The Cinnamon Club has been a fixture on the London dining scene since March 2001, attracting locals and visitors alike with its upscale interpretation of Indian cuisine in the former Westminster Library. Today, it is the gold standard for Indian restaurants in England, but Chef Vivek Singh he recalls the skepticism when he first opened, some even dubbing him “radical”.

“As bold and revolutionary as it was at the time, it was essentially nothing more than an exercise in defying everyone’s expectations of Indian food,” Singh tells the Observer. “He was contrarian to the point of saying no to everything; to say, “Think you know Indian food? No, no. That’s pretty much what I’ve done throughout my career.”

Singh, who grew up in Bengal, moved to the UK early on 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’s 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 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 has always been very popular. But I think the scene and scenery benefited so much from both depth and breadth. 25 years ago, when I came and wanted to open a Rajasthani restaurant, people said, “Wow. And where is that?”

He adds that people “knew little about North India and not much about South India, and South Indian food was always considered slightly risque”, admitting that he paints “with a very 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 to everyone,” says Singh. “People like to know, ‘Do I have street food? Do I get tandoori? Do I have Northwest Frontier cuisine? Do your grandparents cook? This is the tapestry and it is much more vibrant; much more colorful. The roots are much deeper and wider at the same time.”

Cinnamon Club’s menu embraces Singh’s past and cultural influences, featuring modern dishes in both the à la carte and tasting menu options. Singh and his chefs particularly incorporate fish and game into dishes, with an emphasis on British proteins such as venison and pigeon. It moves away from curry, a London favourite, and instead showcases India’s chilis and spices in a way that feels contemporary and cutting edge. It’s an approach that has been heightened by the focus on social media, although Singh says The Cinnamon Club has been about visually pleasing food since its inception.

“The whole premise of The Cinnamon Club was to present Indian food in a sexy way,” he says. “It was about very considered presentations and things that looked beautiful, because I’ve always argued that people eat with their eyes first. If you wanted them to spend three times the amount of money they used to spend on an Indian restaurant or an Indian curry night, we had to take that care – whether that care was in the sourcing, presentation, cooking or story. “

Since opening The Cinnamon Club, Singh has expanded to Cinnamon Kitchen, which currently has two locations in London, and Cinnamon Bazaar, a more casual venue 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-term success and still falter. He’s released six cookbooks and appeared on television, but he doesn’t feel like he can stay static in his endeavors.

“It has to come down to: Are you as good as you’ve ever been? Do you play all the time? Do you try different things? Are you interesting enough and relevant enough in the market?” says Singh. “But the important thing is: Are you as good as you’ve ever been? There are a lot of places that open with a lot of bang, a lot of press, and then they can’t sustain for a period of time. One of the many things I’ve learned during this 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 menus or striving to improve service. But as a chef, he aims not to take success too seriously. She never imagined she’d have cookbooks, be on TV, or have a restaurant empire. “These things happen 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 part of the fabric of London. It also means influencing the food scene in an impactful way, which Singh knows he has achieved.

“Influence is not the same as the most restaurants or the most profitable restaurants or that he’s never had a failed restaurant,” says Singh. “I’ve had some 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 in which Indian food operates in this country… Selling the business is important . Commercial success is important. But the fact that there are so many new ideas and new places that we’ve either inspired or made part of their journey is equally a measure of success.”

Singh looks back with amusement on the early days of The Cinnamon Club, when diners would come in demanding familiar dishes. He remembers one evening when a large group called him to their table asking for saag aloo. One of the guests insisted that if Singh did not do what he wanted, they would walk out.

“I replied, ‘Let’s be fair. It’s a quarter to eight in the evening. What are the chances you’re going to get out of here and find another table?'” Singh recalls. “I said, ‘You’re either going to try things the way I’m suggesting, which is the menu, which is what you’re going to do in most restaurants, and you’re going to hate it and never come back. Or you might like it and 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 the way out. It’s just one example of how his approach has prevailed over the years, proving that there are more than one way to serve a cuisine. “It was a difficult task, to try to do a dogfight,” says Singh, “I can laugh about it now. It was a real adventure. And fortunately, the answer has changed over time.”