Holi at the Cinnamon Kitchen Liverpool Street: Review

Located in the setting of Devonshire Square, Cinnamon Kitchen is currently celebrating the Hindu festival of Holi from Sunday, March 15 until Monday, March 25 for its seventh year running.

Alongside a nine-course tasting menu, the venue is also offering guests a unique experience to try out paint throwing, where guests will have the chance to throw dried paint, creating clouds of colours and turning the space and yourself into a walking rainbow.

The restaurant is offering a unique paint throwing experience (Image: Emily Davison)

I was invited to try out this experience along with the new menu, and compared to the usually grey streets of London the event was a vibrant and colourful juxtaposition.

If you’ve never partaken in this fun festivity before, just know that you will get incredibly messy so be sure to bring spare clothes and some wipes to clean up the excess afterwards.

We began in the newly assembled white room outside the restaurant, where we were given welcome drinks and sweet treats before getting ready to play with some colours.

The experience brings out the inner child (Image: Emily Davison)

Having never done this before I can say this activity really did bring out the inner child in me and would make a fun family activity if you don’t mind getting a little dirty.

The session lasts around 30 minutes, giving you plenty of time to get yourself covered in a spectrum of colours.

Be sure to bring spare clothes! (Image: Emily Davison)

This was then followed by the tasting menu, where for starters we began with a selection of dishes including Dahl Bahalla Papadi Chaat served with sweet yoghurt and lentil sorbet, Tandoori Chicken Leg Tikka, and Sea Bream Bhaja, a fried sea bream served with kasundi mustard.

The starters had a good mix of flavours and textures, with the coolness from the yoghurt, the spice from the chicken and the crunchiness of the sea bream.

Sea bream is amongst the starters (Image: Emily Davison)

Moving onto mains we had four dishes including a Paneer Butter Masala with paneer and peas in a rich sauce, followed by Kadhi Pithod Saag made with chickpea and yoghurt gnocchi and spinach sauce.

This was followed by a classic Lamb Roganjosh and a Bengali Style Shrimp Malai Curry with cardamon and coconut.

Lamb Roganjosh was one of the four mains (Image: Emily Davison)

We also had some sides including a Garlic Naan, Green Pea Pulao and Curried white peas.

If you like cocktails, Cinnamon Kitchen have a great mix of classics and house specials, with special mentions for the Cinnamon Bellini and the Mango Sour which were both very delicious.

The Mango Sour cocktail was delicious (Image: Emily Davison)

This was followed by a trio of desserts including a Rasmalai thandhai tres leches and Malpua, which consisted of a battered pancake, a smooth ice cream and a soft cake made with coconut.

A trio of desserts completed the feast (Image: Emily Davison)

All in all, I think this event makes for a great way to spend the evening with friends, whether you celebrate the occasion or just enjoy experiencing different cultures.

A 30-minute paint throwing session costs £10 for a child and £15 for an adult or you can add on a cocktail or mocktail for £25 or the set menu for £60 a person.