The Cinnamon Club has been a fixture in the London dining scene since March 2001, drawing locals and visitors in with its high-end take on Indian cuisine in the former Westminster Library. Today, it’s the gold standard for Indian restaurants in England, but chef Vivek Singh remembers the skepticism when he first opened, with some even dubbing it “radical.”
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“As audacious and as groundbreaking as it was at the time, it was essentially nothing more than an exercise in defying everybody’s expectations of Indian food,” Singh tells Observer. “It was contrarian to the point of just saying no to everything; of saying, ‘You think you know Indian food? No, you don’t.’ That’s pretty much what I’ve been doing throughout my career.”
Singh, who grew up in Bengal, moved to the U.K. in the early aughts after years of working in India. Indian cuisine was incredibly popular in England at the time; however, as Singh points out, the scope of Indian food remained limited, and the public perception of what it could be was rigid. Singh had an idea to approach Indian dishes and flavors with French techniques, elevating the possibilities a restaurant could serve.
“The British public has had this affinity, this affection, this understanding and love for all things Indian—not just food, but India,” he says. “It goes back hundreds of years. Indian food was always very popular. But I think the the scene and the landscape has benefited so much from both the depth and breadth. 25 years ago, when........