London


<p>If you love Indian cuisine, chances are you&#8217;ve dined at <a href="https://cinnamonclub.com" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">The Cinnamon Club</a> in Westminster, one of London&#8217;s most prestigious Indian restaurants just a stone&#8217;s throw from the Houses of Parliament. </p>



<figure class="wp-block-image size-large"><img decoding="async" loading="lazy" width="1024" height="694" src="https://dev.muddystilettos.co.uk/london/wp-content/uploads/sites/24/2026/04/Screenshot-2026-04-28-at-14.37.24-1024x694.png" alt="Vivek Singh" class="wp-image-20715" srcset="https://dev.muddystilettos.co.uk/london/wp-content/uploads/sites/24/2026/04/Screenshot-2026-04-28-at-14.37.24-1024x694.png 1024w, https://dev.muddystilettos.co.uk/london/wp-content/uploads/sites/24/2026/04/Screenshot-2026-04-28-at-14.37.24-300x203.png 300w, https://dev.muddystilettos.co.uk/london/wp-content/uploads/sites/24/2026/04/Screenshot-2026-04-28-at-14.37.24-768x521.png 768w, https://dev.muddystilettos.co.uk/london/wp-content/uploads/sites/24/2026/04/Screenshot-2026-04-28-at-14.37.24.png 1500w" sizes="(max-width: 1024px) 100vw, 1024px" /></figure>



<p>The Cinnamon Club celebrates its 25th anniversary this year and to mark the occasion, Exec Chef and CEO Vivek Singh&#8217;s bringing together some of the UK’s most exciting Indian chefs &#8211; Chet Sharma (BiBi), Cyrus Todiwala (Café Spice Namasté),&nbsp;Dipna Anand (Brilliant Gastro), and&nbsp;Sameer Taneja (Benares)&nbsp;&#8211; for a one-night-only <a href="https://cinnamonclub.com/a-very-special-collaboration-is-coming/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">All-Star Dinner</a> on 15 May. </p>



<p>West Bengal-born Vivek, who worked for the prestigious Oberoi hotels group before opening his own restaurant in London back in 2001, sat down with Muddy beforehand to spill the chai on the secrets to cooking for the rich and famous, most memorable moments at The Cinnamon Club and which chefs he most admires. </p>



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-your-first-job-in-a-kitchen-nbsp"><strong>Your first job in a kitchen?&nbsp;</strong></h2>



<p>I worked at an Indian specialty restaurant, Baluchi, in New Delhi in 1991 as an industrial trainee. The restaurant had a very celebrated master chef at the helm, Gulam Rasool, so it was a fantastic place to start out.&nbsp;</p>



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-career-highlight"><strong>Career highlight?</strong></h2>



<p>For me, it’s always been more about the journey rather than the destination. We’ve taken it all one day at a time, but it’s amazing to think we’ve been serving dishes at The Cinnamon Club for 25 years now – I couldn’t have dreamed of it when I first started! That is the highlight for me.&nbsp;</p>



<figure class="wp-block-image size-large"><img decoding="async" loading="lazy" width="1024" height="673" src="https://dev.muddystilettos.co.uk/london/wp-content/uploads/sites/24/2026/04/TCC-Facade-1-300dpi-1024x673.jpg" alt="The Cinnamon Club " class="wp-image-20716" srcset="https://dev.muddystilettos.co.uk/london/wp-content/uploads/sites/24/2026/04/TCC-Facade-1-300dpi-1024x673.jpg 1024w, https://dev.muddystilettos.co.uk/london/wp-content/uploads/sites/24/2026/04/TCC-Facade-1-300dpi-300x197.jpg 300w, https://dev.muddystilettos.co.uk/london/wp-content/uploads/sites/24/2026/04/TCC-Facade-1-300dpi-768x505.jpg 768w, https://dev.muddystilettos.co.uk/london/wp-content/uploads/sites/24/2026/04/TCC-Facade-1-300dpi.jpg 1500w" sizes="(max-width: 1024px) 100vw, 1024px" /><figcaption class="wp-element-caption">The Cinnamon Club </figcaption></figure>



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-did-you-do-a-lot-of-cooking-for-the-rich-and-famous"><strong>Did you do a lot of cooking for the rich and famous?</strong> </h2>



<p>We’ve been very lucky&nbsp;at&nbsp;The Cinnamon&nbsp;Club over the years&nbsp;to serve some wonderful people from all walks of life, but the reason&nbsp;we&nbsp;continue&nbsp;to do that is&nbsp;because&nbsp;we deploy&nbsp;quite an old-fashioned approach of the&nbsp;utmost discretion and don&#8217;t treat any guest differently from&nbsp;another.&nbsp;We have&nbsp;a great respect&nbsp;for our guest’s privacy.&nbsp;</p>



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-how-would-you-sum-up-your-cooking-style-and-food-philosophy"><strong>How would you sum up your cooking style and food philosophy?</strong> </h2>



<p>My signature culinary style is contemporary Indian. I tend to draw experience from Indian spicing and cooking techniques, marrying this with local British produce to bring&nbsp;together the best of both worlds.   &nbsp;</p>



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-most-memorable-moment-at-work"><strong>Most memorable moment at work?</strong></h2>



<p>The fact that every time there has been an economic crash or&nbsp;hard time we&#8217;ve been able to weather the storm with such resilience as a restaurant and team makes me incredibly proud.&nbsp;&nbsp;</p>



<p>But it’s&nbsp;not just one day or one&nbsp;moment&nbsp;–&nbsp;it&#8217;s&nbsp;the endurance of it which&nbsp;is so special. There are so many guests who may&nbsp;have first visited us when they were children, and now they come back&nbsp;and&nbsp;bring their colleagues&nbsp;and&nbsp;friends.&nbsp;It feels like&nbsp;a full-circle moment for me going from people asking who&nbsp;this restaurant is&nbsp;for, to now having my customers return and bring people in to show and share it with them.&nbsp;</p>



<figure class="wp-block-image size-large"><img decoding="async" loading="lazy" width="1024" height="683" src="https://dev.muddystilettos.co.uk/london/wp-content/uploads/sites/24/2026/04/084-1024x683.jpg" alt="Vivek Singh " class="wp-image-20717" srcset="https://dev.muddystilettos.co.uk/london/wp-content/uploads/sites/24/2026/04/084-1024x683.jpg 1024w, https://dev.muddystilettos.co.uk/london/wp-content/uploads/sites/24/2026/04/084-300x200.jpg 300w, https://dev.muddystilettos.co.uk/london/wp-content/uploads/sites/24/2026/04/084-768x512.jpg 768w, https://dev.muddystilettos.co.uk/london/wp-content/uploads/sites/24/2026/04/084.jpg 1500w" sizes="(max-width: 1024px) 100vw, 1024px" /></figure>



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-you-re-tired-starving-and-impatient-what-do-you-cook-for-dinner-nbsp"><strong>You</strong>’<strong>re tired, starving and impatient: what do you cook for dinner?&nbsp;</strong></h2>



<p><strong> </strong>I often find myself putting together a masala omelette with chilli flakes because it’s so quick and easy!</p>



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-what-would-you-cook-to-impress-a-date-nbsp"><strong>What would you cook to impress a date?</strong><em>&nbsp;</em></h2>



<p>I like to cook what people love to eat, so I’d probably find out a dish they enjoyed and then try to make a really, really good version of that!</p>



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-who-is-your-favourite-chef"><strong>Who is your favourite chef?</strong> </h2>



<p>When I was much younger reading books by Marco Pierre White and Raymond Blanc OBE which inspired me and really influenced my thinking as a chef. </p>



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-do-you-have-a-favourite-cookbook-nbsp"><strong>Do you have a favourite cookbook?&nbsp;</strong></h2>



<p> It’s not a cookbook per say but I’m currently reading <em>The Grammar of Spice</em> by Caz Hildebrand – it’s such an interesting read. Another book I recently read was <em>On Fasts and Feasts</em> by Colleen Taylor Sen.</p>



<figure class="wp-block-image size-large"><img decoding="async" loading="lazy" width="1024" height="683" src="https://dev.muddystilettos.co.uk/london/wp-content/uploads/sites/24/2026/04/Old-Delhi-style-butter-chicken-1024x683.png" alt="Chicken at the cinnamon club " class="wp-image-20719" srcset="https://dev.muddystilettos.co.uk/london/wp-content/uploads/sites/24/2026/04/Old-Delhi-style-butter-chicken-1024x683.png 1024w, https://dev.muddystilettos.co.uk/london/wp-content/uploads/sites/24/2026/04/Old-Delhi-style-butter-chicken-300x200.png 300w, https://dev.muddystilettos.co.uk/london/wp-content/uploads/sites/24/2026/04/Old-Delhi-style-butter-chicken-768x512.png 768w, https://dev.muddystilettos.co.uk/london/wp-content/uploads/sites/24/2026/04/Old-Delhi-style-butter-chicken.png 1500w" sizes="(max-width: 1024px) 100vw, 1024px" /></figure>



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-what-s-your-favourite-type-of-cuisine-nbsp"><strong>What</strong>’<strong>s your favourite type of cuisine?&nbsp;</strong></h2>



<p>My favourite type of food to eat changes all the time, but currently I’m really enjoying Thai food – I’m a sucker for a good Pad Kra Pao. Those fresh flavours are fantastic. &nbsp;</p>



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-favourite-things-to-eat-when-you-re-on-holiday-nbsp"><strong>Favourite things to eat when you</strong>’<strong>re on holiday?&nbsp;</strong></h2>



<p>I always love trying the local street food as I think it gives you an authentic flavour for a place, and I also (subject to proximity to the sea!) enjoy good fresh fish abroad. And finally, I love discovering obscure sweets and desserts – so anything new to me I always like to try!&nbsp;</p>



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-favourite-kitchen-gadget-nbsp"><strong>Favourite kitchen gadget?&nbsp;</strong></h2>



<p>At home I rarely use a food processor or blender. They’re bulky and fiddly with too many parts, and I often spend more time finding attachments and cleaning than actually cooking. I always come back to a really good pestle and mortar. Grinding spices, garlic, ginger or herbs fresh for marinades, gravies or chutneys makes a noticeable difference to flavour and aroma, and you can watch everything come together.</p>



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-favourite-ingredient-and-why-nbsp"><strong>Favourite ingredient and why?&nbsp;</strong><em> </em></h2>



<p>For me, it has to be humble rice. It is so versatile, from basic sustenance to complex paellas, risottos, to sublime fragrant biryanis, rice is truly a wonder of the ingredient world.</p>



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-most-overrated-ingredient-nbsp"><strong>Most overrated ingredient?&nbsp;</strong></h2>



<p>While I certainly enjoy it every now and again, I think truffle can sometimes be overused.&nbsp;</p>



<figure class="wp-block-image size-large"><img decoding="async" loading="lazy" width="1024" height="683" src="https://dev.muddystilettos.co.uk/london/wp-content/uploads/sites/24/2026/04/The-Cinnamon-Club-carving-lamb-1024x683.jpg" alt="Roast at the Cinnamon Club " class="wp-image-20718" srcset="https://dev.muddystilettos.co.uk/london/wp-content/uploads/sites/24/2026/04/The-Cinnamon-Club-carving-lamb-1024x683.jpg 1024w, https://dev.muddystilettos.co.uk/london/wp-content/uploads/sites/24/2026/04/The-Cinnamon-Club-carving-lamb-300x200.jpg 300w, https://dev.muddystilettos.co.uk/london/wp-content/uploads/sites/24/2026/04/The-Cinnamon-Club-carving-lamb-768x512.jpg 768w, https://dev.muddystilettos.co.uk/london/wp-content/uploads/sites/24/2026/04/The-Cinnamon-Club-carving-lamb.jpg 1500w" sizes="(max-width: 1024px) 100vw, 1024px" /></figure>



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-tell-us-your-best-ever-cooking-tip-nbsp"><strong>Tell us your best ever cooking tip?&nbsp; </strong></h2>



<p>If it had to be just the one, I’d say rest your meat as long as you roast it for, especially if you&#8217;re roasting a big joint of meat or bird. It feels counter intuitive but the result of resting a roast properly is so worthwhile.&nbsp;</p>



<p><strong><em>Snap up tickets to the <a href="https://cinnamonclub.com/a-very-special-collaboration-is-coming/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">All-Star Dinner</a> on 15 May</em></strong>. </p>


WHAT’S COOKING? Vivek Singh of The Cinnamon Club

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