London Autumn Restaurant News

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25 years of spice 

Top restaurateur and chef Vivek Singh is celebrating 25 years of his first restaurant The Cinnamon Club with a new book, Spirit & Spice. He went on to found several more restaurants, including Cinnamon Kitchen in Battersea. Is there a dish he’d love everyone to cook from the book? He says: “That’s a very hard question to answer – I love so many of the recipes! The original idea was to have a smaller number of recipes, but it didn’t work because we couldn’t let any go. There are some dishes now that I don’t think get cooked enough – rabbit, for example. It’s such a traditional, rustic and special dish and never gets featured in recipes, so I’d love people to reconnect with it again.”  

He also hopes to bust some myths about cooking Indian food. “There is the misconception that everything is very spicy and very hot. I hope that many of the recipes in Spirit & Spice will demonstrate that this isn’t the case. They’re packed full of flavour and texture (and a bit of spice!), but nothing is meant to blow your head off with heat…with the exception of our famed Bombay Burner, of course! Another misconception is that you need loads of ingredients and have to follow the recipe to the letter. Indian cooking is actually very flexible. You can pick a raita, relish, chutney or other component and create hundreds of different dishes. I’m hoping this book will help debunk these misconceptions and see how accessible cooking Indian food is. 

Balham’s new opening 

Scott Hallsworth’s Joe’s Oriental Diner has returned! The former Nobu chef has brought back his pan-Asian concept with a new home in Balham, taking over his former Freak Scene site at 1 Ramsden Road. 

Tenerife’s foodie side 

Forget Tenerife’s reputation as a wild party destination. We checked in to the Royal Hideaway Corales Resort – the ‘hotel with the Most Michelin Stars in Spain’. There’s three Michelin-starred restaurants with four stars between them. We tried the tasting menu at Il Bocconcino, with stand-out dishes including its take on the classic carbonara. Read our review here!

Oil hail the olive  

Puglian restaurant Sudi has opened in Richmond, by the people behind Tarantella in Chiswick. Tables have a “Press for Olive Oil” button to summon an olive oil sommelier. 

Collab for Surrey’s The Victoria 

Top British chef and restaurateur Mark Sargeant will take over the kitchen at acclaimed gastropub The Victoria as part of a four-month residency. Sargeant, who led Gordon Ramsay at Claridge’s, will work closely with head chef Daniel Lee until the end of the year. There will be game dinners in October and British winter seafood evenings in November.