December 24, 2006
Namaste Curry
For some practice time behind the wheel, GF drove us down to the NTU area where her mom has a parking pass. There's always plenty of cheap eats around a uni campus. Many of the convenient places in the streets and alleys already had lines out the door as we neared dinnertime. There's a row of curry houses and GF noted the colorful sign and the unconventional Nepalese style. It's also located at the top of a very steep flight of stairs. We figured all that would be sufficient to discourage the bulk of the crowds but even then we only barely got the last free table in the small 2nd-floor space.
The menu mentioned the owners love of Nepal and its culture. The space was painted in gold and maroon reminiscent of the Nepalese temples, with large blow-ups of photos printed on the walls. The hangings and decorations also are also nominally Nepalese, including a beautiful rug which decorated the floor of a no shoes, no chairs, raised sitting area. The menu consisted of a few simple curries with some extras as a set meal. The soup is generic Taiwanese slop, but the Nepalese flatbread was a bit more interesting, crispy pan-fried surface reminiscent of the Chinese green-onion crepes but with a very strong buttery flavor.
The restaurant's not big and the kitchen's even smaller, and it struggled to keep up with the dinner rush as we had to sit quite a while before we got our main dish. The saffron rice had a nice color but wasn't particularly memorable flavor-wise, i.e. probably not much real saffron in there. The curry appeared similar to your standard Indian curries, as one might expect based on geographical proximity. My beef stew had a strong note of cardamom to distinguished it, and GF's chicken curry was a more standard turmeric-based sauce. However, both our entrees were absolutely loaded with actual spices, as I was picking out coriander, bay leaf, peppercorns, and who-knows-what-else. The spices and seeds could've used a good bash with the old mortar-and-pestle to really bring out the flavor, but it is definitely a refreshing change to see the aggressive and one-presumes authentic spicing in a Taiwan restaurant.
The menu blurb stated that the restaurant was a labor-of-love. The decor and flavors certainly demonstrated love and care. However, the service showed the downside of amateur enthusiasm, as servers had no clue which dishes were due for which table. The kitchen was slow and inconsistent in delivery, as our neighboring table had one entree delivered long after his friend had already finished his meal. I was willing to accept the bad with the good, but the brutally competitive marketplace may not, and all those spices and seeds don't come cheap. I fervently hope that they can fix the problems and find a niche before market pressures force them to water down the authenticity to better fit mainstream Taiwan tastebuds.
It's grape jello. We didn't put enough sugar in it, did we?
Oh, that's good to know. Thanks.
Namaste Curry
台北市中正區羅斯福路3段316巷16號2樓
02-23629538