India Cafe, India House and Maharani

Well, it's been a long time since I blogged. Too many life un-changing events have been going on lately to leave space for serious reviewing.

I know of four Indian restaurants in Honolulu, of which three are in the title of this post and the fourth is Zaffron which I haven't been to. However, recently I attended an event catered by Zaffron, and the dishes consisted of mutton curry, chicken curry and some veggies. It was all well below average, and the mutton was bad enough that as far as I am concerned, the zaffron story endeth here. Update 9/18/06: Been to Zaffron. It is buffet-only with average dishes and $20 for that. Pointless.

I'll admit right away that in my opinion Maharani is the best of the three. Then comes India House and regrettably India Cafe brings up the rear. Update 10/1/06: with the addition of the on-campus take-out place, and further visits, I say now that India Cafe is better than India House.

I was rather impressed with India Cafe the first time I went there. They have a very interesting menu of a Malay (?) and/or other south-east asian fusion with Indian food, which I have never seen on the mainland. It's not everyday that you get served dosas with chicken or lamb curry! However, two visits later things began to go downhill. I ordered a fish curry which was basically an under-cooked ahi soaked in creamy mallu-style coconut gravy. The damned thing was downright unhappy floating in there, and gave off an offensive odor. It led to stomach upheavals the next morning that are best not written about. A fellow diner of japanese-hawaiian descent (but with south-asian leanings) wasn't too happy with her fish serving either. Worse, the next time I went there, the lamb curry had also touched rock-bottom. Very chunky, undercooked, and you could chew it halfway to the moon. I'd say the only remaining bright star on their menu is the eggplant masala which is very spicy and very good. In closing, I have to say that I'm not very enthusiastic about their service: Me or fellow diners have had to go up to their little ordering window way too many times for minor things like water or dessert.

Moving on to Maharani, I'd say in the grand scheme of things it is merely an average Indian restaurant. But they do maintain standards and have some pretty elaborate dishes. Also, the abyss of inconsistency at India Cafe makes the star of Maharani appear even more luminous. The word Maharani means "Queen" btw.

I've been most impressed by the Shrimp DoPiaza and the Malai Kofta. The shrimp is particularly impressive because it's not an easy thing to make in the Indian way. The Koftas are served in a creamy gravy which is really flavorful. You can enjoy these with some stunning naans or parathas such as kabuli naan which comes stuffed with raisins and nuts. There is another sort of naan (whose name I forget) which is thin, crisp and huge in size. Ask them to tell you about it using this description. Besides these I have had Shrimp Karahi (agreeable), Chicken Masala (good), Saag Paneer (very good) and other things I have forgotten in my post-gluttonous stupor. Oh, and it's BYOB so bring the wine and the corkscrew else they'll charge you $5 for it. Expect to pay about $15-20 per person for the meal.

Update 8/13/06: Had the tandoori chicken at Maharani. It was a bit too red, but tasted quite good! The price is reasonable too - one plate costing $16 consists of two enormous leg quarters, two naans and raita. Luckily there is some spice level, which sets this apart from the usual bland tandoori chicken at Indian restaurants in the US. Oh, one more thing. It seems these guys aren't Afghans, but Bangladeshis.

India House is a bit of a mystery. It's highly unpretentious, tucked in front of puck's alley. The service there is very good - the guy in charge really makes an effort to bring you your water and other stuff on time. Lest the reader wonder, water is critical for me at Indian restaurants because my stomach is no longer the bullet-proof machine it was. The years of bland american food have taken their toll. (Just call me Mr. Pink...)

I have had only two dishes at IH, butter chicken and paneer pakora. The former is the delight of North India. You cannot throw a rock in Delhi without hitting a big ass Punjabi wolfing down this preparation with shouts of "Oye mundu ek aur plate la na jaldi!!". This one doesn't quite have the tandoori bbq flavor it's supposed to have but it is still quite good. The naans here are different, more rough and ready. Not the processed exquisiteness of Maharani, but perhaps more real. Paneer Pakoras were absolutely delicious both times I went there. So, IH is the underdog in this group and might dethrone Maharani if lots of work is put in.

Update 6/17/06: India House is going down the tube as well. Apparently for the non-butter chicken curries they use Japanese curry powder which really sucks in Indian food. Besides this I ordered chicken biryani from them recently and it was really weird. The rice wasn't even basmati, some kind of mexican sticky rice if there is such a thing.

Verdict: Honolulu isn't the place to come for Indian food but if you are here, there is one decent option viz. Maharani on King Street.