Indian restaurant upstairs near Dongmyo Station, decor-filled: Namaste

I never expected to find a restaurant like this in Dongmyo. Just climbing to the second floor of an old building and the whole atmosphere completely changed. And it turns out this is an Indian-Nepali curry spot that's made the Blue Ribbon guide nine years running.

An Indian curry spot in Dongmyo?

When you think of eating in Dongmyo, you usually think of dakhanmari (whole chicken stew), gopchang (grilled intestines), or old-school diners. But right in the middle of a Dongmyo alley there's a pretty old Indian-Nepali restaurant — one that's made the Blue Ribbon guide nine years running, from 2018 to 2026. It's called Namaste Dongmyo Branch.

Honestly, at first even I found it a bit unexpected. Indian curry in Dongmyo? But once inside, it wasn't just the food — the space itself turned out to be way more interesting than I expected. I was just browsing around Dongmyo, went up to the second floor of a building, and suddenly the atmosphere completely shifted, like walking into an old restaurant somewhere on a trip abroad.

Location / hours / parking

• Namaste Dongmyo Branch
• 18 Jibong-ro, Jongno-gu, Seoul, South Korea, 2nd floor
• About 1 minute on foot from Exit 5 of Dongmyo Station
• Hours: 11:00 – 22:00

The location is really good. You get there right after coming out of Dongmyo Station, so it's an easy route for eating after browsing the Dongmyo flea market or the vintage shops. The Changsin-dong stationery and toy street, famous these days as a mallang (squishy toy) hotspot, is also nearby, so it's great to visit with a friend or partner! Just note that the shop is on the second floor, so first-timers should keep an eye out for the sign before heading up.

What about parking?

Parking info online varies a bit, so if you're planning to drive, I'd recommend checking with the restaurant beforehand. Personally, Dongmyo itself gets pretty busy with cars and narrow alleys on weekends, so the subway seemed like the easiest option if you can manage it. It's so close to Dongmyo Station that you don't really need to bring a car anyway.

The moment you walk in, the Dongmyo vibe disappears completely

Honestly, what stuck with me as much as the food at Namaste was the atmosphere of the place. From outside it just looks like an ordinary Dongmyo building, but once you climb the stairs and open the door, the mood changes completely. It's nothing like the clean, white-toned Indian restaurants you see a lot of these days.

Wooden decorations and carvings, Indian and Nepali-style paintings and objects, traditional patterns — they're everywhere in the space. And it doesn't feel like a forced 'Indian concept' — it feels more like a place where time and objects have piled up over years of actually running a restaurant.

There are some worn traces, plenty of decorations, and by current standards, some parts that feel a bit rough. But honestly, I liked that. It has a particular atmosphere that's hard for newly opened restaurants to pull off. There's something oddly fitting about finding a space like this inside one of Dongmyo's old buildings — like you're wandering through vintage shops, open one door, and suddenly you're in a restaurant you'd stumble into while traveling in India or Nepal.

The interior was also bigger than I expected from outside. The tables weren't cramped and there were plenty of seats, so it looked good for couples and also fine for groups ordering a variety of dishes.

Blue Ribbon guide, nine years running

Search for Namaste and the Blue Ribbon naturally catches your eye. It's been on the guide nine years running, from 2018 to 2026. Not just once or twice but consistently for years — that built up my expectations before visiting.

Of course, being on the Blue Ribbon guide doesn't mean it suits everyone's taste, but running the same spot for that long while being evaluated year after year definitely says something. So if you're looking for Dongmyo Blue Ribbon restaurants, this one's worth checking out.

But once you actually visit, it's completely different from the fancy restaurant image the phrase 'Blue Ribbon restaurant' might bring to mind. It's more like a comfortable, long-running Indian-Nepali diner. I actually liked that better.

We ordered the ₩50,000 couple's set

The menu has a surprisingly wide range — curries, tandoori, biryani, samosas, and more.

For first-timers, it can be a bit hard to decide what to order, so we just went with the couple's set. Price: ₩50,000. It comes with:

• Samosa, 2pcs
• Chicken tikka, 4pcs
• Shrimp chili
• Chicken makhani
• Vegetable curry
• Plain rice
• Garlic naan

That's what you get. It's a great lineup for two people trying the place for the first time haha. It's not just curry and naan — you get samosas, chicken, shrimp, two kinds of curry, plus rice and naan all in one go. If you find it a hassle to search up every menu item at a new Indian restaurant, the couple's set makes things easy. And once the dishes start landing on the table one by one, it's surprisingly generous, which makes for fun photos too.

First up, the samosa

Easiest way to think of samosa is Indian-style fried dumplings. Inside the crispy fried shell is potato, peas, and spices — crisp outside, fluffy inside. There's some spice flavor, but it's not something that hits you hard right away, so it worked well as a no-pressure appetizer. Perfect to pick at before the curry arrives. And since it's one per person, it disappears in no time.

Chicken tikka brought the real spice flavor

Chicken tikka has presence just from looks alone. The reddish chicken is properly infused with spice aroma, and being grilled meat rather than something sitting in a sauce, the direction of flavor is clearly different from the curries. It's less about heat and more about spice and char hitting you first.

If you eat curry after curry, the flavors can start to blend together a bit, but bringing in the chicken tikka midway changes the mood entirely. Having a grilled meat dish in between the soft, creamy curries made the whole spread far less monotonous.

The shrimp chili you keep reaching for, surprisingly

When I first saw the set list, the shrimp chili was honestly a bit unexpected. Shrimp chili in an Indian restaurant's couple's set? But eating it alongside everything else, I got why it was there. Keep eating curry and naan and the creaminess and spices build up in your mouth — the shrimp chili cuts through that with its sweet-and-sour punch each time. So it had way more presence in practice than it did on paper. And it's genuinely delicious!! Crispy outside, tender inside, exactly that.

And the main event is definitely chicken makhani

Personally, the dish I reached for first in the set was the chicken makhani. Just from the color, it's exactly the classic Indian butter curry look you picture.

Soft, creamy, a touch sweet, and the spice never feels aggressive. It seemed like the easiest dish for people trying Indian food for the first time. And tearing off a piece of garlic naan and dunking it in really works — the naan comes up loaded with sauce, and with the savory butter and cream flavor plus the garlic naan aroma, you just keep going back for more.

Honestly, I think half the reason people come for Indian curry is this combo. There's not much need to explain the moment you tear off warm naan and dunk it deep into rich curry.

Vegetable curry is a completely different flavor again

With two curries on the table, I worried the flavors might overlap, but they didn't. If chicken makhani is soft, rich, and creamy, the vegetable curry is lighter and cleaner. Almost like a concentrated version of Japanese-style soup curry.

So we mostly dunked garlic naan into the chicken makhani and paired the vegetable curry with rice. Switching between the two, we never got tired of it by the end. There was clearly a reason for having two curries on the menu.

Naan and rice, both

When I go for Indian curry, I usually just eat naan. But here the set comes with plain rice too. At first I wondered if rice was even necessary with naan already there, but once you actually eat, the two play different roles. Garlic naan works great for dunking into the rich chicken makhani, while the rice paired better with the vegetable curry. Alternate a bite of naan with a bite of rice and you fill up faster than expected.

Plenty for two to share

True to its name, the couple's set had more than enough for two. Starting with samosa, then chicken tikka and shrimp chili, then two curries plus rice and naan — by the end it's far more filling than it looks when the dishes first land on the table. If you like tasting a bit of everything rather than filling up on one dish, this set fits really well. If it's your first time at Namaste like it was for us, going with the couple's set rather than agonizing over individual dishes isn't a bad move.

But honestly, it's the atmosphere I'll remember more than the food

Namaste isn't a place I'll remember for curry flavor alone. Outside it's clearly Dongmyo, but climb the stairs and a completely different mood kicks in. Tearing garlic naan by hand and dunking it in curry in a restaurant packed with old decor and objects, it feels like a brief trip somewhere else.

Given that Dongmyo itself is a neighborhood built around browsing vintage and old things, Namaste's atmosphere fit right in. Browse the Dongmyo flea market, wander a few vintage shops, then finish here with curry haha. Seoul has plenty of newly opened, pretty restaurants these days, but places with this kind of atmosphere built up over years are actually harder to find! That's why this place stuck with me more.

Overall thoughts

If you're looking for something a bit different from the usual Dongmyo meal, I'd recommend this place!! Especially if you're:

• Looking for good curry in Dongmyo
• Looking for a Blue Ribbon restaurant in Dongmyo
• Two people who want to try a variety of dishes together

then this should suit you well! The nine straight years on the Blue Ribbon guide is interesting, but personally what I found more fun was that a place like this — this kind of old Indian-Nepali restaurant with this atmosphere — is tucked away right in the middle of Dongmyo haha. You'd never guess it from outside, but once you open the door, the space, the aroma, and the food all shift completely. If you're browsing mallang toys or vintage shops in Dongmyo and want a quick taste of travel, it's worth a stop.

Namaste Dongmyo Branch in one line: climb one flight of stairs in Dongmyo and suddenly you're on a trip through India and Nepal.