Namaaste Kitchen

I ordered take away and I wasn’t as impressed as I wanted to be. Perhaps the dining experience is best had in the restaurant. But I found the flavors to be mediocre. It was pricey for the serving size and took a long time to be delivered. So in the end, maybe delivery isn’t their best market?

The service was pretty good and good variety in the food, not what Indian places usually have. However, the quality of the food wasn’t the best one I have ever tried, with the exception of the lamb chops.

I came here this evening with a few of my friends and had a TERRIBLE experience. When we first sad down, they asked if she wanted «tik masa» i think it was called. I wasnt sure what that was but I said yes. It was 3 little dips and some crackers to go with it. When I got the bill, i saw we were charged 4.50 for this. I asked the waiter why we were charge and he said it is not free, it is an additional charge. I think the waiter should of told us that there was a charged because we had no idea. He asked so casually that I figured it was free. I told him next time that he should tell customers that there is a charge before they bring something. He did not seem to care so I guess he doesn’t need my business. I will never come back here. It is a shame because I live 2 minutes away from here.

I have now had quite a few other dishes from this place all of them all well above standard.
Streets ahead of other Indian restaurants in the area with a great selection and a speedy delivery service.
Don’t even bother trying the others, i already have and they are nowhere near as good.

Solid sit down Indian restaurant in Camden Town. On a cute street with other shops. The menu was interesting and diverse, but was not overwhelming. Nice beer selection on tap. Had a nice dinner with a friend from London.

Nice place tucked away in Camden. The food is quite simply delicious. It is truly excellent authentic Indian. The gluten free menu is large and gives plenty of choice. The service leaves a little to be desired, the waiter was told I had an allergy to onion and said ‘oh no, no onion’, then my dish came out topped in onion. Fail. The service was also incredibly slow given we were the only ones there. However once that was sorted it was delicious. We both had the chicken korma which we highly recommend but we also had a starter of the chicken marinated in cheese and yogurt which was lovely. They also had nice touches like chocolate with your bill and hot refreshing towels. I’d definitely return.

News Flash: Plenty of London restaurants are open for business on Boxing Day.
Concerned over starving due to arrival in London on a major holiday I’d booked a dinner reservation at Camden’ Town’s Namaaste Kitchen. I’d read — somewhere — that they were serving a 6-​course tasting menu with Kir Royale, amuse bouche, and food-​paired wine tasting and I was in. Never mind that I got it all wrong. Not only wasn’t the restaurant serving the tasting menu that night but many other restaurants I passed also appeared open. Even without advance planning I needn’t have worried about going hungry in the streets of London.
Namaaste Kitchen is the sister restaurant of another well-​reviewed London restaurant, Salaam Naamaste. Both were started by a gentleman who double– times as an airline steward, not a well-​trod path to becoming a restauranteur. Luckily, I was unaware of the owner’s pedigree and thankfully, it turned out not to matter. The food was excellent.
Namaaste Kitchen is a step above most every other Indian restaurant I saw in London. It’s romantic, with low lighting, comfortable seating, suit-​clad waiters, and elegant lighting fixtures. When you leave your seat to use the restroom you return to find your cloth napkin refolded for you. Even the presence of a tasting menu with wine pairings (albeit, not on ¹²⁄₂₆) indicates a level of refinement not found in the average Indian joint.
My waiter, reading my light disappointment over the lack of tasting menu, was kind enough to bring me a copy of the special menu for this (New Years Eve) event. In this way, I was able to sample many of the dishes I’d come to try, albeit without the matching wine sample.
The 6-​course New Years Eve tasting menu with wine and Kir Royale was running a very reasonable £59.95 and £42.95 without wines. A dinner for 4 with a bottle of wine and plenty of food cost less. Here’s what we tried:
* Santa Julia Reserva Malbec from Argentina (2011; £19.50)
* Papadam (3 chutney dips + basket of paper-​thin lentil wafers)
* Amuse bouche of what we humorously dubbed «Indian Style Cheesy Potatoes»
* Tandoori Portobello Mushroom (Marinated and filled with figs, cashews, raisins, green chile, and homemade cheese in a curry leaf dressing; £4.75)
* Spicy soft shell crab (Marinated in green pepper corn lemon sauce, coated in home made batter & semolina, deep fried & served with spicy fig & prune sauce; £5.95)
* Coriander Lime Chicken Tikka (Corn-​fed and served with roasted tomatoes and sesame seed sauce; £4.50)
* Goan Style Sea Bass (in coconut, mustard seed, and curry leaf; £12.95)
* Pistachio Chicken Korma (Corn fed, cooked in rich pistachio sauce and real, edible silver… say what??; £12.95)
* Kebab Platter (An assortment of kebabs — Sheek Kebab, Salmon Tikka, Malai Tikka and Lamb cutlet; £12.50)
* Sun-​dried Tomato and Basil Naan (£2.20)
* Assorted sorbets (Lemon, Rasberry, Mango, Coconut; £3.50)
With the exception of the Pistachio Chicken Korma (overly sweet, simplistic flavor and unattractive presentation) the food was wonderful: Elegant, ample, tasty, well-​flavored, and unique without resorting to preciousness. I was particularly tickled by the amuse-​bouche; it was most unexpected in an Indian restaurant.
There might be one million Indian restaurants in London (on Brick Lane alone, quite possibly). All of them seem to claim to have received some award from somewhere and Namaaste Kitchen is no exception. Dubious rewards aside, Namaaste Kitchen distinguishes itself from the others by serving wonderful food in an upmarket environment with prices that won’t kill you. Yes, there’s a lot of other places open on Boxing Day and even more open the rest of the year but if you’re looking for something a little special and elegant Namaaste Kitchen won’t disappoint. And, if you’ve had a chance to try that wine-​paired tasting menu drop me a note. My dinner was great but I’m always curious to know what I missed.

If you are looking for Indian food in Camden look no further!
This place was really some of the best Indian food I had in London.
I thought everything was fresh and seasoned perfectly.
They have a decent sized menu but they were willing to make us a few things I couldn’t find.
It was a lovely atmosphere if you are dining out.
I would go to Red Spice for takeaway however.

Naamaste Kitchen is certainly not your everyday Indian. The menu is a modern take on your old favorites.
We sampled the Tandoori-​Aatish-​e-​Jingha at £5.50, which in my opinion is quite a lot for 2 prawns. To be fair, they were superb prawns, and I would have been happy with an entire bucket of them. For a main, we tried the Gurda Keema Taka Tak (and even managed to pronounce it correctly upon ordering…) which is a take on the roadside dish of lab and kidney. Large portion at £11.95– plenty for the two of us to share. Very good and not something I would expect to see on a typical Indian menu.
Others at our table ordered the Chargrill Rack of Lamb and Tandoori Salmon– both came out as proper hunks of meat and looked amazing. I didn’t get to try because they were eaten so quickly :) You can also order the classics, like chicken korma and biryani, both of which came to the table and were really nice.
The sides are decently sized– again, enough to share between two people. We had the Dhall Makhana– £3.50 which was nice, but to be honest, I make it better at home (sorry).
The service was very good but there was a bit of confusion when it came to placing the sides and naans on the table. When we arrived we mentioned at we would be ordering by couples (there were 5 sets of people), but when they brought naan and veggies they got put on the table communally which was a bit odd and had some people asking where their food was. There were also a few forgotten ordered of sides/​naan, which went unnoticed by us for quite some time since each couple was not given the dish they ordered.
Overall a nice experience though. This is the most interesting Indian I’ve ever had, so points for that.

Namaaste Kitchen offers a different twist on the standard London-​Indian fare.
A good friend from Los Angeles was playing at Dingwalls down the street, and was going out of his mind for a good curry. He lived in London for a decade so it’s the one thing that he really misses. So what did I do? I pulled up Unilocal and scanned the reviews!
There were five of us who went there in the end (FOUR drummers and a bass player — wild conversations about sticks, strings, pedals ahoy!!!) and it seemed fairly empty when we entered. In fact, it was fairly empty when we left too, but this was not reflected in the quality of the food.
Great naan bread — better than standard London. I had the non-​vegetarian thali and that was an amazing blend of flavours and great variety too. It was even a reasonable price for «gourmet Indian» food.
Great, attentive service too. Namaaste Kitchen is a solid performer.
And thanks to the Unilocal app — five happy, well-​fed musicians!

Terrific biryani. They bake it into a pie! My girlfriend got the pistachio chicken korma and that was also excellent.

I had an absolutely delightful meal here. I had spent the last couple of months in London eating a lot of Indian food. I felt that Namaaste was awesome and different because it used the ingredients in London, not just those of India. It to me made the food refreshing. The staff was wonderfully nice too. I was dining alone, and they were very helpful without being overbearing. I would recommend this place to anyone looking for a different type of Indian dining experience that still has you feeling like you are eating Indian food

My Indian food experience has been relatively limited, as I’ve only had fair to good Indian food in Seattle (and good to great in Vancouver, BC.) But this place really blew me away. I was über surprised to see only one review.
My bf grew up in different parts of London, Camdentown being one of his favorite neighborhoods. I was excited to try something new… something that I never had before, and they delivered!
The service was super, the manager talked to us about Namaaste being their second restaurant. (The owner is a flight attendant for BA, if I recall correctly.) The true ambience was hard to determine as there were only two other tables that early for dinner, but the décor was nice. The tables are a wee small; we had to juggle the plates and drinks for 4 people on the table.
The softshell, deep-​fried crab was delectable. Better than any I’ve ever had stuffed in a sushi roll, which seems to be the only way you can get fried softshell crab at home. For my main course, I had the Pistachio Chicken Korma, with little flakes of silver sprinkled over the top. Maybe that’s dated as far as food prep goes, but I still liked it! The rice and naan were delicious and complemented the rich, savory sauces. Prices were in line for the quality of food.
In case you can’t tell, I’m a nut for pistachio-​anything. Pun intended that time. I apologize. So I ordered the sexiest Pistachio ice cream I’ve ever seen. (See photo.) It was a perfect end to a perfect meal. We will go back to see if it still wows us like it did the first time. What a neat find!

I had enjoyed a lovely night (superb service) and quality food at Namaaste Kitchen.
strong points:
1– Food tastes really good
2– service is outstanding
3– the place does not smell of a curry consequently you don’t leave with clothes and coat smelling of curry
4– quirky lights
downsides:
1– tiny tables and large plates !!
2– not well-​cooked dessert ;-(
will definitely go there again — I want my Naan Bread

Although at first glance Camden doesn’t need another Indian restaurant, the excellent Namaaste Kitchen puts a big enough spin on conventions to make it well worth a visit, whether you’re a local or just someone who wants to try top quality Indian fare at surprisingly sensible prices. The atmosphere is buzzy and fun, and one of the big highlights is the open grill area, where you can watch first-​hand as the various meats and fish are prepared and cooked in front of you.
On the night I went, the restaurant was offering a tasting menu with matching wines and even sitar players, for the bargain price of £45, which would barely cover the wine in some establishments. Highlights included tandoori Portobello mushroom with cheese, figs and cashew nuts, coriander lime chicken tikka and a fiery Rajasthan laal maas, a very spicy lamb dish that made my eyes water. It was served with possibly my favourite wine, a powerful 2002 Château Hennebelle. Even the not-​particularly-​Indian cheese course and passion fruit cheesecake were both delicious.
Apparently it’s planned to have a tasting menu night once a month or so, but I can’t imagine that the a la carte would be any less good. So do drop in, and enjoy a repast fit for emperors.

I went to Namaaste Kitchen last Friday, as I won the Qype competition, and to say I was impressed is an understatement. I was greeted very warmly and shown to my table. The menu is extensive and has very interesting dishes, like anglo-​indian chicken liver pâté and soft shell crab.
The food is presented as if you were in a very high end restaurant and you will be bowled over by how ridiculously tasty the food is. They concentrate on flavour and you are not overwelmed by the spice, which is a good balance.
Namaaste Kitchen is the best Indian food I have ever tasted and with faultless service and deicious food, it is now my new favourite place to eat.

I really liked it there. Nice furnishings, and the portions are big. The dishes sounded a bit more interesting than at other Indian Restaurants.
I definitely will go there again.