"Namaste Village Restaurant lives by a simple philosophy.

"Namaste means saluting the divinity within you, so as a business, we never serve food which we would not like to be served ourselves," says Namaste Village Co-founder and Director Vijay Jetani. 

Speaking to Nub News, the restaurant owner explains how through this philosophy he is able to serve authentic vegetarian and vegan Indian food to the Twickenham community. 

Despite now enjoying over five locations across the UK, Namaste Village started off as a small eatery in Norwich with just Vijay and his wife back in 2007. 

"We started serving the local community there with an eight seater cafe. Very, very informal but it served the community in a real sense. 

"We supported charities, we provided people meals to those who were in need and the concept grew, explains Vijay. 

Vijay Jetani (left) co-founded Namaste Village 17 years ago (credit: Cesar Medina).

He continues: "Then within two years we had to move to a 25 seater restaurant, a small cafe to restaurant. 

"So now we are heading into a restaurant style business and that became very popular so we upgraded that further to a marvellous building at the Old Methodist Church Hall on Queen's Road in Norwich.

"A 125 seater Indian vegetarian restaurant." 

Namaste Village at Old Methodist Church Hall, Queens Road, Norwich (credit: Namaste Village).

Humbly, Vijay says that Namaste's growth "is dedicated to the people and the customers who have supported our journey." 

Vijay nor his wife studied hospitality but know how to make good food and "look after people." 

Namaste Village's journey has brought the family run restaurant to Twickenham where after a wander around town, Vijay felt there was not enough "quality" Indian or vegetarian offering for residents. 

The restaurant co-founder says: "So I visited this beautiful town for a rugby match and when I was wandering around in the street, I realised that there is Indian food available in Twickenham, but the quality I wasn't personally satisfied with. 

"So what we are presenting is not just another restaurant, it's not just another Indian restaurant, we are presenting Indian vegan and vegetarian food, which is very unique and very different to what else is done by other restaurants." 

Namaste Village serves a variety of Indian dishes from all over the country including dosa and sambar to butter masala and biryani (credti: Cesar Medina).

Namaste's Village's food is so delicious in fact, that in 2023 it won the English Curry Awards with some of its popular dishes including plant-based chicken butter masala curry, masala dosa and cripsy spinach chaat to name a few. 

However, not only is the food at Namaste full of flavours, but also nutritious – crucial to the ethos of the food it serves. 

"Vegetarian food and especially Indian vegetarian food is very good for you," believes Vijay. 

"It contains lot of important spices, a lot of key nutrition which are needed for our daily life such as turmeric, cumin, coriander and in a moderate amount, red chilli powder as well. 

"You will never miss out on meat like flavours and it's all about good flavours. This is what we produce at Namaste Village." 

Namaste Village began in a small cafe in Norwich but now has multiple locations across the country (credit: Cesar Medina).

Understanding that some customers may be facing financial difficulties, Namaste has options for those on a budget or simply those that cannot afford a hot meal. 

Vijay says: "Our lunchtime meals are so good. They are prepared freshly and they are very nutritious and they are under £10. 

"Also, we would like to invite members of the community if they don't have access to hot meal, please come and ask our Twickenham staff and I'm sure they'll be able to help as well." 

Adding: "Anybody in the town, if they're hungry, they're assured a meal at Namaste Village." 

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