Simple and sophisticated Indian food
Friday - June 01, 2007
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Lani Kai owners Esther and James Choudhary
The culinary gods have smiled kindly in recent months.After years of pining for my favorite food - fragrant, subtly spiced Indian dishes - not one, but two Indian restaurants have opened in Honolulu. But don’t expect to find the same experience at both places. One offers homestyle cooking in a former Japanese bar, with a late-night menu and flat screen TVs. The other offers sophisticated, multi-layered dishes in a warm, neighborhood bistro-style setting.
Lani Kai Bar and Grill
The buffet lunch at Lani Kai showcases the kind of food owner James Choudhary grew up eating.
“One of the reasons I wanted to open this restaurant is that over the years, so many people have told us how much they enjoy my mom’s cooking.”
Step into Lani Kai’s kitchen and you’ll find Esther Choudhary at work preparing a buffet that features up to 10 different dishes. Esther was born in Pakistan, and while she’s flattered that people like her food so much, she’s also anxious to point out that this is truly home cooking - and not anything fancy.
“This is exactly the food that you’d get if you came to our house for dinner,” she says of the chicken curry, lamb curry and simple vegetable side dishes.“We feature lots of sauces because we use rice in our cooking, so we don’t want any of the other dishes to be too dry.”
It’s no coincidence that James’ favorite food is a loco moco.
“To tell you the truth, I’m kind of addicted,” he says of the ubiquitous rice, gravy, meat combination, and he admits to being able to eat more than one plate at a sitting. In fact he sees his love of local food as the beginning of a new dish - an Indian loco moco.“I’ve always wanted to do that,” says the Honolulu-born James. If you’re a fan of plate lunches, like spicy foods and love to pile it on, you’ll love Lani Kai’s lunch buffet with its chicken, lamb, rice, lentils, veggies, bread and desserts. And vegetarians know that Indian food has long been high on the list of desirable meatless meals.
Bombay owner Ashwani Ahuja
You’ll find the buffet at Lani Kai served Monday through Saturday from 11 a.m. to 3 p.m. It’s $12.95 (look for coupons and fliers offering 20 percent off). Children under 6 eat free.
Lani Kai Bar And Grill
1631 Kapiolani Blvd.
(Across from the Pan Am Building)
Free parking
Bombay Indian Restaurant
If your only taste of Indian food has been in Hawaii, then Bombay will completely alter your thinking about the levels that this fine cuisine can reach. Bombay is a stylish, interesting, sophisticated restaurant, with a menu to match.
Owner Ashwani Ahuja has been in the restaurant business for 30 years, leaving a successful restaurant in Washington to come to Honolulu. But he noticed something missing on the local food scene when he came to Hawaii on vacation. He hoped, when he opened Bombay late last year, that his approach to Indian flavors would win over new diners.Where you’ll see an obvious difference between the two restaurants is in the levels of spice. At Lani Kai, there’s heat in almost every dish, but at Bombay, most dishes are mild, with layers of spices built on top of one another. You can easily ask them to step up the heat. Food from Northern India is traditionally mild enough to allow the flavors of each spice to be noticed, and many of the dishes rely on marinades and a blend of spices that include cumin, coriander, turmeric, ginger and garlic to flavor each dish. It’s beautifully fragrant food - and Bombay’s is as fine an example as you’ll find.
If you’re going for the first time, try the fabulous Chicken Tikka Masala - one of the most popular dishes in the world. With layers of rich tomato/yogurt sauce and gentle flavors of cumin, coriander, ginger detectable, it’s a perfect introduction to world of palate-changing Indian food. There’s an eggplant dish that’s done as well at Bombay as anyplace I’ve ever eaten - Baingan Bhartha - and any of the tandori specials are sure to please. Make sure to try a selection of side dishes like raita, chutney and the mouth-puckering lime pickle, along with naan breads or Bombay’s version of an Indian focaccia bread - everything on the menu brings another level of complexity to the table.
Bombay Discovery Bay Center 1778 Ala Moana Blvd. 942-3990 Free validated parking at Discovery Bay
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