A Bow, or more of a Nod

In which we sally forth and sample the wares at a relatively new Indian restaurant in the theater district.

I would love for the meaning of this restaurant’s name to be fulfilled in the execution of its food. I’ve made two visits to Namasté India Restaurante-Bar, Av. Corrientes 1628, in San Nícolas. The name, “I bow to the divine in you” is more, as the title of this post suggests, a bit more of a nod. It’s not that the food isn’t authentic and tasty, it’s just that it’s uneven in quality and even at its best, isn’t as good as several other spots in town.

I’m not sure why the “Bar” is part of the name. Yes, there’s a long bar to the right of the entrance when you come in, but it’s minimally stocked and there’s no bartender… well, at least not in the daytime. Even if there was one, with the few things on offer, there’s not a whole lot of cocktail-ing going on would be my guess. Most of what’s on the bar, as you can see below, is about a dozen different wines, multiple bottles of each. That one bottom shelf towards the right with half a dozen liquors on it, was about it for the hard stuff, other than what might be down below in the well.

On both visits during the day, the place has been basically empty. The first time, I was solo, there was another single diner when I arrived, he left shortly thereafter, one more came in, and a delivery guy arrived to pick up an order. On the second visit, in group, a couple came in around the time we finished lunch, and, once again, a delivery order was made… maybe two. Both times, several people wandered in to ask about the place - I couldn’t overhear the conversation, but it seemed on order of asking if one particular dish or another was available and then leaving when it wasn’t. I’m not convinced they were asking about Indian dishes.

Every table gets a basket of chapati bread and the ubiquitous trio of Indian sauces - a mild cilantro chili sauce, a sweet tomato sauce, and a yogurt cucumber raita. They do charge a 1000 peso cubierto for it, which is reasonable.

The mixed vegetable pakora are tasty, but came out a bit dry and stodgy. On the menu as a trio of spinach, cauliflower, and onion in a chickpea flour pancake, the cauliflower seems to have been subbed out to a couple of pieces of sweet pepper, which was actually the best of the three. 8000 pesos.

An order of what we thought were onion bhagi, those crispy, tentacly deep fried cakes of onion, turned out to be just the same onion pakora from the other dish, though at least not as dry as the first run. 8000 pesos.

The potato, pea, and raisin samosas had decent spicing to them, though we found no peas, and only one of the four had a single raisin. 8500 pesos.

If I were to judge this place solely on these fried appetizers, I’d be disappointed.

But… the main courses are about to make up for that, or at least assuage the disappointment.

Excellent jeera rice, flecked with cumin (though I didn’t need this huge of a portion. And, a classic curry, a Banglore Mix, of prawns and white fish in a just slightly creamy, herb infused sauce, was absolutely delicious. All the curries are available in “not spicy, medium, hot” levels. I like my spice, and medium was just about dead on where I like it. I’m not sure I’d have wanted to go further. 4000 and 25000 pesos, respectively.

On our group visit, we had a prawn tikka masala, kashmiri lamb, kadai chicken, and palak paneer, a cheese dish. All four were very good - I vote for the kadai chicken, though the Bangalore Mix from the previous visit tops all four of them. In order, 24000, 21500, 21400, 20500 pesos.

The jeera rice was, once again, a hit, but the pulau rice, supposedly cooked with saffron, was bland, and a vivid orange that belies the claim of saffron usage. Not sure what they use to get that color, but it ain’t crocus stamens. An order of garlic naan was a bit skimpy in comparison to just the simple chapati already served, and could have used a whole lot more garlic. 4000, 5000, and 4000 pesos.

Lassis are available - plain, either sweet or salted; mango; and passionfruit. A few local beers, water, a short wine list, a near undrinkable house wine. That’s kind of the beverage selection.

So where does this end up? I really like their curries, and they are, in general, about 15-20% less expensive than my favorites, like Tandoor (which I really need to re-review, we go there regularly, and I haven’t written it up since it opened in 2007), Bharat, and Taj Mahal (also needs a re-review, it’s been a decade). But it’s also not at their quality level, particularly the appetizers. Nor does it have the atmosphere or service of any of the three. And while the only other Indian restaurant in this part of town, Delhi Mahal, was probably comparable in quality, I haven’t been there since 2011!

Overall, I’d put it as good to very good, but there are better. It’s not expensive, but it’s not inexpensive - ordering a la carte (there is a daily lunch menu special that’s less) is likely to put you somewhere between 35000-40000 pesos per person, about $30-34. If I was in this neighborhood and looking for Indian, I wouldn’t be unhappy to stop in again.

Maybe it’s time for a pass through the various Indian spots in town again - it’s not like there are a huge number of them to get to.