Namaste [Portsmouth, Southsea]

Regional Dining Discussions U.K., Ireland
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A new Indian restaurant in my town. Bills itself as ‘authentic’ and actually, it is because it is run by Indians (rather than Bangladeshis, who run almost all the ‘Indian’ restaurants in Portsmouth). I was very interested in the menu, which is quite wide ranging but has several dishes which appear to hail from Andhra Pradesh, a state in the southern part of India. It’s hard to find cuisine from Andhra outside the state even in India, apart from the ubiquitous Hyderabadi biryani.

We arrived at midday and promptly over-ordered. Idli, plain dosa and masala dosa to start, Chicken 65, Hyderabadi lamb biryani, chicken liver fry, plain biryani rice. I went back to the counter to order the guthi vankaya (stuffed aubergine curry) - the man apologised saying it wasn’t available and I had a good look at the kitchen and realised this man was running the whole show on his own. The restaurant is small, with only about 25 seats in total, and there were only 5 customers including us. But the man was doing front of house and cooking each order fresh. A older white British couple came in, sat down, looked at the menu and seemed a bit disconcerted. The one man operation wasn’t able to get to them to explain the menu or ask what they fancied. They eventually got up and left. Service was understandably slow but when we eventually got the food it was pretty good.

I had the idli - 4 smallish ones which were freshly made (ie not dried out). The dal was quite watery and not very sour. I wonder if it was rasam rather than sambar. Red tomato chutney was great. White coconut chutney was fine.

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Dosas were a bit thick and spongey. Overall, would be a satisfying breakfast for the price. Forgot to take photos of dosas.

Chicken 65 was a good rendition. Meat was all white meat, so a bit dry but this dish usually is quite dry. My son ordered a ‘Thumbs Up’, which is an Indian cola brand. They have some Indian soda pop brands available.

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Forgot to take photos of the rice dishes and liver fry. The man came over to advise that he was going to give me pulao rice rather than plain biryani rice as he felt it would go better with the liver fry and we were getting a lamb biryani anyway so I would have that rice if I wanted. Fair enough, and he was right. Lamb biryani was robustly flavoured, not greasy, with tender meat on the bone (not much meat though). I’m sure this is all made beforehand and just heated up as biryani seems to be one of their big sellers (they are advertising ‘biriyani buckets’ on their Facebook page. I’d take a biryani bucket over a KFC bucket any day). Biryani is served with small bowls of raita and salan (a sort of thin peanutty gravy). Chicken liver fry was satisfying. A large portion. Some pieces were a bit too well done but that happens with Indian cooking. The pulao rice was a gigantic portion and very good - subtly spiced aromatic, fluffy very long grained rice. We couldn’t finish the liver and pulao and had it packed to go. I might fry a few cashews to jazz up the pulao leftovers.

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Prices quite reasonable for the south of England. We’ll be back to explore other parts of the menu.

https://acrobat.adobe.com/id/urn:aaid:sc:EU:375b9f3f-5527-4921-ae17-9c5faa39eb10

I think I’ve linked the menu above, but I’m not sure!

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Very. At our favourite (genuine) Indian place, lamb biryani is £14.95

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Mixed bag here on new year’s day. We popped in when we saw they were open and I had to collect a parcel from a pickup point nearby. Several more staff members about today - service was friendly and well meaning but a bit ‘Fawlty Towers’.

My son tried to order a rava dosa but was told it wasn’t available. So he went for a plain dosa, husband ordered masala dosa (he asked the server if it would be crispy and she said yes) and I asked for idli. Masala dosa arrived but wasn’t crispy at all - very floppy, thick and spongey with very onion-heavy filling. Plain dosa was also soft and spongey. My idlis were probably the best of the lot. Dal was a bit better than last time but still quite watery with only onions and no other veg evident. The chutneys were the highlight - very good. I think we’ll give up on dosas from this place - we can make better at home with store-bought batter. My idlis came a good 5-7 min after the dosas were served - at one point we thought they had forgotten the order and had to ask after it.

To follow, we ordered the Andhra fish curry (Nellore chepala pulusu) and lemon rice for my husband and I to share and mutton fry and biryani rice for my son. The rice dishes are very good. The mutton fry was ok, very spicy (they had checked what spice level he wanted) but quite light on the quantity of mutton. The fish curry was disappointing - for £10.99 it was mostly onions and tomatoes in a tangy tamarind sauce that was lukewarm - 2-3 tiny pieces of mostly skin and bone.

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When the server came to ask how things were, we mentioned that while everything tasted good and the rice was very good, we were disappointed with the quantity of fish in the curry and what fish was it? She called over a manager who said it was sea bass. If it was, they must have chopped one sea bass into about 50 pieces and given us the 2-3 from the tail end. I would never put sea bass in a fish curry. Generally South Indian fish curries are made with a more meaty fish like kingfish. Anyway, I can think of many many better ways to spend £10.99. They apologised for our experience. Bill came to just shy of £50.

I had high hopes for this place, but having now spent over £100 in total over two visits trying out various things from the menu we felt should be their strengths, I can’t say I am impressed. Discussing with my husband, even the biryani which we initially thought was good value, had a very meagre amount of lamb in it. And as for the rice dishes which were the highlight for us - I can actually cook as good if not better if I get off my lazy backside. The dosas were more home style than restaurant level. Even dosas I have had at friends’ homes are better than this restaurant’s. And if the fish curry is meant to be similarly home style, then I can say any Indian family I know would be ashamed to serve those bits of skin and bone to a guest. Yes, Indian home style curries can include skin and bones but they don’t leave out the actual fish!

So farewell Namaste - we wish you all the best but won’t be returning anytime soon.

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Oh, I am soooo impressed. We’ve tried to make at home using a shop bought pack (the wonderfully named Gits). We went through the whole pack and never turned out a single really edible one . Since then, we leave them to restaurants - although I can see why you were disappointed with these. Floppy dosa, indeed.

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Lol! Making dosa at home is not the easiest skill to acquire and it took us ages to get the hang of it. Friends of mine who make these from scratch every day all have a special pan with low sides just for frying dosa - nothing else will ever be made in that particular pan. The pans are wonderfully nonstick not from teflon but from being properly seasoned and never washed, only wiped down with a dry cloth or kitchen towel. In our experience, the batter also needs to be diluted down with water and the edges of the dosa dribbled with ghee to get a really crispy finish.

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Shame to hear.

I am down that way a few times a year visiting family and keep meaning to try Desi Old India Cafe on Elm Grove. The menu looks a bit different to your typical Southsea curry house and it looks really nice inside.

Have you tried it yet? :slight_smile:

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I was watching the new Jamie Oliver “£1 meal” series the other night and he does a cheats dosa. Whizz the ingredients in the processor to make the batter then fry a ladle-full as you would a thin pancake.

I’m going to give it a try

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Yes, I tried it a few years ago. Old Desi Cafe was really good. We felt it was a bit pricey but everything was tasty - we haven’t been back because we prefer the place across the road (Rakuzen - a sushi restaurant with a Malaysian-run kitchen that makes a few really good Malaysian dishes). Re: Old Desi Cafe, the decor is nice and it seems pretty buzzy - I’m not sure they are open for lunch, only dinner if I remember correctly. They don’t serve alcohol but that wasn’t a problem for us - it just comes as a bit of a surprise when some people expect to be able to order a Cobra beer with their curry. It’s not a typical UK curry house.

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There are a small number of restaurants near me that don’t serve alcohol. All are in areas which have significant numbers of residents from an Asian background. I remember going to one Lebanese/Syrian place that had set up in an area that didnt have a large number of such locals. Food was decent enough but I said at the time that I reckoned their no alcohol policy would be their undoing. I don’t think it lasted six months.

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Good to know, I look forward to trying it! No booze is fine, I actually find beer too filling with a curry. I also spent my formative years drinking in the pub next door to India Cafe and working at Honest Polician and Wine Vaults round the corner so have had more than my fair share of drinks in that locality :rofl:
I’ll try the place over the road next time I’m down.

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This is in an area with not a large Asian population but there are enough nice places a stone’s throw away to grab an alcoholic drink if needed before or after eating at Old Desi Cafe. Elm Grove is still a bit dodgy in parts but has some very nice and cool places to eat and drink along it.

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Quite a few dry places near me in Leeds. One that does very well (as did an old curry house back home which was dry) has a BYO policy which if anything makes them more popular rather than less!

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Just saw this reply! So you were a regular at the One-Eyed Dog?! It’s still there and thriving. Southsea Deli and Bread Addiction are nice daytime places to throw lots of money at fancy bakery goods and coffees.

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I was indeed! Right back from when it was first opened as the Green Goose and I had a dodgy student union ID. :rofl:
I worked the occasional shift there too as it was owned by the same guy as Wine Vaults and Honest Poli!
I had some bread from bread addiction a few years back amd it was decent if I’m thinking of the same place, near Huis?
The Mediterranean supermarket on the strip used to sell Lahmahcun about 15-20 years ago, I was gutted when they stopped. I think they were 2/3 for a quid :partying_face:

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Mediterranean supermarket used to have lahmacun?! Wow. They only have frozen ones now. Still pretty good for middle Eastern and Indian ingredients and the butcher’s counter is pretty decent.

Bread Addiction is near Huis, yes. Bread Addiction is excellent. There is a place called Sourdough Bakehouse which is terrible.

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I’d be interested to know how you get on with this method. Jamie Oliver has many positives to his approach to getting people cooking but one of the problems is his relatable approach rubs traditionalists the wrong way. Say, a good dosa batter needs to be fermented well. Traditionally the ingredients need to be stone-ground and in the modern day, many South Indian households have electric stone grinders (good models weigh an absolute ton) to achieve the right texture for their dosa and idli batter. And they will make a big batch and then leave it to ferment and the latter days’ dosas and idlis will have a better flavour from the extended fermentation.

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I’ll have to find the recipe but I know he whizzed everything up in a processor. Think, but not sure, that he left it to ferment, before swirling a small amount round a frying pan (cooked on one side only).