Cinnamon Kitchen, Battersea Power Station, London SW11

Cinnamon Kitchen has taken the plunge and become an early adopter in the big new housing development that Battersea Power Station is about to become. This is Vivek Singh’s sixth restaurant and it is tucked under the railway arches, less than 50 metres away from the Thames.

The décor is pared back and bright. The attractive brickwork of the arches has been left exposed and a huge glass front allows light to fill the room on a sunny afternoon. There are rows of tables outside on the traffic free front pathway. The kitchen is a large open space at the rear of the room and there is a raised glassed mezzanine into the top of the arch holding a few tables which could be used for a private party.

We had the tasting menu, which was ideal for a first time visit. The quality of the food is high. From the starters, the sea bream ceviche is delicious, with a lovely texture to the fish and a warm sharp bite to the marinade. The avocado hummus is also really good, fruity and creamy. The spicier dishes are Vegetable Bhajis and the Keema Litti – which is a lamb doughball, this was served with anchovy butter.

From the main courses, the tandoori chicken is moist and tender with light heat from the relatively mild chillies. The Kale and Quinoa koftas are spicy and crisp, the fiery Rajasthan Lamb is hot, spicy and cooked to perfection.  The accompanying dhal has a nicely smoked flavour that is difficult to pinpoint, but delicious nevertheless.

The service is very good, our waiter almost too attentive. Antal, the maître d’ was friendly and seemed genuinely interested in our opinion of the dishes. The wine list is not very long but has a broad selection, if a little on the pricey side. We tried two different cocktails and both were okay, they were good quality but understated. They also have a reasonable selection of beers, four bottled and one draught.

There is surprisingly little noise from the trains passing overhead, it is easily masked by the music, which is not at a level that is intrusive to conversation. The restaurant itself is an attractive space to spend an evening and, on warm summer evenings, it will be pleasant to take ones coffee and digestifs outside to watch the river roll by. Currently, the infrastructure of the Battersea Power Station is still coming together and the restaurant is not easy to find, however I recommend that you take this opportunity to eat here, because once this development is completed this will be a hugely popular place to eat and I suspect that, despite its size, tables will be hard to come by.

Advertisement

An Afternoon on the Bentota River, Bentota, Sri Lanka

Seneka, our driver, said “I have a cousin who has a boat, for US$10 he will take you out on the river. For another US$10 his brother will show you everything and act as a guide. His English is very good. There is lots to see.” So, we agreed to go.

 

Our boat arriving to pick us up

 

We had hardly left the shore when we saw a water monitor, at least two metres long, sunning herself in the garden of a riverside house. I was impressed. Our guide was less so “Water monitors, there are many, look in the trees” I looked up, indeed in the branches almost directly above our heads, there they were – just as big. I was less impressed and more nervous now. “Don’t worry” he said “They have no interest in people. Oh look! A chameleon.”

And there it was, showing off, changing colour as we watched, becoming less green and more stick coloured as it moved away from the leaves. Dotted along the banks of the river were jetties, some with boats some without. One had a man sitting on it, with a baby crocodile beside him. “Is that a crocodile?” Michael asked. “Oh yes, it’s his pet”. We pulled up. “Would you like to hold him? It’s quite safe” The baby crocodile was thrust into Michael’s hands before he could refuse. I was secretly very pleased my hands were full with the camera at that point.

“Will they keep him as a pet?” I asked. “Oh no, he will go away before he gets big, we will see very big ones soon” The river is wide but we stayed close to the edge because crocodiles like to be submerged in the shallow water and the shade, away from the afternoon sun. Michael had the camera again and was on the water side of the boat watching out for the crocodiles. I was on the side near the bank. I noticed the boat driver gesticulating at me. “Duck your head down low, now!” Michael said, in an ominously calm, yet urgent, tone of voice. I complied immediately. I looked back as I did so and I was confronted with a Green Vine Snake less than a foot away from my face.

I paled, but I did not scream or jump out of the boat. I’m proud of that. Michael leant in  to take a photo. Our guide announced “It’s a Green Vine Snake; very pretty, but it is poisonous.” Michael leant away again. “It’s not interested in us, it mostly eats frogs and lizards.”  I obviously appeared horrified. “Oh look, Bee Catcher Birds” he said pointing upward.

There were a pair in the tree above our head. They do actually eat bees, they pull out the sting and then eat the rest whole. These larger Blue Tailed Bee Catchers also eat wasps. The wasps in Sri Lanka can be very large and dangerous. His distraction worked. The snake was forgotten.

The next strange thing was the shop, on stilts, in the middle of the river. Nothing near it, and no customers, but it was definitely a shop. It appeared to sell coconuts, fruit, soft drinks and boxed groceries. It seemed rude to question why it was there, so I didn’t ask. Soon after this we began to see the crocodiles. We saw four or five, but they were hard to photograph, partly because we didn’t want to go too near and partly because they stayed mostly submerged in the cool water – out of the warm sun.

On the way back we saw Giant Fruit Bats. They really do look like the batman motif when they fly and they are surprisingly big.

We took a shortcut through the mangrove forest on the way back, which was pretty but eerie. It made us very happy that we had remembered to use our mosquito repellent before we set off.

We saw egrets, ducks and herons. We also saw a mongoose that was too quick for us to photograph. In total we spent about two hours on the water, we had a fantastic time. It was a great introduction to Sri Lanka, after all this was still our first day there.

Photos courtesy of Michael Jolly.