India Café transports taste buds to faraway lands

By Helen Wu
Advertiser Restaurant Critic

From left, Dale Oliva of Manoa and Jill Friedman of Nu'uanu share a table in the subtly decorated interior of India Café. Photos by Rebecca Breyer • The Honolulu Advertiser India Café Kilohana Square 2851-1 Kihei Place, off Kapahulu Ave. 737-4600; indiacafehawaii.com Closed Wednesdays Lunch, 11 a.m.-2 p.m.; dinner, 5-9 p.m. BYOB; no corkage fee

Instead of hopping on the next plane, you can experience South Indian Malaysian cuisine by visiting India Café in Kilohana Square. The Segaran family has owned and operated this small eatery for 3à years, basing the menu on their grandmother's recipes.

It has evolved from a bare-bones, eclectic interior, undergoing an almost designer-decorator-like transformation to become a more refined and comfortable place. Earthy tans and simple Indian decorations provide a warm and inviting setting. Yet through the changes, India Café has remained an unpretentious, easygoing restaurant with a friendly staff.

South Indian cooking features rice and hot spice, and is also known for its vegetarian dishes. Two Indian friends explained that the heat element in Indian food is characterized by its depth. It is not comparable to what's found in Mexican food, for example, which mainly uses chili peppers to elicit that need to grab the closest cold drink. Instead, various hot spices such as ginger, cinnamon and mustard seeds produce different nuances of heat.

At dinner, our appetizers began with a mild entry into the spice zone. India Café's version of samosas, deep-fried turnovers filled with curried potatoes ($3.95 for two), is a pleasant change from the triangular ones found at most Indian eateries. Round, with chewier dough and a crunchier exterior, they came hot out of the fryer, served with Thai sweet chili sauce. The dish would be more enjoyable if the sauce were served on the side instead of underneath the samosas — the samosas wouldn't get soggy, and diners could determine the amount of sauce they want.

Idlis — steamed, fermented rice and lentil dumplings ($4.50 for four) — are served with sides of coconut chutney and a choice of chicken curry or vegetable sambar (a thin, yellow split-pea stew with mixed vegetables). The white, cloud-like idlis with their spongy texture soak up the savory gravies very well. Spicy coconut chutney is not the tart, sweet stuff that resembles a chunky preserve but rather sautÚed grated coconut, garlic and chilies — a condiment that packs some heat.

Nasi lemak ($7), a common Malaysian rice dish, made here with jasmine rice, coconut milk and fragrant spices, is a sufficient starch for the kitchen's assorted curries. The bread plates are infinitely more exciting. Dosai ($2.25), a thin, pancake-like bread made of fermented, stone-ground rice and lentils, has a slight crispness and works like a tortilla. Roti paratha ($1.50 each), made of wheat flour and also pancake-flat, is thicker, doughier and more suitable for sopping up curry sauces.

Lamb, chicken and shrimp curries are on the menu, but these are outnumbered by vegetarian selections. The lengthy menu is a little difficult to navigate: Meat and vegetarian entrees are interspersed, and descriptions are repetitive and overlap.

Dinner is served in two ways — family style or combination plates. Family style, Ã la carte dishes come in half orders, appropriate for two to three; full orders are for four to six people, and none of the dishes are priced higher than $16. But combination plates averaging $9 are the best alternative if you want to try a wide assortment for less money. Lunch prices are very reasonable, with the most expensive plate costing only $7.50.

India Café owner Jiva Segaran works on a dish of masala dosai, sort of an Indian burrito filled with spiced meat or vegetables.

Heed the menu's advice cautioning customers about the spicy heat factor and let your server know your tolerance level. The spicy eggplant ($4 for half order, $8 for full), their hottest dish, blazes like the fire you encounter in some Thai cooking. In general, be prepared to sweat a little.

Service can be inconsistent sometimes, especially when it's busy. For example, our table ordered Malaysian energy tea and milk coffee ($2.50 hot, $3.25 cold) to start, but they arrived as we were well into our appetizers. They were yummy, however. Both are mixed with condensed milk, with the liquid "pulled," or poured back and forth between two containers until a slight froth is formed and the beverage cools to just the right temperature for drinking.

The affordable prices at India Cafe surely beat the cost of a plane ticket. I felt transported to another land, and my Indian friends, too, felt a little closer to home.

Reach Helen Wu at taste@honoluluadvertiser.com.