Lumbini Nepalese Restaurant, Flackwell Heath — Restaurant in England

Dined here with a party of 6 a few months ago. We called and asked if the food was halal and were told point blank that it was not, which we were fine with as we were happy with the vegetarian and seafood choices on the menu, but we just had to check. When we arrived, the owner of the restaurant told us that the food was actually halal, which surprised us as it contradicted the earlier phone call. He insisted it was halal, and so we trusted the owner and we all ended up ordering the meat/chicken dishes on the day.

Cut to a few months later, when I wanted to visit again, I thought maybe the restaurant may have updated either their website or their menu to state that it’s halal, but I couldn’t find any record of it at all anywhere, so we decided to give them a call again just to confirm they are halal like we were told by the owner a few months ago. This time, they insisted again that it was not halal, as we were told at the first phone call we made. Another friend then also called after me to check if the food was halal and was told yet again that it was not. How is this possible? A restaurant can’t just flip flop between halal and not halal at will, it’s entirely unethical at best and illegal at worst.

The realisation has set in on our entire party now that we have all likely consumed non halal meat a few months ago, which is really distressing. For clarification, we did not mind at all that it was not halal the first time around as we were all ready to order vegetarian and seafood. We do not have the entitled and misplaced expectation that all restaurants should cater for halal, but when we were told on the day that it was halal and later backtracked on after we had already eaten the meat, it changes the situation entirely and is now a...

Really happy to see a new restaurant opened here in the village after the previous closure. I ordered takeaway on Sat night and arrived at the time they said it'd be ready. Unfortunately I had to wait 45 mins to get my food.

Usually I would score the review down but the restaurant was exceptionally busy, completely packed. As the restaurant is new I understand there will be some teething issues. And the owner gave me a free beer whilst waiting and also a large discount as an apology, which was greatly appreciated.

The reason why I have scored this 5 stars is firstly due to the way the owner apologised, not just with words but with a beer whilst I waited and also the discount.

Secondly because of the food. Absolutely delicious! We ordered the Chilli chicken starter which was amazing! For mains we had the Peero Chicken, Bhedha Gurkhali (lamb) and Butter Chicken with garlic naan and rice. All three were spot on! We thoroughly enjoyed the meal and finished everything! They also gave us some popodums which was welcome.

Really happy to see a new restaurant in the village, thriving and doing well. Hoping they iron out some of their away timings so that next time it's a bit smoother! If you get the chance to try it...

We visited on a rainy Tuesday evening and chose Lumbini mainly because it was convenient. After one visit, it is now a firm favourite.

The restaurant is badged as providing Nepalese cuisine. The menu has items that would probably look familiar, such as sweet and sour prawns and chicken tikka masala. We did order sweet and sour prawns, and it was very good. Not the prawns in gloop with a few veg thrown in you would get from the local Chinese takeaway, but a very nicely spiced and quite unique dish. But the standout surprise was probably the Wai Wai chicken noodles. Sort of in the style of a pad thai, but again quite unique. We devoured the lot. The Nepalese lager they have on tap is also worth a look, if that is your thing.

Having spent £30/person, which included drinks, Lumbini provides excellent value for money. We will...