Create your own vegetarian thali from the day’s 20 specials, all cooked by Namaste Haifa’s team of mothers.
A customer recently asked Mittal Ghosh Roy when she would open a restaurant. She was puzzled. Weren’t they already in her 28-seat Indian eatery, Namaste Haifa? “No,” the diner told her. “This is a home.”
I understand the sentiment: Namaste Haifa is not a normal business. The vegetarian menus are cooked by a team of mothers and there’s no coolroom so everything is made fresh daily with humble equipment.
Hundreds of Indian students come each week for a taste of home under $20 – and if they are missing something in particular, Mittal’s mum squad will try to accommodate.
Anyone who can prove they are unable to work is fed for free and, in an extraordinary gesture I’ve never seen elsewhere, menstruating and pregnant women get 15 per cent discount (no proof required). “I want them to enjoy their special days,” Mittal told me.
Mittal is usually here, a warm and charismatic queen, presiding over a simple room painted with colourful murals. She comes from a restaurant family in Gujarat, a western Indian state of more than 60 million people, famous for vegetarian thalis, platters that include bread, rice, dhal and curries.
Namaste Haifa has a menu that roams from Masala tea (brewed with pepper and cardamom) to snacks like kachori (a Rajasthani lentil-stuffed pastry) and sweet-sour Indo-Chinese noodles, but the best bet is to ask for suggestions from the day’s 20 or so specials and have them in a thali (from $14; $33 for king-size). Those dishes are written on a whiteboard under the heading “Jai Ambe”, a call to victory for a fierce feminine goddess, often depicted with eight arms and riding a tiger.
The curries are delightful: fragrant, balanced and distinct with moderate chilli heat. There might be smoky roasted eggplant, malai kofta (potato and cheese dumplings in rich gravy), turmeric-tinged okra, different dals – some nutty, some creamy – plus supple handmade roti. The presentation can look slapdash but this is food from the heart.
Your meal will arrive on cardboard unless you ask for crockery; water cups are single-use plastic. I don’t love that but apparently many people think disposable is more hygienic.
The best bet is to ask for suggestions from the day’s 20 or so specials and have them in a thali.
I was curious about the restaurant’s name: “namaste” is a respectful Indian greeting, Haifa is a town in Israel. I learnt that in 1918, the Indian cavalry helped liberate Haifa from Ottoman rule. The ancient settlement then became part of the British Mandate for Palestine, and since 1948, a northern city in Israel. To this day, representatives of the Indian Army commemorate Haifa Day, paying respects to their fallen soldiers.
This area has a large Jewish population and Namaste Haifa is certified kosher. I doubt there is anywhere else in Melbourne where orthodox Jews and Indian students nosh down together. Food offers endless opportunities to connect and learn. Namaste Haifa is far from fancy but it’s one of our most uplifting restaurants.
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