. Large sherry barrels add to the unmistakable Spanish feel and parasols protect outside diners.

 

The location means customers can shun the Tube or bus - with the adjacent Canary Wharf Pier making it possible to arrive and depart from central London by Thames Clipper from early morning until just before midnight.

 

Terrace and Interior:

Windows form the entire front and side of the building and are fully opening on the bar side. Patterned Andalusian tiles are set into the floor at the front of the building, reclaimed oak and pine floorboards make up the rest of the ground space and reclaimed Victorian brickwork adds an earthy charm. 

 

Inside the bar is a dominant feature and the large open kitchen faces out across the whole premises. A large painted mural runs across the front of the kitchen from the bar to the restaurant featuring La Boqueria - one of the world's most famous food markets on La Rambla as well as barrels, a castle, classic Andalusian tiles and vines post-harvest in an Autumnal shot fading away into the hillside. 

 

Food:

The menu consists of tapas made with ingredients head chef Nacho del Campo, who has been in command at King’s Cross for 2½ years, makes extreme effort in sourcing. Whilst the roots are traditional in terms of the best ingredients, simply served, with gutsy flavours, there are also some contemporary twists. The restaurant has imported a charcoal grill from Bilbao to ensure steaks (which come from Mather's Gold cattle in Scotland), can be cooked in the proper Basque way – studded with sea-salt, chargrilled and sliced. Lamb, iberico pork and fish are also charcoal grilled. Seasonal specials feature at all times. 

 

Drinks:

A succinct wine list details the grape variety/ies, region and a short description. All are Spanish, and many are available by the glass and carafe.

 

'Los Cañónes Grandes' (The Big Guns) have been introduced for the Canary Wharf location. This is an additional list that includes many of the absolute finest wines from Spain. The exception to the all-Spanish rule here is some sparkling wines made in the cava method but from outside Spain, like Nyetimber, Louis Roederer, Bollinger Grande Année and Krug.

 

A range of Spanish beers include crisp lagers, a pale ale, a malty dark brew from Zaragoza, a super-premium lager and a wheat beer made in conjunction with Ferran Adrià – ideal for matching with food. Agua de Valencia, Sangria and a number of Latino cocktails form the backbone of the cocktail list.

 

Wine Temperature Regulation:

Due to an increase in space the new site has enabled all wines to be served at the correct temperatures so the taste and feel is optimized. These temperatures are 3 degrees for Cava, Champagne, fino and manzanilla sherries, bottled beer and cider, 6 degrees for white wines, roses and other sherries and 16 degrees for red wines. The reds will taste fresher as a result of being at 'cellar temperature'- avoiding being served at room temperature that often loses their freshness and balance. 

 

Address:

28 Westferry Circus

E14 8RR

Enquiries:  020 7841 7331

Tube: Canary Wharf (Jubilee), Westferry Circus or Canary Wharf (DLR)

Bus: D3, D7, 135, 277 all go from Canary Wharf to Westferry 

 

Capacity:

Restaurant – 60 seats

Terrace – 40 seats

Bar Area (high level seating and a lounge area) – 150 capacity

 

Useful Links:

http://www.camino.uk.com/

http://camino.uk.com/page/camino-puerto-del-canario

Top chefs partner up for London Restaurant Festival

 Vivek Singh, pioneer of contemporary Indian fine dining and founder of Cinnamon Kitchen, is joining forces with Simon Rogan, Michelin-starred chef proprietor of L’Enclume in Cartmel, Cumbria in a unique collaboration.

The move is part of the London Restaurant Festival’s 10-10-10 initiative, which is partnering ten celebrated chefs from around the country with ten London-based chefs to create bespoke menus on Sunday 10th October 2010.

Vivek and Simon’s partnership will see the two converge at Cinnamon Kitchen in the City of London to create a fusion of two contrasting culinary cultures, blending the spicy sophistication of Vivek’s beautifully presented dishes (that themselves merge the finest aspects of British and Indian cuisine), with Simon’s innovative and experimental approach to cooking that has won him a Michelin star.

Diners will enjoy a six-course meal that takes them on a journey through the British countryside by way of Bombay:

Stampede artichokes in onion ashes, curry leaf and tomato custard, wood sorrel and chilli oil

****

Dublin Bay prawns, tamarind-grilled aubergines, coastal herbs and peanuts

****

Salt-baked Boltardy beetroot, Bengali mustard, tandoori Goosnargh chicken, fenugreek

****

North Sea skate belly, hot and sweet pumpkin chutney, alexander seeds, coconut rice

****

24-hour Cumbrian lamb flank, cumin-spiced sweetbreads, White Lady runner beans, cashew nuts and korma emulsion

 ****

English vintage pear with saffron, sweet cicely and vanilla

Tickets to this exclusive event, which is being held between 12-2:30pm, are priced at £80, including all six courses and an aperitif. To book call Cinnamon Kitchen on 020 7626 5000, mention American Express 10-10-10 and that you are an American Express Cardmember.

Vivek comments, “I have been a great fan of Simon’s cooking style and values; it’s an honour to host him at Cinnamon Kitchen as a part of 10-10-10. It’s both challenging and exciting to be working together on the menu which promises to be the ultimate fusion in contemporary cuisine”.

Cinnamon Kitchen

9 Devonshire Square

London EC2M 4WY

020 7626 5000

www.cinnamon-kitchen.com

Coffee Morning at Tossed

 Join the ‘world’s biggest coffee morning’ on 24th September in support of  the McMillan charity at Tossed

With coffee as good as you’ll find at Tossed, the healthier eating place, it’s no hardship to grab an extra one this Friday. And when you do, you will also be supporting one the UK’s most worthwhile charities, McMillan Cancer Support. With collection boxes around the six Tossed stores, balloons to attract customers and special offers on breakfast, be part of one of the biggest fundraising events, which this year aims to raise £8m for this worthy cause.

On offer at the six Tossed stores around London, is coffee and a breakfast toastie at just £2.95. Packed with protein and calorie counted, a toastie and a cup of coffee will set you up for the day and keep you full until lunchtime. But Tossed hopes you’ll return mid morning for another coffee and to raise more money for McMillan.  The triple certificate, luxury coffee range of coffees found at Tossed is worth returning for. Organic, fair-trade, 100 percent pure Arabica beans – the trademark beans of luxury coffee - the beans are also super fresh, as they are roasted to order and ground for your cup.  Try a Cappuccino, Latte, Americano or Espresso for a smooth and rich flavour. Priced between £1.00 and £1.50, you will want to buy a cup for your friends too!

Coffee breaks have never tasted so good, so this Friday, make a point of having one – it’s for a good cause!

Tossed are open from 7 am for breakfast right through to early evening.  

www.tosseduk.com  

Find them at: 31-33 Baker Street, W1J 8EJ, Tel:020 7486 8555; 47 Mortimer Street  W1W  8HR Tel 0208 616 1187; 10 Sheldon Square, Paddington Central, W2   6EZ Tel 020 7289 2516; 101 St Martin’s Lane, Soho, WC2N 4AZ  Tel 0207 240 3599; Tossed @ The Qube, 101-106 Tottenham Court Road, London W1T 5AB Tel: 020 7998 6454; Westfield London Shopping Centre, Ariel Way, White City, W12 7GE  Tel: 020 8740 9613.