Salaam Namaste is one of the few three-star ESRs that serves Indian cuisine. Head Chef Kandal Devi Prashad said, “We are happy to adjust the dishes according to customers’ preferences and health requirements, such as changing the ingredients or reducing the amount of oil, salt and sugar used.” It is these thoughtful arrangements that attracted many Hong Kong people to patronise Salaam Namaste and enabled the restaurant to successfully retain its customers.

Natural and Low-Fat Ingredients for Better Health

Many “More Fruit and Vegetables” dishes from Salaam Namaste are traditional Indian dishes. Among them, “Saag Paneer” (spinach braised with Indian cheese) is a lacto-vegetarian dish. It is prepared by first boiling a large amount of spinach in hot water and stirring into a paste. Then, an Indian cheese that is lower in calorie and various spices are added for seasoning. Finally, it is stir-fried until it is hot. These simple ingredients are combined wisely to prepare a light meal that is rich in taste. It changed the public’s common belief that vegetarian dishes are bland and tasteless.

“Tandoori Fish Pomfret” (Indian-style charcoal-grilled pomfret) is one of the signature dishes of Salaam Namaste. The marinade of the pomfret includes a variety of traditional and natural Indian spices, lower-fat yoghurt and a little cooking oil. Devi deliberately added lower-fat yoghurt to the marinade to make the fish more tender. Fish is rich in protein and contains less total fat and saturated fat than other meats. Coupled with the low-fat cooking method of charcoal grilling, this dish becomes a “3 Less” dish of Salaam Namaste.