517. Namaste England.

 

  I described a visit to the West Heath located Namaste England back in May 2025 (Blog 484) and reported that I had found it to be a pleasant experience. Very shortly after dining there it closed without warning (trade did appear to be rather slow) but, with something of a flurry, it reopened on 11 November with a little flurry of advertising on social media.

  I was therefore interested to make a return visit and found that the owners had clearly had a rethink including opening for lunch (which suits me very much) and adding much more colour to the place with garlands of flowers hanging from the windows, more pictures and a lovely mural featuring a pair of elephants along one of the walls. Service was charming and genuine and the food cooked it seemed by a different chef - a lady keen to receive feedback - was excellent .

  I have no pretensions when it comes to south Asian food - I do not seek out “authenticity” as so many who claimed to know about the subject used to do in the past and determinedly gave the cold shoulder to anything that wasn’t eaten with fingers nor was was served “on the bone”. I like nice tasty food, nowadays less spicy than I may once have chosen to eat, nicely presented and if possible with elements of the sweet and the sour. 

  The food at Namaste England did have the ring of authenticity to it, I thought, but was readily appealable to a western plalte. It was very well prepared but had a refined rusticity to it.

  To start I had a very good lassi and four really exquisite little onion bhajis - tasty and with a crispy exterior - served with soothing raita. Very enjoyable. My main was a fine meaty lamb rogan Josh with just the right amount of heat in it. It looked tempting and lived up to its appearance.i had a reasonable buttered naan with it.

  Then, for dessert, came a real gem - a delicious homemade pistachio kulfi served in a pretty lidded dish. Lots of south Asian restaurants serve bought-in kulfis but this was the real McCoy - absolutely top notch. It is worth returning to the restaurant for the kulfi alone.

  Here we have it then, a fine little suburban restaurant which is just a little different from many such dining establishments, serving good food where the diner notches up a very modest bill. If this were located in Stirchley tge hipsters would be pouring in already.

Rating:- 🌛🌛🌛🌛

13 November 2025.