I looovveee Indian food, it's my absolute favorite aside from Thai. So finding good Indian places…read morein Europe wasnt something I'd expected whatsoever.
On a weekend trip to Strasbourg over the summer, my husband and I decided to find something other than Alscean food(the region of France we were in), we hit up Yelp and found Cinnamon. Reservations are done via email on their website or by calling. I did mine via website because I don't like speaking with people usually, and we got a quick response within about 15-20 minutes. Cinnamon was within walking distance of our AirBnb, so we decided to take a nap before dinner after a full day walking tour through Strasbourg learning the history between the French and German rulings of that area(we found the tour via AirBnb Experiences which was really cool!). Cinnamon was inspired by the first Indian restaurant in Strasbourg, Maharaja, which was opened over 30yrs ago. The chefs are all trained in New Delhi, and their extensive wine list is curated from wines around the Alsace region.
Once it was time for dinner, we headed over and went inside. It's located in Little France and is in the only a few blocks from the Cathedral. The servers were very nice, and most of them spoke fluent English (great because several shops we visited did not) and seated us outside since it was so nice and warm. Our server set us up with an appetizer and drink recommendations which all sounded delicious so we went ahead with his suggestions. While we were waiting for our appetizers, the chef brought out a small plate with a sampling of spiced fried chicken with tamarind sauce that was to die for, I almost put my fork in my husbands hand so he couldn't have the last piece haha. We opted for the chicken lollipops as suggested by our server, garlic naan, the Tandoor(spicy) plate for my husband and the chicken tikka (medium heat) for me. For our drinks, we tried the Ginger Mojito, Negroni(gin based) and the Kamasutra martini. So let's break down the food shall we?
Amuse Bouche - like I said, so good I almost stabbed my husbands hand over the last bite. Nice and crispy, a solid spice to flavor ratio and the tamarind sauce was a perfect pairing for the flavors within the breading.
Chicken Lollipops - I'm used to the being a wet dish, and I was pleasantly surprised that this was fried, but almost like it had been sauced and then fried, if that makes sense haha. It was really hard not to order a second plate of these tbh.
Chicken Tikka - so flavorful, but not overpowering and the medium heat for the curry sauce was, as Chandler Bing said, perfection. My mouth was watering when it was set in front of me.
Tandoor plate - a wonderful combination of spices, and the heat from the spicy curry was really good. Not tongue numbing spicy, but the kind of heat that makes you want to keep eating.
Ginger Mojito - y'all it was so good we each ordered one. 10/10 would have drank it by the gallon.
Negroni - it's gin based and I don't like gin. My husband said it was really good though.
Kamasutra - again, delicious, and I wish I could remember what was in it but it was really strong alcohol wise, but reminded me of passion fruit in the flavor.
While we were enjoying our drinks, the couple next to us struck up a conversation. Apparently Cinnamon is soo good that they drive 2.5hrs every other week JUST to have dinner there! They're friendly with the servers and even have their cellphone numbers, I thought that was kinda cool. They've built up a repertoire with their customers on a personal level, something unlikely to be found in the states. After that little chat, we wished the gentleman good luck on the surgery he was having a few days later, and headed off knowing we'd made the best choice for dinner with Cinnamon.
If you're ever in Strasbourg and craving delicious Indian food and amazing service, definitely check out Cinnamon. I promise you won't be disappointed in the least (^_^)
