Namaskar India - Part 2

I've actually been back to Namaskar India quite a few more times since that first visit but I always forgot to bring my camera so didn't bother blogging about it.

I went again this week with Kin and Jo. I just felt like eating Indian food and Namaskar India popped into my head. We arrived there at about 8pm without a booking. The restaurant was half full, but as usual all the tables had Reserved signs on them. Luckily for us, there was one table left upstairs exactly for three people. I kid you not, the table was set up with three chairs only.

We sat down and turned our attention to the Bollywood movie that was playing on the big plasma screen on the wall. Jo was utterly entranced while Kin and I hummed along to the music. From what we could tell, the guy was trying to get the girl back. This involved dancing and signing throughout the whole movie. There was hardly any dialogue at all, just heaps of songs and group dancing. We kept looking back at it every once in a while during the meal.

For entree we got the Chicken Manchurian. The entrees are my favourite. I have tried a lot of them and they're all to my liking. The Chicken Manchurian was fiery, with a chilli rating of 1 (maximum rating of 3 with a minimum of no chilli). The shallots and spring onion gave a lighter hint to the chicken which was coated with a brown aromatic sauce.

For mains, we shared a Butter Chicken, Lamb Roganjosh and Dahl Tadka. Kin loved the dahl. I found it not to my liking. It tasted coarse and generally I'm not a fan of any type of beans. The Lamb Roganjosh was hot hot hot. The spicy sauce coated some very tender lamb pieces. My favourite was the Butter Chicken. This butter chicken is not overly rich like at some places. The chicken piece are cooked in the tandoori as they have charred black edges and that smokey flavour.


Breads at Namaskar are plentiful in choice. There are so many varieties of Naan, Roti and Dosa. I love the Butter Naan and Garlic Naan the most. The naan is crunchy but still has some moistness in the centre.


For dessert, Jo and I shared the Gulab Jamun and the Zauk-E-Shahi. The Galub Jamun was good, but too sweet. The syrup was way too sweet. The Zauk-e-Shahi is bascially a Gulab Jamun soaked in condensed milk with pistachio nuts. The description on the menu was a creamy reduced milk. I didn't think it was going to be condensed milk. This again was too sweet. This gulab jamun was not up to the standard that my Pakistani friend Tafazal's wife does. Her gulab jamun are fantastic, with the actual gulab jamun having a better taste and texture. Her syrup is also superior, being lighter with hints of rose water and nuts.


Overall Rating: 14/20, The food is still good, with the restaurant being packed out with Indians vouching for their authenticity. Prices are still great value for money.

Scores: 1-9: Unacceptable, don't bother. 10-11: Just OK,some shortcomings. 12: Fair. 13: Getting there. 14: Recommended. 15: Good. 16: Really good. 17: Truly excellent. 18: An outstanding experience. 19-20: Approaching perfection, Victoria's best.