Namaste Indian Restaurant

Namaste has built a devoted following in Flic en Flac by doing something that should be simple but rarely is: cooking honest Indian food with quality ingredients and not compromising either for cost or for tourist preferences. The restaurant is a converted house on the main road through town, its walls painted saffron and hung with fabric from Rajasthan, ceiling fans overhead, and a clay tandoor in the open kitchen that radiates warmth through the dining room. The cooking is North Indian in origin but has absorbed Mauritian-Indian inflections over time: the vindaloo has a genuine heat level that climbs slowly, the saag paneer is creamy and deeply spiced, and the lamb rogan josh tastes of a slow braise that started in the morning. The bread basket is a meal in itself: garlic naan with a charred underside, stuffed paratha with potato and cumin, and a daily bread special that might be a missi roti with fenugreek or a keema naan with spiced mince. The thali option, available only at lunch, is the best-value plate on the west coast — eight small bowls including two curries, rice, dal, raita, achaar, and a dessert of kheer. Namaste fills up fast on weekends; the regulars are a mix of local Indo-Mauritian families and European tourists staying in the Flic en Flac holiday rentals.