Who and where we are?
Namasté is not just a restaurant
Over the years, we have expanded and merged in different ways. Above all, we stood firm together and created a wonderful story.
Starting a business
2006 - My parents’ long-held dreams and desires for an authentic Indian restaurant have grown into mine as well. In 2006, with their support, I bravely stepped into the culinary world and the restaurant on the banks of river Ljubljanica was the perfect choice. The opening was welcomed with more than 400 guests.
Opening of a restaurant in Maribor
2008 - I decided to open a restaurant in Maribor because our Sariko store was already operating there successfully. We opened the Namasté restaurant on Lent from where we took away the idea of the chicken and vegetable wraps (Romali Roti), which are a real hit at the annual Open Kitchen.
Catering
Shortly after the opening, we hosted the first two weddings and the newlyweds of the first wedding still happily return to us. As part of the New Year's fair, in 2010 we set up a stall with mulled wine (with added cardamom and dried figs) and the wraps for the first time in front of the Namasté restaurant in Breg. Since then, you can find us in the same place every year, only we have expanded the offer to include various liqueurs and thus a very popular hot gin with spices.
Halo Pinki: home delivery service
2012 - My friends and I got the idea for home and office delivery. So in 2012 we joined with the company Halo Pinki, which still deals with delivery today, and we remain their loyal partner.
Bollywood / Tollywood
Cooperation with Bollywood film crews began in early 2012. Over the years, we have upgraded our cooperation and accompanied the film crews beyond Slovenia, mostly on tours in Croatia and Dalmatian coast. Wonderful memories of various recordings will remain in our hearts.
Open Kitchen
2013- We are the first signatories of the Open Kitchen! Our chicken and vegetarian wraps, Romali rotis as we call them, were an instant hit. The sale of packs at the Open Kitchen was also the inspiration for the opening of another smaller restaurant - Namasté Indian Express.
2016 -Opening of the Namasté Express restaurant
Namasté Indian Express has always been my father’s dream. Whenever we met either in Ljubljana or in India, he told me: "You must start offering South Indian food!" Idli and dosa are dishes made from white lentils and rice that do not contain gluten and lactose. Thus, the idea arose to open a smaller restaurant, Namasté Indian Express, in parallel with the idea of offering Indian wraps and other food on student vouchers throughout the year, all day long. I wished that Namasté Indian Express would not be a copy of the Namasté restaurant on Breg and that it would fit into the ambience of Trubarjeva ulica as much as possible. So I decided on a touch of Bollywood. I hung posters of my favorite movies on the walls of the restaurant, which my father and I loved watching together.
E-Food / Glovoo
At eHrana, they wrote that their story began 10 years ago. At the time, the three budding students had a good idea, an infinite amount of zeal and enthusiasm. The eFood community thus counts more than 270,000 users, 500 partner restaurants and 250 team members. We joined them in 2018 and stayed with them regardless of the fact that the owner has changed and it was bought by the Spanish start-up company Glovo.
Wolt
Wolt is a mobile and online application that impresses its users in 23 countries around the world with home delivery of food, groceries, beverages, bakery products and confectionery. Wolt is one of the most popular services also due to the fact that it delivers food to the desired address in less than 30 minutes. We signed a contract with Wolt in 2019.
The cuisine of northern India
Authentic Indian food
The cuisine of northern India - as opposed to the south - is based on meat and milder rather than hot spices. Sensual Indian lamb curry in a rich creamy cashew sauce with nutmeg is a typical representative of Mughal cuisine in northern India, where it is prepared for special occasions due to expensive ingredients, such as wedding feasts.
Meet the team
BECAUSE WE ARE STRONGER TOGETHER
Without a hardworking and positive team that has been standing together for many years, we would not have been able to create such a wonderful story.
Vesna Nisha
Her love for Indian food, and heritage derives from her Indian parents. With the successful leadership, Vesna Nisha has widly contributed to the culinary world of Ljubljana.
Manoj
Chef Manoj came to Ljubljana in 2009. Besides his professional culinary skills, he learned to speak Slovene well, which enabled him to chat with guests and other providers at the Open Kitchen.
Nives
Without Nives we would not have succeeded! With her supervision, the daily rutine at Namaste flows smoothly. Sometimes, it seems that she can read our minds.
Evelina
Evelina joined us 10 years ago, when she arrived in Ljublana from her hometown Vilna, Lithuania. Now she runs the entire staff and daily operations at Namaste Express.
Vinod
Looking for new experiances, Vindo joined our team just before the epidemic. He agrees, that a way to a persons heart is through food and he might just find love at any of the Open Kitchen events.
“The power of food is really spiritual.
It not only brings the whole family together on the same table, but also brings the whole world together.”
by Vikas Khanna
