Who said you can’t have date night with a baby in tow? Well, me actually. And probably every other mother who’s tried it.

Hubby and I had a voucher from buyagift.com, which offers a whole host of experiences from afternoon tea on the Shard to hot air balloon rides. We weren’t feeling anywhere near as adventurous as that, so we opted to go for a dinner in central London instead.

Now when it comes to fine dining, hubby and I are somewhat creatures of habit. We tend to go for a curry. This is because, more often than not, there are halal options aplenty.

Secondly, we pretty much know there’ll be something on the menu we like. With trips to Benares, Trishna, Zaika and Veeraswamy under our belt, we’ve yet to be disappointed by a fancy Indian restaurant.

So we opted to go for Cinnamon Kitchen, a lively restaurant right in the City of London.

Of course, there was one small (and cute) factor which made this dining experience different… we had a baby with us.

So as you can imagine, the meal was far from leisurely. In fact it was a mad rush with plenty of indigestion as Hannah fast approached her nap time and became horribly overtired (and no, she doesn’t sleep in the car on the way home).

However, despite being quicker than a McDonalds drive-thru, I got to sample the menu to give a fair review, and here’s what we had…

I should mention, as a complementary appetiser all diners were given an Aloo tiki dish. It’s essentially a potato cake with a yoghurt sauce. It’s was a tasty more-ish mouthful. And honestly, I would have eaten more if they were in abundance.

We went for the set menu of three courses and a mocktail.

For starters we had the marinated chicken and the fish. The latter was a filling meaty delight and nicely flavoured. The chicken was succulent and tender without being too spicy.

For both dishes, it was the relishes that made it for me. The chutney and yoghurt with finely diced salad was a winner. Without this the chicken may have felt a little dry.

Asian Image:

Mains at Cinnamon Kitchen London

Both mains (chicken and fish) were hearty and filling. I would say thought that they were very light on heat and spice. However, as mentioned in my previous fine dining posts (which you can see here), this is often the case.

I don’t think I’ve ever had a bad dessert when fine dining. And Cinnamon Kitchen wasn’t about to disappoint. Just look at these beauties…

So with a baby in tow, was our trip to Cinnamon Kitchen worth it? In a nutshell, yes and no.

Yes it was delicious. But the restaurant itself was lively and could get noisy with its open plan seating.

So it’s perfect pre-baby. But we’ll probably save another visit for when Hannah’s bigger. Perhaps when she’s about 18.

You can view more reviews by Halima here