Dining Scene
Lunch Break: Komala Curry spicy, not pricey

By Debra Yuen
TGIF Editor

Worker Lito Ignacio checks the entrees at Komala Curry House, where plate lunches are hefty and spiced just right. The offerings vary daily but the amount of food is generously portioned. Cory Lum • The Honolulu Advertiser

At Komala Curry House, all those factors come into tasty play.

Vegetarian entrees are mild or spicy, from potato peas curry to spinach dahl and other dishes featuring lentils or squash or eggplant or sweet potato. Among the offerings for non-vegetarians are chicken masala (spicy, cooked in a tomato gravy sauce), pepper chicken (spicy, cooked with black pepper — and tender and truly packing some heat, according to one taster), shrimp curry (mild or spicy, tiger shrimp in a tomato sauce) and fish kolambu (spicy, mahimahi in a south Indian sauce).

The offerings vary daily, but at least two chicken dishes are available ($5.75 for a plate that includes lemon-flavored rice and one veggie choice), along with a shrimp entree ($6.25), fish ($6.50) and vegetarian ($4.75, includes rice and a total of two veggie choices) options.

The plate lunches are very generously portioned; a mild selection of a veggie medley and spinach dahl on that wonderful rice was hefty but delicious and inevitably consumed in its entirety: OK, I ate the whole thing!

Mini plates are priced from $3.75 to $5.50.

Komala Curry House is at 1111 Bishop St., on the street level among a row of small eateries. There are tables and chairs to accommodate about a dozen diners. Hours: 10:30 a.m.-2:30 p.m. weekdays.

There's another one at 700 Bishop St. (Amfac Center), open at the same hours. 523-9900.