Canapés at The Cinnamon Kitchen

It is the ultimate dining cliche; to covet your friend’s meal. You have your own choice set down in front of you. It is what you have chosen after a long deliberation. The waiter has come, you have announced your choice and you have waited for it to be delivered. Your companion does the same and you have both waited for it to be cooked and brought in. A period of time elapsed and up comes the waiter with the brace of dishes.

You look upon your meal, you glance over to your companion’s choice and immediately a sense of envy kicks in. A quick glance to your dish and a longer linger over your companion’s meal only exacerbates the feeling of inadequacy. Why, you ask yourself, couldn’t I have been more thorough with my selection and taken the only one true meal that exists within this curryhouse?

Fortunately, the people at the Cinnamon Kitchen have managed a way to circumvent this particular cliché. By people, I mean Abdul Yaseen, head chef at this highly esteemed restaurant. He created the menu consisting of 14 dishes spread across four courses in recognition of the fact that the regulars of this restaurant based near the City have a limited amount of time on their hands.

The first course consisted of rice crusted seared scallop with aubergine crush, tuna and salmon ceviche, Bengali crab cake and a shot of chilled tomato and green mango soup. It is quite some accomplishment to get dishes such as these down to a small size without compromising on their flavour. All remained intact apart from the tuna and salmon ceviche which was a little muddled.

The next course faltered slightly in terms of the idea of setting everything as a canapé. The grilled aubergine with peanut crumble was overdone in terms of the spices used and it was difficult to gather together the crisp zucchini and tamarind in one handful, a necessity of all canapes. However, the same could not be said of the delightful yoghurt cake and fruit chaat and steamed chickpea cake and chutney.

It was time for some meat and this came in the form of lamb seekh kebab, duck with sesame tamarind sauce fenugreek and a vegetable biryani bowl. My favoured selection was the chicken whilst my companion was quick to eulogise the richness of the duck with its luxurious tamarind sauce.

To finish off, we had shrikhand cheesecake with tamarind glazed berries, iced lemon and basil granita and mango cardamom brulee with mango salsa. All three were exquisite, giving a range of flavours and styles whilst maintaining a luxurious feel.

The canapé tasting menu costs £30 per person and this might seem a little excessive for 14 canapes. However, if you stop to consider the craft and the expertise that is put in to create these dishes in these portions, you’ll soon come to realise that this is a necessary treat.

Cinnamon Kitchen
9 Devonshire Square
The City
EC2M 4WY