There’s something wonderfully nostalgic about a great railway journey … the anticipation of departure, food picked up along the way, landscapes changing beyond the window and the promise of something new at the next stop.
Under the Arches: The Battersea Line Experience takes that spirit of discovery and brings it beneath the railway arches of Cinnamon Kitchen Battersea. Inspired by the railway and coastal journeys of the 1940s and ’50s, the experience travels between India and Britain, bringing Indian spices and regional flavours together with seasonal ingredients from across the British Isles.
But look a little closer at the route and you’ll find Battersea running through every stop. The Waiting Room, Platform, Dining Car, Coal Depot and Terminus give us the rhythm of a railway journey, while each is paired with something unmistakably Battersea; its brickwork, four famous chimneys, the Thames, clouds of industrial vapour and the coal, heat and fire that once powered the neighbourhood.
So, at The Waiting Room, the journey begins with The Power Station Spiced Brick; a spiced King Edward potato tikki shaped in homage to Battersea’s brick-built industrial architecture. At Platform Provisions, the familiar chaats and snacks of an Indian railway platform become The Chimney Column, with four crisp pastry columns echoing the four chimneys of Battersea Power Station.
As the train moves on, so does the landscape. Merchant Vessel brings us to the water with The Tidal Line Trout, where British Chalk Stream trout meets the coastal flavours of South India in a nod to the Thames running alongside Battersea. Then comes a pause at The Cooling Station, where The White Vapour Clouds turn the steam and vapour of Battersea’s industrial landscape into something light, sharp and refreshing.
At The Dining Car, we arrive at The Junction Stop; a meeting point for British-reared guinea fowl and South Indian spice, much like different railway lines coming together at a junction. Then the journey reaches The Coal Depot and The Power Station Stoker, where the coal and fire that powered trains and Battersea’s industrial past find their counterpart in the smoke and intense heat of the Indian tandoor.
Finally, The Terminus brings us to The End of the Line. A familiar British custard tart is given an Indian identity with jaggery and cardamom, served alongside chicory filter coffee ice cream inspired by southern India … one last meeting of the two worlds before the journey comes to an end.
Sometimes the connection is in the ingredient. Sometimes it’s the cooking technique, shape, colour or presentation. But from the first brick to the final stop, everything on the plate has a reason for being there.
Battersea gives us the setting.
The railway gives us the journey.
British seasons give us the ingredients.
India gives us the spices and flavours.
Seven stops. Four courses. One journey.
Welcome aboard the Battersea Line Experience.
Why Battersea?
There could hardly be a more appropriate home for the experience.
Cinnamon Kitchen Battersea sits beneath the railway arches close to Battersea Power Station, with trains continuing to pass overhead today. The architecture and history surrounding the restaurant became the starting point for imagining a menu that could connect Battersea’s own railway heritage with the nostalgia of train travel across India.
It makes Under the Arches an experience that belongs specifically to this restaurant: a menu shaped as much by where we are as by where it takes you.
Whether you’re looking for an Indian restaurant near Battersea Power Station, planning dinner before an evening at the Power Station or simply searching for a different dining experience in London, consider this your invitation to climb aboard.
Under the Arches: The Battersea Line Experience
Where: Cinnamon Kitchen Battersea, beneath the railway arches at Battersea Power Station, London
Price: £45 per person
Experience: A curated journey through Indian flavours inspired by railway travel, British heritage and coastal trade routes of the 1940s and 50s
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