Mahek Restaurant — Restaurant in Mahé

I travelled to Seychelles from the USA to celebrate a friend's 40th birthday. We (5 girlfriends) decided to have dinner at Mahek, which was in walking distance from our hotel (Savoy). We didn't have reservations. We were given a wait time of ~40 minutes, but a short time later (within 5 minutes) we were taken to an overflow section within another restaurant, which had a lovely ambiance despite the distance from Mahek's kitchen.

I'm vegan and gluten free, so I appreciated the symbols on the menu, which are designed to make ordering easier. However, I noticed that almost all the meal options had a milk symbol except for the Indian Green Salad and the vegan dessert made with soymilk. I asked our server if there were other options for me. She said she would speak with the chef. To my group's pleasant surprise, Chef Pauljoe came to the table, asked who was vegan, and proceeded to show me all the items he could make for my dietary restriction. I ordered Peshawari Chana - Punjabi (chickpeas stewed in tea leaf with carom seed and cumin spices with no milk) and Bhindi Do Pyaza - Mumbai (lady finger/okra with onion, tomato, garlic, and Indian spices with no milk). Both dishes were delicious. Chef Pauljoe returned to check on us and make sure we were enjoying our meal, which was also very nice of him. He invited us to come back and try more dishes.

On the last day of our trip, one of my friends from the group of 5 and I returned. We invited her parents to join us. The second dining experience was for lunch, which was less busy. We were able to sit in the Mahek restaurant in view of the kitchen. When my friend and I saw Chef Pauljoe, we waved at him enthusiastically. He waved back and came over to the table. He remembered us and asked where the other ladies from our initial group were (they had already started their journey back to the states). The lunch experience surpassed the dinner experience. Chef Pauljoe recommended so many delicious treats. I re-ordered the Bhindi Do Pyaza - Mumbai, had the Assorted Vegetable Pakoda (onion rings, potato, and eggplant/aubergine fried in chickpea flour), the Indian Green Salad, and the Dal Tadka (lentil, chickpeas tempered with onion, tomato, garlic, and Indian spices without milk). My friend and her family are not vegan. Everyone enjoyed what they ordered. We were all stuffed.

The food is delicious and reasonably priced, but it's Chef Pauljoe's kindness and passion for food that made this an exceptional dining experience. I highly recommend...

Note: foodies who know what real good food is!

When asking the waiter a question about a dish, he didn’t listen to what was being asked and instead assumed we wanted to order the dish. The waiter was not aware of the difference between the soup on the menu and Rasam. Refused tap water and forced to buy expensive bottled water instead. Food below standard. Paneer tikka not flavourful at all. Just seemed it had been dipped in red colouring and cooked for a few seconds in a tandoor. Asked for a chilli garlic naan (not on the menu but assumed they would fresh chillies being an ‘Indian’ restaurant). Was told chilli flakes only as they did not have fresh chillies yet it was put in the masala peanuts. Naan came out and had literally no garlic on it (despite garlic naan being an option on the menu). Head chef came and was adamant it had garlic on it. I asked for him to show me where the garlic was. Used a knife to pick up a chilli seed! 🤦🏽‍♀️so i confirmed he thought that was garlic and he said no that’s chilli. Could not pick out any garlic. Disappointed with the service/attitude of the staff and food was so rubbish for the price charged. Can get a few great starters in London (one of the most expensive cities in the world) for the price they charged for water, one naan, paneer tikka and masala peanuts. Very surprised people from India rate this a great restaurant considering...

We recently visited Mahek Restaurant and it was a complete waste of money. Their food taste is very very below average. But above that, the most disheartening this was very rude and unprofessional behaviour of the staff, particularly by 1 staff, the Bald one. I couldn't remember his name but he was very rude while punching order and as well while serving food. We were 3 couples and this bald guy was very rude even to our ladies and was arguing badly on every small thing. Most shocking thing was regarding water bottle. While taking table in the hotel, we had a bottle of water with us. This BALD Guy didn't allow us to keep this bottle with us on table and he kept the bottle with him at the reception area. This was disgusting. We had an argument but we couldn't lower our standards to match his, so we stopped arguing after a while. It was just because we had ordered and already paid for the dinner before taking table as we initially planned for the take away. Else we would have left the hotel immediately. There was another couple at the restaurant who shared similar views of this bald guy. THIS RESTAURANT IS HIGHLY NOT RECOMMENDED DUE TO BELOW AVERAGE FOOD TASTE & VERY RUDE BEHAVIOUR...