Namak Mandi

Namak Mandi is a restaurant that stays with you. The bubbling, smoking, flaming energy of this cash-only Pashtun restaurant in Tooting clings to your brain like the formative memory of a thrilling house party. The sound of crackling oil can bring you back to its sizzling chapli kebabs and the smell of smoke to its flame-torched woks of karahi. Its main space is 50% counter and 100% fervent energy. A meal here is an event that everyone wants in on.

photo credit: Aleksandra Boruch

photo credit: Aleksandra Boruch

photo credit: Aleksandra Boruch

photo credit: Aleksandra Boruch

Given the organised chaos that this restaurant exists in, it’s essential to approach Namak Mandi with a degree of strategy. Reservations are essential—it’s small and popular. Staff squeeze past tables balancing bowls of salads and swinging Afghan naans the size of pillowcases on hooks. Walk-ins, who hover around in a waiting room where the sole prescription is sizzling lamb patties, point to the menu above the takeaway counter, shout their order, and count cash all at once. 

photo credit: Aleksandra Boruch

photo credit: Aleksandra Boruch

photo credit: Aleksandra Boruch

photo credit: Aleksandra Boruch

photo credit: Aleksandra Boruch

If downstairs is an area for everyone, upstairs at Namak Mandi is strictly VIP. Reservations for their gargantuan pre-ordered lamb sajji are fulfilled in a handful of stark, white-lit, pillow-laden rooms, equipped with fans ramped up to typhoon mode. These gluttonous chambers are where mess and memories are made, sitting cross-legged and leaning into karahi sauces, piling plates and tearing into those billowing naans. Lamb sajji (be it a leg, a half, or an entire creature) arrives in a trough, the meat sitting on a nation’s supply of kabli pulao. It’s pink, tender, and best attacked with hands.

Restaurants that claim to be a unique dining experience are now 10-a-penny in London. But in Namak Mandi’s endearingly unphotogenic private dining rooms you’ll have a meal to talk about forever. Or, at least until the next time you want to devour a small animal. Even a takeaway, pawed at on the way before being unwrapped at home, is a cut above the rest. But with restaurants like Namak Mandi, you really have to be there.

Food Rundown

photo credit: Aleksandra Boruch

Peshawari Chapli Kebab

It should be mandatory for every meal at Namak Mandi to start with at least one chapli kebab. The deep-fried beef mince patties, aerodynamic enough to play catch with but so juicy and perfectly spiced that you can’t help tearing at them, are a complete and utter joy. One seems like a reasonable order in a small group, but two is the smart one.

photo credit: Aleksandra Boruch

Charsi Chicken Karahi

Served directly from a still smouldering wok, this gently seasoned tomato-based curry isn’t the kind of thing that’s going to weigh you down. The flavours of the tomato masala sauce—sweet tangs and hits of ginger—are light without being superficial and pairs perfectly with some of the fattier dishes.

photo credit: Jake Missing

Lamb Sajji

Not for the faint-hearted, nor for the easily full, the lamb sajji requires pre-ordering at least a day in advance. Choose between a leg, a half, or an entire lamb that’s been marinated in salt, cumin, yoghurt, and other seasonings before being slowly roasted until the meat collapses at the snapping of tongs. The platter is served on an enormous bed of kabli pulao with a scattering of cucumber and red onion on top. If you’re after a one-of-a-kind feeling feast, this is it.

photo credit: Aleksandra Boruch

Kabli Pulao

The Afghan national dish is gloriously represented here. It’s a pile of sweet and fragrant rice, infused with char masala and cumin, as well as slivers of soft carrot and raisins. It pairs irresistibly with the melt-in-your-mouth texture of slow-cooked lamb. Even without the meat, you can’t help but shovel it into your mouth.

photo credit: Aleksandra Boruch

Naan

These giant naans arrive hanging on hooks like targets waiting to be attacked. Denser and more bready than Indian varieties, an Afghan naan is a vehicle for all things scooped and saucy.