Asma Khan on her admiration for Vivek Singh and the Cinnamon Club

Asma Khan celebrates the innovation of the Cinnamon Club as it approaches its 20th anniversary.

 

As hospitality gets ready to reopen, I want to celebrate the resilience and innovation of a restaurant that is approaching its 20th anniversary.

 

The Cinnamon Club is a restaurant that changed so much for so many of us. Even though my route was different, I was inspired by its story and the changes Vivek Singh brought to the perception of Indian food. I knew that if your food had a story and people could relate to your journey, they would embrace your food, even if it was not familiar or what they considered to be conventional Indian food.

 

Two decades ago, when the Cinnamon Club opened, it was a game-changer. It was located in a Grade II-listed building next to Parliament – the old Westminster Library. Back then it was almost impossible to imagine an Indian restaurant in that grand space.

 

Chef Vivek Singh arrived in England having been trained in the elite Oberoi Hotels, and he had a very open mind about Indian food. He felt change was inevitable and was not afraid to introduce very different dishes to what people knew.

 

 

There were two big innovations that were brought in by the Cinnamon Club. The first was the introduction of a three-course meal, which did not exist in mainstream Indian restaurants in this country. The restaurant did not try to have recognisable dishes or ‘curries’. It offered very Western-style service and plating in a refined atmosphere.

 

For decades hunting and eating game was illegal in India and no one of Vivek’s generation had even eaten game, let alone cooked it. But in the autumn of the year they opened the Cinnamon Club, Vivek introduced a game menu, using old Indian recipes with his own distinctive twist.

 

I asked Vivek what drove the innovation behind his cuisine. He talked about the frustration that he felt in India, where chefs cooking Indian food were not encouraged to get high-quality ingredients. He found cooking in England very liberating as he could use the best produce.

 

I can relate to that frustration when I remember my first Indian restaurant meal in Cambridge, where I was served multicoloured rice – described as biryani on the menu!

 

I feel the chefs and restaurants that will leave a legacy are not those that are frequented by celebrities and the glitterati, but those that are brave and courageous and do something that no one else has done before.

 

The chefs and restaurants that will leave a legacy are not those that are frequented by celebrities and the glitterati, but those that are brave and courageous and do something that no one else has done before

 

Some 20 years ago, the Cinnamon Club changed the face of Indian fine dining. I am grateful that my team of women were invited to host a Biryani Supper Club at the Cinnamon Club back in 2013. We worked parallel to the chefs and it was a transformative moment. We realised that in this hallowed space – a grand kitchen – we and the chefs were doing the exact same thing.

 

 

The 20th anniversary of Cinnamon Club is a very personal one for all of us in the kitchen at Darjeeling Express, as this was where our dream began.