Namaskar — Restaurant in Sendai

Back when I taught English in Miyagi-ken, from 2001-2003, there were six of us who would meet up in Sendai and hang out practically every weekend. One of us was vegetarian, however -- and unlike today, being vegetarian in Japan was pretty tough back then, so options were really limited for restaurants we could all enjoy. It basically came down to a chain Italian place, or this local Indian restaurant, Namaskar. I'd say we ate at Namaskar at least once per month, if not twice or even three times some months, for practically the entirety of those two years. We even held a birthday party there once!

And at that point, I had literally NEVER had Indian food before. This was my first exposure to Indian cuisine, ever, and is basically the reason I love Indian food so much today. It's been the gold standard against which I've measured every other Indian restaurant I've ever eaten at since, and to date, none of them have ever quite lived up to it. Not anywhere in the U.S. where I'm from, in Japan, or in England.

Of course, having basically no other Indian food to compare it to back then, and not having eaten at Namaskar since 2003, it could easily have been that my impression of the place had gotten inflated in my mind, and it really wasn't anywhere near as good as I remembered it being. Rose lassi-colored glasses, you might say!

But today, nearly 22 years later, I found myself in Sendai with a few hours to kill, and found Namaskar was still around -- and really didn't seem to have changed much at all based on Google Maps photos, despite everything else around it being almost unrecognizable now!

So I decided to give it a try. And somehow, simultaneously both as expected and to my surprise, this evening's meal has proven it to be every bit as good as I remember it being. Namaskar remains the king of Indian cuisine for me -- undefeated, even after all these years! I really lucked out having this place as my first Indian experience, and I'm not exaggerating when I say that it remains the best I've ever had.

My meal today consisted of a mutton samosa, vegetable pakoras, plain naan, chicken makhani (a tomato-based curry that I immediately recognized as my old standby after seeing it on the menu, and which I can't recall ever seeing offered at any other Indian restaurants I've been to), and a rose lassi (again, a variety of lassi I've never seen offered anywhere else) -- as well as a complimentary cup of soup.

Also, although I ordered only plain naan this time around, Namaskar has an absurd selection of naans on offer, including a mutton naan that I recall being absolutely scrumptious -- but since I got the mutton samosa, I figured I'd refrain from that today.

My meal was admittedly a bit pricy at 2600 yen for everything (I feel like the prices have gone up in the last 22 years!), but absolutely worth it, as every single thing I ordered was the very best example of itself.

It was so cool to be able to experience this again after all this time! Namaskar hasn't changed in over two decades, and that's definitely a very good thing, because you just can't mess...

Food was delicious. We eat Indian food often wherever we travel and live and this was one of our favorites. I got the vegetable set and my husband got the chicken. Definitely worth the money. They have a la carte as well if you don't want a set. There's English on the menu if you don't know Japanese. There's smoking (like most restaurants in Japan) but the staff had no problem moving us to a table where it was less noticeable. Wish we'd discovered it earlier...

We found Namasker while looking for a vegetarian place on a rainy night in Sendai. It was a top class experience from start to finish. Cold beer, fun and friendly atmosphere and outstanding food. We took the veggie menu with 3 different curries, and it was really delicious - everything tasted home made including the breads which were massive and done in a proper tandoor oven. It was incredible value for money. Highly recommended. Thanks for a...