London Restaurants | London Guide

Celebrate Diwali in London with some fine dining options

Diwali 2010: the ‘festival of light’ is celebrated by many countries worldwide but is traditionally focused on India, where it represents a vivid, colourful and happy time of year and signifies the triumph of good over evil and prosperity.

This year the festival offers a chance to sample some special menus at some of London’s finest Indian venues, created especially in honour of the occasion and giving a taste of that uplifting Diwali spirit.

Diwali at Dishoom – 1st to 8th November

Dishoom, London’s first Bombay café, is celebrating Diwali with a festival feast that's fantastic value for money. Available from 1st to 8th November, it offers a cross-section of Dishoom’s homage to Bombay food, with some very special additions for the season – all designed for two people to share, and just £20 per person.

Dishoom will also give out traditional mithai sweets to all diners, and the Covent Garden venue will also embody the spirit of Diwali with colourful decorations, including a rangoli – traditional geometric patterns created with chalk on the pavement. Diners with design flair will be encouraged to add their own mark to the artwork.

The feast begins with a special Diwali Bellini aperitif, offering a seasonal twist on the classic recipe and served with a sparkle for the festival of light, followed by Keema Pau, made of spiced minced lamb served with hot, buttered bread, and Dahi Puri – mini puffed bread shells with chickpeas and yoghurt, flavoured with tamarind. Especially sourced for Diwali is Grilled Langoustine, with ginger, chilli, lime and coriander, served alongside Chicken Berry Biryani or Diwali Biryani – slow-cooked aromatic rice with exotic vegetables, beautifully encased in a dough purdah. Accompanying is Dishoom’s signature Daal, cooling yoghurt with fresh cucumber and mint and your choice of freshly baked bread from the tandoor. Finish with Gola Ice or Kulfi.

A vegetarian option, priced at £17.50, is also available, including Chowpatty Beach-style mashed veg with hot, buttered bread, a signature Diwali Kofta Ruby Murray, made up of an exotic panoply of vegetables, paneer and pomegranate, and Diwali Biryani.

*Dishoom has just won the London Restaurant Festival’s award for best menu under £10, as voted for by TopTable.com readers. To celebrate, Dishoom will continue to serve its award-winning £7-per-head lunch.
Dishoom,
12 Upper St. Martin's Lane London WC2H 9FB                                              
Tel: 020 7420 9320 
www.dishoom.com
 
The Cinnamon Club’s Diwali Banquet – 1st – 6th November

Vivek Singh’s Westminster signature restaurant, The Cinnamon Club, represents the contemporary side of Indian fine dining. For Diwali, Vivek has created a six-course vegetarian Diwali banquet, beginning with Jerusalem artichoke and onion tikki and pineapple rasam, followed by lotus seed and vegetable seekh, a selection of chickpea and yoghurt textured dishes, baked jumbo morels and finishing with a selection of Indian religious offerings. Coffee and petit fours are included in the menu – a veritable banquet at just £50 per person, available 1st to 6th November.

The Cinnamon Club
The Old Westminster Library
30 Great Smith Street,
Westminster
London SW1P 3BU   
Tel: 020 7222 2555  
 www.cinnamonclub.com
 
Anise – a Festival of Light party – 13th November

On 13th November, Diwali revellers will head to Anise, near Liverpool Street Station, where specialist party planners Blackrock Events have dressed the venue to truly represent the festival of light. Entry is just £15 per person (£10 guest list) and booths for large groups are available to hire for £200, with the opportunity to pre-order drinks and Cinnamon Kitchen’s award-winning canapés and sharing platters beforehand.

For more serious sustenance, Cinnamon Kitchen presents a special menu for Diwali, offering a similarly contemporary style of Indian food to its parent venue, The Cinnamon Club, marrying the spice of the subcontinent with traditional English ingredients. A three-course meal can be had for between £23.50 and £49.50, excluding service.

Cinnamon Kitchen & Anise
9 Devonshire Square
London EC2M 4YL    
Tel: 20 7626 5000  
reception@cinnamon-kitchen.com   
www.cinnamon-kitchen.com
 
Charity Diwali Dinner at Cinnamon Kitchen – 14th November

Cinnamon Kitchen’s executive chef Vivek Singh presides over a rare collaboration of the UK’s finest Indian chefs on 14th November. In aid of Action Against Hunger, he will be preparing a six-course Diwali banquet with 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 colleague, Abdul Yaseen, will start the night with Cinnamon Kitchen’s award-winning canapés.

After the dinner will be an auction, hosted by Helen Lederer, with a personal cookery demonstration by Atol Kochhar followed by dinner at Benares up for grabs, as well as a range of top holidays.

Tickets for the event, which starts at 6pm, are priced at £85, with all proceeds from the night going to international humanitarian organisation Action Against Hunger.

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

Cinnamon Kitchen & Anise
9 Devonshire Square
London EC2M 4YL    
Tel: 020 7626 5000  
reception@cinnamon-kitchen.com   
www.cinnamon-kitchen.com

 

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

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

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

Sheba Brick Lane Celebrates 35 Years in East London

 In the heart of London’s world-famous Brick Lane, Sheba has been a haunt of curry lovers from across the globe since 1975. The 90-seater restaurant is a tandoori and balti specialist and is proud to boast the finest selection of seafood dishes on Brick Lane. It has been run by the xxxxxx family since 1975.

Underpinning its reputation for good, unpretentious cooking this last 35 years is its equally winning service and warm and welcoming atmosphere. The front of house is always delighted to recommend new dishes and to put together delicious balanced menus for newcomers and regular that will showcase Sheba’s cooking at its best.

Specialities of the house include Shatkora dishes cooked with Bangladeshi bitter lemon, Naga dishes made with Bangladeshi naga chillies, Sylheti seafood dishes such as Roopchanda (queen fish from the Indian ocean marinated in lemon juice with coriander sauce, tomatoes and garlic), Shim Machli with Bangladeshi green beans and Special Sylheti Jalfrezi. Among the chef’s favourites are classic Goan Chicken Xacuti, Lobster Bengal Special and – for the very brave – the fiery hot Bollywood Blast (with naga chilli, Mexican chilli, African chilli and green chilli). One of regulars’ favourites is the Lamb Lucknow, a recipe made using lamb shank or ‘nalis’ as they are called in India. It has a rich gravy, fragrant with aromatic herbs, cardamom, screwpine flowers and saffron. Sheba is the only restaurant on Brick Lane to serve lamb shank. 

Appetisers range in price from £3.10 to £8.95 for a mixed grill for two. Main courses run from £4.95 to £14.50. An extensive selection of vegetarian main courses and side dishes is also available.

The restaurant is committed to offering delicious fresh food at an attractive price point so tourists, locals and shoppers at Brick Lane’s ever-popular Sunday market can enjoy a high quality, good value meal whatever their budget. The kitchen uses only 100% low cholesterol, vegetarian oil and premium quality halal meat. It only uses fresh ingredients that are free of artificial colours, flavours and preservatives.

Sheba has won a number of awards over the years for its cooking. Most recently, it was included in the Toptable 100 which is voted for by Toptable bookers. Chef Gulab Miah took the  “Curry Chef of the Year” award at the annual Brick Lane Curry Festival from 2006 to 2008.

Sheba Brick Lane accommodates 90 diners across two floors (street level and basement). Both floors can be booked out for parties or corporate events. Both floors have a widescreen TV for presentations etc. The restaurant is fully licensed.

Sheba Brick Lane is open seven days a week from noon to midnight.

Sheba Brick Lane, 136 Brick Lane, London, E1 6RU, 020 7247 7824

www.shebabricklane.com

Anise Goes Catwalk Crazy For London Fashion Week

Anise at the Cinnamon Kitchen is celebrating London Fashion Week by bringing style to the City. Presenting an array of fashion, beauty and style experts for one night only, guests are invited to enjoy an evening of free advice, mini makeovers and discounts on products, alongside a complimentary cocktail and Anise’s contemporary Indian canapés.

The evening of 15th September, from 6pm – 8.30pm, just ahead of London Fashion Week, which runs 17th to 22nd September, will tell Anise’s guests how to look totally on trend, what not to wear and how to make the best of their features and wardrobe – from hair to nails to make-up and the next season’s must-have styles.

Benefit Cosmetics will offer make-up tips and tricks alongside discounts on its range of award-winning products including its High Beam and Dr Feelgood lines; Karine Jackson hair and beauty, will have nail technicians offering free mini makeovers; Rush Hair Salon will be giving free hair consultations, promoting healthy hair and advising how to wear your hair up this season; and Apartment C, an innovative lingerie shopping space in Marylebone, which takes inspiration from cool girls’ apartments, will be showcasing a pop-up shop, where guests can explore a collection of silk loungewear, Parisian perfumes, costume jewellery and hand-picked vintage novels, whilst enjoying chocolate tasting and prizes from a lucky dip.

Style Bible, the luxury lifestyle directory service, will also be offering inside advice on the latest trends, what’s hot and what’s not, with a clear eye on London Fashion Week activity in the days ahead. More importantly, Style Bible will be giving away complimentary memberships worth £120, providing users with access to up-to-date insider information on where to go, where to stay, and how to stay beautiful alongside a variety of perks and discounts.

Guests will receive a complimentary cocktail on arrival from Anise’s list that boasts delicious drinks twisted with Indian spices. Cocktails will be accompanied by canapés from  Cinnamon Kitchen's renowned menu of beautifully presented contemporary dishes – and each guest also leaves with a goodie bag full of stylish surprises.

Embrace the fashionista inside: remember, it’s not just the devil that wears Prada!

For you and a friend to attend the London Fashion Week Event at Anise, simple RSVP with your name and the name of your guest to events@cinnamon-kitchen.com.

Anise at The Cinnamon Kitchen

9 Devonshire Square, London, EC2M 4YL, T: 020 7626 5000, www.cinnamon-kitchen.com