How Vivek Singh Transformed the Landscape of Indian Cuisine in England

The Cinnamon Club has been a fixture in the London dining scene since March 2001, drawing locals and visitors in with its high-end take on Indian cuisine in the former Westminster Library. Today, it’s the gold standard for Indian restaurants in England, but chef Vivek Singh remembers the skepticism when he first opened, with some even dubbing it “radical.” 

“As audacious and as groundbreaking as it was at the time, it was essentially nothing more than an exercise in defying everybody’s expectations of Indian food,” Singh tells Observer. “It was contrarian to the point of just saying no to everything; of saying, ‘You think you know Indian food? No, you don’t.’ That’s pretty much what I’ve been doing throughout my career.” 

Singh, who grew up in Bengal, moved to the U.K. in the early aughts after years of working in India. Indian cuisine was incredibly popular in England at the time; however, as Singh points out, the scope of Indian food remained limited, and the public perception of what it could be was rigid. Singh had an idea to approach Indian dishes and flavors with French techniques, elevating the possibilities a restaurant could serve. 

“The British public has had this affinity, this affection, this understanding and love for all things Indian—not just food, but India,” he says. “It goes back hundreds of years. Indian food was always very popular. But I think the the scene and the landscape has benefited so much from both the depth and breadth. 25 years ago, when I came up and wanted to open a Rajasthani restaurant, people said, ‘Wow. And where is that?’” 

He adds that people “knew a bit about north India and not a lot about south India, and south Indian dishes were always considered slightly risky,” acknowledging that he’s painting “with a really broad brush to describe it.” But now there is a much more diverse range of Indian restaurants, serving dishes from all over the country. 

“People don’t just want to go to places that serve everything for everyone,” Singh says. “People like to know, ‘Am I having street food? Am I having tandoori? Am I having northwest frontier cuisine? Am I having your grandma’s cooking?’ This is the tapestry and it’s far more vibrant; far more colorful. The roots are much deeper and broader at the same time.”

The Cinnamon Club’s menu embraces Singh’s background and cultural influences, showcasing modern dishes on both à la carte and tasting menu options. Singh and his chefs notably incorporate fish and game into the dishes, with an emphasis on British proteins like venison and pigeon. It shifts away from curry, a London favorite, and instead displays chilis and spices from India in a way that feels contemporary and high-end. It’s an approach that has been augmented by the focus on social media, although Singh says The Cinnamon Club has been about visually pleasing food ever since its inception.

“The whole premise of The Cinnamon Club was that it was presenting Indian food in a sexy way,” he says. “It was about very considered presentations and things that looked beautiful, because we always maintained that people eat with their eyes first. If you wanted them to spend three times the amount of money that they were used to spending in an Indian restaurant or on an Indian curry night out, we needed to take that care—whether that care was in sourcing, presenting, cooking or storytelling.”

Since opening The Cinnamon Club, Singh has expanded to Cinnamon Kitchen, which currently has two locations in London, and Cinnamon Bazaar, a more casual spot with outposts in Covent Garden and Richmond. His Oxford restaurant, Cinnamon Kitchen Oxford, closed in 2021, so the chef knows what it feels like to have long-running success and still falter. He’s released six cookbooks and appeared on TV, but he doesn’t feel like he can remain static in his efforts. 

“It’s got to come down to: Are you as good as you’ve ever been? Are you tinkering all the time? Are you trying different things? Are you interesting enough and relevant enough in the marketplace?” Singh says. “But the important thing is: Are you as good as you have ever been? There are lots of places that open up with a lot of bang, lots of press and then can’t sustain it over a period of time. One of many things that I have learned during the course of this one restaurant and this collection in general is that no matter how good it is, nothing stays good forever.”

It’s an approach Singh has always taken in his restaurants, often updating the menus or striving to improve the service. But as a chef, he also aims not to take success too seriously. He never imagined he’d have cookbooks, be on TV or have an empire of restaurants. “These things come along because you’re on a journey. But it’s not necessarily as linear as, ‘Okay, I’m going to do this and it’s done.’”

For the chef, success means a full restaurant, a thriving business and becoming a part of the fabric of London. It also means influencing the culinary scene in an impactful way, which Singh knows he’s accomplished. 

“Influence is not the same as the most restaurants or the most profitable restaurants, or never having had a failed restaurant,” Singh says. “I’ve had my fair share of them. But influence is a great word for what we’ve done in terms of how people’s tastes have changed, and also how it’s shaped the landscape within which Indian food operates in this country… Selling the business is important. Commercial success is important. But the fact that there’s so many new ideas and new places that we have either inspired or been a part of their journey is equally a measure of success.”

Singh looks back on the early days of The Cinnamon Club with amusement, when diners came in demanding familiar dishes. He remembers one evening when a large group summoned him to their table asking for saag aloo. One of the guests insisted that if Singh didn’t make what they wanted, they were walking out.

“I replied, ‘Let’s be fair. It’s a quarter to eight in the evening. What are the chances you’ll walk out of here and go find another table?’” Singh recalls. “I said, ‘You either will try things in the way that I’m suggesting, which is the menu, which is what you will do in most restaurants, and you will hate it and you’ll never return. Or you may like it and you experience something new.’” 

He thought the diners would call his bluff and leave, but they didn’t. Instead, they ate and asked for the chef again, this time to thank him on their way out. It’s just one example of how his approach has prevailed over the years, proving that there’s more than one way to serve a cuisine. “It was an uphill task, like trying to fight a battle with air,” Singh says, “I can laugh about it now. It was a real adventure. And, thankfully, the response has changed with time.”