The Cinnamon Club
WLC Rank : 26
VALUE: 94
SIZE: 97
RANGE: 96
ORIGINALITY: 96
SERVICE: 97
Overall score: 96
BEST FOR
- Wines by the glass
- A historic dining room
- Ready to drink vintages
The Cinnamon Club is the flagship restaurant of the Bengali-born Oberoi luxury hotels, houses in a Grade II-listed former Westminster Library, with chef Vivek Singh helming the kitchen. Dishes include the likes of tandoori octopus with chutney aloo, fennel salad and tomato lemongrass dressing, then tandoori loin of Oisin red deer with black stone flower reduction and fenugreek potatoes, or, to share, Old Delhi style butter chicken on the bone, black lentils, pilau rice and garlic naan.
On its wine selection, curated by consultant, Laurent Chaniac, WLC’s Douglas Blyde said: “This is largely accessibly priced, too, and notably for a restaurant of this stature, does not automatically feature an added service charge. In Chaniac’s words, ‘we focus on wines produced from strong ecosystems meaning minimum use of chemicals. Careful viticulture helps keep soils alive and the resulting wines tend to have a sense of place, being more mineral and complex.”
“Chaniac’s list is dominated by Western Europe ‘with a good accent on Australia,’ such as Pinot Noir from Victoria’s Dixon Vineyard, identified under the ‘matured red’ selection. Also expect ‘some really interesting wines from the USA’ including historical vintages of Opus One. Many wines are ‘interesting variations of the local norm, e.g. wines from hotter climates tending to be fresher than usual while retaining the rich character of the warmer sites, while wines from cooler climates tend to be riper and richer than the norm.”
The Cinnamon Club, The Old Westminster Library, 30-32 Great Smith Street, London, SW1P 3BU; Tel: +44 (0) 20 7222 2555