Cinnamon Bazaar

Vivek Singh, the chef behind The Cinnamon Club, opened Cinnamon Bazaar on Maiden Lane in Covent Garden with a menu pitched at street food prices rather than the tasting menu register of his Westminster flagship, aiming the whole concept at a younger, more casual crowd than the one that books The Cinnamon Club for a special occasion.

Chaats and small Bazaar plates make up most of the menu, designed for sharing, with dietary adaptations for dairy free, gluten free and vegetarian guests built in rather than bolted on as an afterthought. A modern take on afternoon tea, called High Chai, runs alongside the regular menu for anyone wanting something different from the usual Covent Garden cream tea, mixing Indian spiced snacks with more traditional tea service pastries.

The room is busy and colourful, drawing on the idea of bazaars and trading routes for its design, with an open plan layout that suits groups better than a quiet dinner for two, and it fills fast before evening performances at the nearby theatres, particularly on Fridays and Saturdays.

Value is genuinely strong for the quality of cooking on offer, though the trade off is noise: conversation at a full table can be hard going on a Friday night, and portion sizes on some of the smaller plates leave a couple wanting a third or fourth dish they had not originally budgeted for.

For a pre theatre dinner that does not feel like a compromise on either flavour or price, this is one of the more reliable options in an area otherwise dominated by chains built purely around footfall.

The Maiden Lane location puts it within a couple of minutes of most of Covent Garden’s theatres, which explains the heavy pre and post show trade, and the kitchen has clearly built its timings around getting diners fed and out in time for a curtain rather than encouraging a long, leisurely dinner. Vegetarian and vegan diners are well catered for across the whole menu rather than with a single token dish, which is not always the case at Indian restaurants of this size and price point in central London.