Game on: Cinnamon Kitchen

Game season kicked off in style this year at Devonshire Square’s Cinnamon Kitchen.

Just a short stroll away from Liverpool Street station, this bustling, internal piazza of eateries fills up quickly as the end of work bell tolls, welcoming in city types and those in need of a happy, appetising bite.

Diners at this sister restaurant of the renowned Cinnamon Club and latest edition, Cinnamon Soho, can enjoy a pre-dinner cocktail at Anise, the adjoining bar whose signature drinks offer a classic line up of cocktails (those with a little spice to reflect the cuisine can also be shaken up upon request).

The interior of the restaurant is bright and spacious with an open plan kitchen area to the rear where guests can watch their dishes come to life right before their eyes.

When we visited we chose to sit outside, under the heat lamps on the terrace that kept us cosy and afforded us a view of the Gherkin through the square’s glass, atrium-style ceiling. Quite the sight, and something you can never tire of, surely.

The tasting menu: six courses of delicious game-infused dishes. First up comes a wedge of green-spiced French partridge breast with curried pears, matched with an Italian Pinot Grigio by Tonon from the Veneto – happily crisp alongside the dishe’s more robust, but no less thought-out flavours.

Next, the menu offers a delicious but curiously soft, mixed game Calouti Kebab with smoked paprika raita that is paired with a Saumur Cuvée la Pierre Frite, Dom du Pas Saint Martin from the Loire – more robust for the accompanying flavours.

A lime and basil sorbet arrives to cleanse our palates before we are served a Tandoori breast of Grouse, presented with crisp mushroom and pumpkin pickle – a wealth of moreish textures.

The unmistakable flavour of the Grouse, sourced from Scotland, signs this dish off beautifully. It is paired with an Autocarro No.27 Herdade Portocarro red wine from the Setubal Peninsula in Portugal, which with its full bodied, nicely tannic, dark fruited characteristics provides a happy vinous partner.

The pièce de resistance perhaps comes in the final savoury course of Saddle of Oisin Red Deer, a dish that arrives at our table with pickled vegetables and yoghurt sauce.

This comes alongside bulbous glasses of Ruche di Castagnole Monferrato ‘Majoli’ Dacapo from Piedmont in Italy – a region that is famed as much for its wine as for white truffles – pungent and heady, so it is no surprise to see it work with such flavoursome game.

Last up is a pumpkin tart, a happy reminder of the season we find ourselves in, served with clove ice cream and a Prucia plum liquer de France – a little too much perhaps but deeply indulgent, rounding off an altogether hedonistic evening of well sourced meat and often subtle, but no less very pleasant Indian cuisine.

Hunting game was banned in India in 1947 so although not common in Indian restaurants, Oberoi schooled Vivek Singh looks forward to putting game on the menu each year.

In situ at the restaurant this evening it is a pleasure to meet him. He talks of his admiration for his mother in the kitchen growing up, and subsequent journey with food in his career to date. All this is perhaps an experience we can recreate at home when his new cookbook ‘Spice at Home’ which is out now.

Concierge tip: ask for a booth window seat at the bar to watch the world go by in fur-lined, snug style.

The game menu a Cinnamon Kitchen is available for £65 per person, £98 with wine, until the 31st October. Sophie dines as a guest of Cinnamon Kitchen’s to try the game menu.

Read some of our other latest reviews including Verden wine bar and The Strand Dining Rooms.

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