Nirlep’s lunch buffet is back in Charleston, South Carolina, after a renovation that was supposed to take about seven months became a nearly three-year absence. Welcome back, Nirlep! West Ashley lunches have had a significant void for 3 years too long! The Banga family reopened at 908 Savannah Highway on September 15, with a rebuilt restaurant and a $19.99 all-you-can-eat lunch.
For regulars who watched the old building disappear and wondered whether their naan would ever come back, there is now a fairly useful answer: lunch runs Tuesday through Sunday, 11:30 a.m. to 3 p.m.
Balvinder and Dilawar Banga opened Nirlep in 2002, bringing recipes from their native Punjab to West Ashley. They closed at the end of 2023 to address an aging building whose problems included plumbing and electrical work. The project grew into a demolition and rebuild at the same address.
September reopening coverage in The Post and Courier described a larger kitchen with two clay ovens, one for breads and another for chicken. The new space also has seating at a bar and a semi-private dining room for about 20 people. That is a considerable amount of construction behind the return of a familiar lunch plate.
Back to the buffet
The buffet changes, but an October 16 Charleston City Paper report describes butter or tandoori chicken among the usual offerings, alongside naan, rice and condiments. A recent lunch included vegetable jalfrezi, dal makhani and gulab jamun. The latter also found a companion in rice pudding, a combination the reporter enthusiastically endorsed.
The family’s cooking still anchors the wider menu. Balvinder continues making the vindaloo sauce herself, and the house chai comes with fresh ginger and cardamom. Goat dishes are a newer addition, including goat saag, goat aloo and goat roganjoshm; those are full-menu additions, rather than a promise about what will be on any particular day’s buffet.
The continuity matters here. A new building has arrived around a restaurant that has spent more than two decades feeding the same community. Nirlep’s official website still describes the business as family-owned and family-run, rebuilt on the ground where it began.
Lunch guests can also order à la carte. Dinner runs from 5 to 10 p.m. Tuesday through Sunday, and the restaurant is closed Mondays.
