It’s a while since I’ve been to a new Indian so we took a punt on Cinnamon Bazaar on a Monday afternoon. Good vibes were felt from entering the room, which is a big airy place with a glass ceiling protected by hanging fabrics and spider plants that give the feel of an arty bird’s gaff in The Sweeney.

The menu has the chef’s name all over it so he must be a big deal but I couldn’t be arsed to research whether he was – I just wanted to eat. Basically, I could have eaten anything (or indeed, everything) on the menu. But we decided to take two small plates, two big plates and a couple of sides. Side A was samosa with chat. The chat was in a delicious sauce with a bit of pomegranate for texture which was a perfect slathering thing for a dense and crunchy vegetable samosa. The B Side was gunpowder chilli which delivered enough heat for most but not the ferocious heat of the India Club, whose chillis are a thing of legend in our family. I liked the poppy seeds, this showed attention to detail.

A curry with duck hearts and liver was a wonderful wonderful I want to take the whole supply of it home with me kind of dish. I’ve never seen offal on an Indian menu before and I want to see it more. The jungle curry held its own but failed to stick in the memory as much. With crisp, buttery naan and an excellent jasmine rice I cannot fault the food in any way.

You can tell that they’ve also paid attention to the drinks side of things. A good variety of interesting beer (an Irish IPA was taken across the way from me) was to be expected in this neck of the woods but I wasn’t expecting an outstanding wine list. I was tempted to have an Indian Shiraz but instead went for the cheaper Aussie option. This was a glass of smoky, plummy red that went perfectly with the spicy food. If you’re looking for by the bottle they have a long list that goes from around £25 up to £100 plus.

What was intended as a casual pop-in then had turned into a seriously good meal worth remembering. At around £50 a head including service it wasn’t bad value for this neck of the woods.

James found a hilarious review on Google which complained that the waiter hadn’t delivered the soft drink to their kiddie correctly and angsted about spiders falling in the food from the plants above. The service for us was spot on and the plants held no such terror.

9/10

To see where else I’ve been click on the google map below.

https://www.google.com/maps/d/u/0/embed?mid=18qCyiPZih_gzhGG8mwfacnNRWD3b0bo&ehbc=2E312F

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