Salaam Namaste Review

Best for: unusual dishes not found on regular high-street Indian menus.

Great: service – what other restaurant allows you to take home a doggy bag?!

More often than not, my trips to Indian restaurants all merge into one. What is sold in one Indian restaurant is seemingly sold in them all.

Chicken tikka masala, in varying degrees of authenticity and flavour, can be found on most Indian menus. A survey claimed that it is the UK’s most popular dish, with it being ordered one in seven times in restaurants around the UK. If you’re lucky, the chicken will have been marinated in a mixture of yoghurt, herbs and spices before it is baked in a tandoor oven and then served in a creamy and delicately spiced tomato sauce. If you’re unlucky, the chicken will have been pre-cooked in an oven, with little to no marinade, and will be served in a tangy, artificial gloop that has taken on the consistency of wallpaper paste.

Because of the Russian roulette nature of dining in Indian restaurants, I give them a wide berth, instead choosing to eat in edgy Italian bistros or Thai cafes. That is, until I went to Salaam Namaste restaurant in Bloomsbury.

Bloomsbury is my stomping ground. Before moving to work on a boat permanently moored on the Thames (don’t ask), I worked in a little office very close to Bloomsbury Square. As a person who loves my food, and loves to eat, I thought I’d explored the surrounding area and purged it of its great restaurants. Tottenham Court Road is a mixed bag; I’m a big fan of Thai chain-restaurant Busaba Eathai and the Spanish tapas at the Norfolk pub, and less of a fan of Sicilian Mennula.

So I kick myself now that I’ve discovered, after I’ve upped sticks and left one of my favourite parts of London (for an equally delicious area, granted), the exciting Indian-fusion fare – and I say ‘fusion’ because the dishes on offer range from Indian to Pakistan and Bangladesh – from Salaam Namaste.

Passing over the overly familiar high-street dishes (the restaurant has to cater for everyone, I suppose) was easy. The familiar dishes were, thankfully, in a minority. An appetiser of deep fried spicy soft shell crab had almost South East Asian leanings, while a main of Goan green chicken curry was a far cry from the soupy rich green curries of Thailand, and instead zinged with fresh chilli, mint and coriander. I feel guilty referring to dishes of smoked aubergine with tamarind and spiced chickpeas as side dishes as they were anything but side dishes. In fact, we took a Tupperware box full of the spiced chickpeas home with us and ate it, with warmed chappatis, the next evening.

This is an Indian restaurant with balls. It shuns the predictable Indian restaurant fare of chicken tikka masala in all its guises for food that showcases the entire Indian region. I think that’s rather brave. There’s no telling if the people of London will take to unusual dishes and flavours, or whether they will relegate the restaurant along with all the others that have attempted and failed to try something different.

However, perhaps I’m not giving trusty Londoners enough faith. For every person who orders a chicken korma and chips for the fiftieth time and has never set eyes on an ugly monkfish, let alone eaten it, there are likely ten people who are willing to try something different. And those are the people Salaam Namaste restaurant caters for.

It’s unusual in London, a city saturated with restaurants that call themselves Indian restaurants, to find a little gem that offers larger than life, gutsy and inventive food. It’s a crying shame that I’d never discovered it while I worked a couple of doorways away. However, a little trek across London for food that good has never put me off before.
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Claire Williams 04 Dec 2012

Salaam Namaste Description

Salaam Namaste, meaning a welcoming gesture in Indian-Sub Continent, is a modern Indian restaurant located in Bloomsbury, two minutes walk from the Russell Square Tube Station London.

Inspired from the Bollywood movie 'salaam namaste' which is about a celebrity chef emphasises on creativity in Indian cooking, like wise restaurateur Musabbir Karim (Sabir) is passionate about cooking and has worked in some of the top restaurants in the capital, his menu is innovative and imaginative, he has lined up some of the finest dishes for his guests Palates, from different regions of India like Rajesthan, Hyderabad, Punjab,Chennai, Kerala, Goa. The menu alsos has Bangladeshi, Pakistani & Afghani favourite dishes.

Customer Reviews for Salaam Namaste

Average (based on 1 votes): 1 Atmosphere: Value: Quality:

The following customer reviews are not endorsed by Fluid London and are simply those of users who wish to publish their independent experiences of Salaam Namaste.

“Had a lovely meal at salaam namaste again, this restaurant is a well kept secret in Bloomsbury.”
Atmosphere: Value: Quality:
J Smith, London (2 years 10 months 1 days ago)

Additional Information

• Cuisine Type: Indian
• Dress Code: Not Specified
• Group: (Independent/Freehouse)