Café Spice Namaste, London (Goan/Parsee)

Café Spice Namaste, London (Goan/Parsee)

In a recent thread about what Chicago lacks c8w expressed a desire for both Goan and Parsee places. I heartily agree. A little over a year ago we had a wonderful lunch in London at Café Spice Namaste, which features both cuisines. The owner, Cyrus Todiwala, is a Parsee born in Bombay who later lived in Goa. Here is a belated report on our lunch; the photos are all by Antonius.

We began with an appetizer of baigan pakora, perfectly cooked, greaseless fried eggplant in a chickpea flour batter:



For his main dish, Antonius chose the Goan vindalho de carne de porco, pork belly and shoulder in a complex, fairly spicy sauce, served with garlic rice:



I ordered the Parsee dish dhaansaak, lamb shank on the bone in a thick medium-spicy sauce (described on the menu as pureed vegetables and lentils), served with a kebab hidden in brown onion rice and kachumber (slivers of red onion dressed in lime juice) on the side:



Lucantonius had the starter portion of murg tikka:



We also had side orders of spinach and naan:





Everything was fantastic. Lucantonio’s deliciously moist chicken was just slightly spicy, perfect for him, and the more assertive dishes for us made us realize that we had been chile-deprived for several days (in Bath and Oxford). The spinach was so much fresher and brighter than similar dishes we’ve had in Chicago. In short, the whole meal made us very happy. And since we were the last customers during the lunch service we ended up having a pleasant chat with the chef about everything from ingredients to his far-flung family.

Café Spice Namaste is located a few blocks from the Tower of London, making it a convenient stop if you are touring the sights of London:



Café Spice Namaste
16 Prescot Street, London E1 8AZ
Tel : (+44) 020 7488 9242
http://www.cafespice.co.uk
M-F Lunch: 12:00 - 3:00 pm; Dinner: 6:15 - 10:30 pm
Saturday: 6:30 pm till 10:30 pm.
Closed Sunday.

Amata, that looks fantastic.
Cyrus Todiwala is a chef of some renown. I spent some time researching Vindaloo and his take on it was very interesting.
Many of his recipes are on the uktv website (which is revamped and "improved" - so not as good as when I bookmarked it). Search for his recipes gives this:
http://uktv.co.uk/food/chef/aid/530887

Hi sazerac, thanks for the link to the "Celebrity Chef" writeup. Yes, I should say that Cafe Spice Namaste is no obscure hole in the wall. Besides the white tablecloths visible above, the prices aren't the cheapest in the East End (main dishes about 14 pounds when we were there, back when the dollar was at its lowest... ). Care is obviously taken with the ingredients -- many of the dishes list the provenance of the pork, venison, scallops, etc.

The gentleman we chatted with was the chef de cuisine, I presume, definitely not Mr. Todiwala. The chef came out because he was worried that the chicken might be too spicy for Lucantonius (not so!), and to offer to make him something else. We ended up talking for about half an hour -- very pleasant.

Speaking of the chicken, I like this declaration on their website:

Café Spice Namasté also wishes to inform our patrons that the use of any colouring in our kitchens has always been banned and therefore we cannot please those who expect our dishes to be brightly coloured and iridescent.

Our meal at Café Spice Namaste was really outstanding -- one of the best restaurant meals of the year for me, without doubt. The vindaloo packed a good punch but with no detriment to the great richness of flavour. The garlic rice and bread and eggplant were all worthy of great praise as well but --somewhat oddly, perhaps -- the spinach was even more noteworthy, as it was so much better than other renditions of the dish I've had in the past.

Excellent food, friendly service, very pleasant and handsome dining room...

Nice location too...

... near some noteworthy sights...

And best of all, next to a Landsmann's pub...


Antonius

I really enjoyed my meal at Café Spice Namaste several years ago. Although I had been to many London corner, sit-down, Indian restaurants prior to that time, I count it as my first introduction to "serious" Indian food -- it is clear that there is a lot of thought and care behind the food on the plate. I'm glad to see that it is not only still around, but that it has received some well-deserved ink here on LTH.

Cool -- another reason to get back to London!

Last trip, I discovered Southall, the "just in from the subcontinent" part of town, home to London's largest Asian community and known as "Little India." But I don't think that even there they had Goan food.