Bollywood Bliss

Having developed a taste for Indian cuisine, I was determined to find the best, most authentic Indian food on the island.  My quest brought me back to the University area, around Puck's Alley, and McCully, where you will find the greatest congregation of Indian places in town.   My hypothesis for this phenomenon is twofold.   Firstly, college students are usually the most adventurous eaters, just beginning to spread their wings and explore the world around them, and since the Beattles free love era, Indian food has been a favorite alternative cuisine.    Secondly, and probably more significantly, our biggest Indian population in the islands is probably comprised of the Indian foreign exchange students who come to UH and HPU, seeking a technical education and the prospect of a better life.   This population was most affected shortly after 9/11, when the government began restricting visas from Muslim countries, something that immediately affected UH and HPU considerably.  Luckily since that time, the Indian students have been returning and with them the demand for good Indian food.

Spice Display at Cafe Maharani

Although there are quite a number of Indian places in the University area, not all of them are good.   Indeed, it is in this area, that I had first tasted Indian food, and found the various forms of baby mush they served so unappealing, that I almost never tried Indian food again.  Luckily after experiencing the spices and textures of really good Indian food, I was compelled to seek out the authentic good stuff.   This search for spices, lead me to a tiny little place called Cafe Maharani.   Cafe Maharani is a very small little hole in he wall, next door to Down to Earth on King St.   Being so small, and being such a popular place with the University crowd, every time I've been there, there's been a considerable wait both for a table and for the service.   But the food there, is worth the wait (just be sure you're prepared for a nice leisurely 2 1/2 hour dinner).  While you're waiting, you can watch the insane, colorful, kooky Bollywood videos on their various TVs.  As a child of the '80s, and therefore a big Michael Jackson fan, I just can't help but be fascinated by the over the top choreography, and beautiful, exotic, bejeweled and veiled women in these outlandish musicals.  Their decor is filled with exotic wood carvings, ornate rugs, and intricate bronzeware.  Even their glasses are metal goblets, instead of glassware, something I really like, because the water somehow tastes colder and more refreshing coming from a chilled bronze goblet.  Some videos, pretty India decor, and good conversation pass the time as you wait for the intoxicating spices which compell you to stay.

Naan Bread at Cafe Maharani

The most essential component of any Indian meal is the bread.   We aren't talking about the many fluffy soft breads of the French Boulangiers, but several forms of unleaven bread that make pita bread seem like cheap fast food fare.   The Indians, have naan, chapati, roti, and several others each with their own textures.   Big huge rounds of naan, which are roughly the size of a small hand tossed pizza, are my favorite.   The I love the crisp texture and chewy interior of the naan bread, and the one at Cafe Maharani is better than almost any other I have ever tasted.   As per true Indian etiquette, this bread is big enough to tear off pieces, which you can use to pick up your food in lieu of utensils.

Roti Bread at Cafe Maharani

Roti bread is excellent as well.    The texture of this bread is a little tougher, a little less chewy, and has more of a whole wheat grain taste to it.  What really makes this bread nice though, is the garlic they bake into it, and the butter that they glaze it with.  It make it distinct from the naan, but just as delicious.

Saffron Rice at Cafe Maharani

Besides the bread, being in Hawaii we pretty much must eat rice, or it isn't a meal.   Since my Po Po's time, all other foods are basically meant to accompany rice, and not the other way around.  But the rice served at an Indian restaurant is not the soft white calrose rice that we're so used to.  Nor is it the sticky rice of Thai restaurants that shares kinship with Japanese mochi.   It is a lightly scented, lightly oiled, saffron rice, that is in of itself something different and intriguing to us locals.

Lamb Masala Curry at Cafe Maharani

The first dish that I must try whenever visiting any Indian restaurant is the lamb masala curry.   As I've mentioned before, it is the dish that really made me first love Indian food, during a midnight munchies run on the streets of London.   To me, it is the quintessential Indian dish, representative of everything that makes Indian food so enticing.  Although we call it a curry, curry powder is but one of the myriad of spices that comprise this heady melange.  Lamb masala is like a perfume, with different, distinct nodes that follow one another.   The top node, or first node, is a flash of black pepper and other spices that hit the tip of your tongue waking up the rest of your taste buds.  The second node, is that tender, savory, lamb flavor.  To some people, the gaminess is off putting, but to me the gamier the better.   If I'm eating lamb, I want it to taste like lamb, distinct from beef, and full of lamb flavor.   The bottom node, is the gravy that lingers and warms your tongue with the savory oils and fleeting spices.   Although the curry I had in London is a favorite that is forever etched in my memory, the one at Cafe Maharani is very similar, and easily as classic.  If you're in the mood for something even spicier, the vindaloo at Cafe Maharani makes the masala even seem bland in comparison.

Prawn Malai Korma at Cafe Maharani

Bringing kids with you to eat Indian food is somewhat daunting.   While the allure of the dozens of spices is irresistable to me, they are nearly overwhelming to a younger palate.   Of course, this always leads me into a discussion with my dad about what the little kids in India must eat, and if a spice preference (or tolerance) is really a matter of exposure and environment.   In any case, our server told us that the prawn malai korma is the most popular dish for younger guests at Cafe Maharani.  After tasting it, I can see why.   It is an incredibly mild, somewhat sweet, coconut milk based sauce that is almost the exact opposite of the intensely savory masala.   With the addition of a few sweet raisins, the dish is very kid friendly.   In fact, with the slight tomato taste, a few black olives, and the very mild Indian cheese (which is almost like cottage cheese in taste), it is almost reminiscent of a slight pizza flavor.  While that sounds disconcerting, it also explains the appeal to kids.

Vegetable Navrotten Korma at Cafe Maharani

The vegetable navrotten korma, may look similar to the prawn malai korma, but actually tastes quite different.   Here is the return of the dozens of spices, and in fact is a bit hotter than the masala itself.   But this korma brings with it the contrasting flavors of the sweet raisins and coconut, as well as all the contrasting textures of the mixed vegetables.  While I very much enjoy this dish, I prefer the aloo palak, which is a potatoes and spinach mixture reminiscent of creamed spinach or squid luau in texture.   However, while similar in consistency, the aloo palak lacks the fatty cream taste of a true creamed spinach like the one at Ruth's Chris', and replaces it with more spices.  Somehow the dark green of the spinach, better offsets all of these gravies and sauces.

Tandoori Chicken at Cafe Maharani

Probably the best dish at Cafe Maharani though, is their incredible tandoori chicken, baked in their authentic tandoor oven.   Now, in the past, I have really disliked tandoori chicken, because at the other places I've tried it, the chicken is remarkably dry and tough, and somewhat bland, indicitive of vast overcooking.  Just because it is bright red, does not make it flavorful, and being incredibly dry is just about the worst thing you can do to a chicken.   The tandoori chicken at Cafe Maharani changed all of that for me.   For the first time, I understood what tandoori chicken as all about.   Here was a whole chicken, which was juicy and tender, and almost reminiscent of a good huli huli chicken in texture.   But instead of the subtly sweet and smokey huli huli sauce, you've got a barrage of no-nonsense spices and slight lime kick.  As you tear into this chicken with your fingers, and wrap it with naan bread, you can't help but lick the spices and juices running down your fingers, feeling like a Sikh warrior, feasting before an elephant mounted charge up the Khyber Pass. 

Mango Lassi at Cafe Maharani

All of these spices can get a little overpowering, especially for my wife who really doesn't usually like a lot of spices in her food.   So whenever we go to Cafe Maharani, my wife frequently cools her tongue with the sweet cooling yogurt of an Indian lassi.   You can get them plain, or rose-water flavored, but being a local girl, the mango flavored lassi is definitely the way to go.  

Not since the sandworms of Planet Arrakis, has spice been as all encompassing and all enticing to me as at Cafe Maharani.  The spices there are both the mark of allure and authenticity.

Fijian Indian Food

To tell you the truth, I never really cared for Indian food when I was younger.   I ate it.   But I was never really fond of it.  First of all, I am famously not a fan of beans.    I don't like the starchy powdery texture that beans, legumes, and lentils all have.   Indian food, it seemed was just about all various forms of legumes and lentils.  When ordering a plate, I would have some rice, and maybe 4 different dishes, each of which seemed like a different color of baby food.   It all looked like mush to me, and didn't even have a nice creamy texture, but one of mashed beans.  Suffice it to say, I was not impressed.  It wasn't until I was much older that I found out what I was eating, was Indian fast food.   Very poor Indian fast food at that.  The real thing is totally different, and is a cuisine filled with different colors and textures, and dozens upon dozens of different spices.

The first time that I ever had really good Indian food, where I found myself really adoring Indian food, was one the epicenters of Indian cuisine.   London, England.    Wait, London, England?   Aren't the British notorious for bad food and the most unadventurous palates on the planet?   Well, yes, but for centuries, the British Empire had colonies that stretched around the globe (thus the phrase, "the sun never sets on the British Empire").   The crown jewel of the British influence in Asia, was of course India.  What people don't realize, is that although the British were there as a colonial power with their heal down on the Indians, there was a backwash of Indians that came to London.   A very big population in fact.   So it should be no surprise, that Indian food is done really well in London.

There I was in London, England, the first stop on a long European tour with my sister.  We were only spending one day in London, so not very much time to explore.   Naturally the tour serves us some really awful food.  It was an extremely bland and dry chicken.   It was so tasteless, that I feared for the food on the rest of the trip.   Unsatisfied and hungry later that night, I decided to sneak out of the hotel in search of some real food.   It was 11:00 PM, but the sun was just beginning to set.  So we were walking around in essentially late afternoon sun, and we came across a little Indian place.  Feeling curious we bought some and brought it back to our hotel.   It was simply amazing.  To begin with the bread was unlike any other unleaven bread I had ever had.   It was crispy on the outside, and the thin inside was chewy.  Much chewier and doughier than any pita bread I had ever eaten.  But the thing that I just adored was the lamb masala.  Spicy couldn't even begin to describe the number of different spices I could detect.   It was peppery.   It had so many distinct nodes of flavor.   The lamb itself was really tender, slightly gamey (with that distinctive lamb taste), and oh so delicious.   I didn't think I would ever taste Indian food like that again.  But I was wrong.

During a rather unpleasant stint I had in Seattle, when my Po Po was there for medical treatment, we decided to wander around the area near the University of Washington.   For me, walking around was more about clearing my head and dealing with my Po Po's illness, than it was about exploring and seeking new things, as is my usual modus operandi.  But we found our way into a little Indian restaurant, right outside of UW, and I found myself having a plate of that very lamb masala over jasmine rice.   Somehow the spices and the flavors put a little spring back in my step.   It wasn't at all what I would call comfort food.  But somehow, it was comforting enough, that I could refocus on supporting my Po Po.

When I got home, I was determined to find some place that I could enjoy Indian food here.   I would no longer stand for having lousy Indian mush passing itself on as real Indian food.   But at the same time, I really wasn't familiar enough with Indian cuisine that I could walk into any restaurant and know how to order the good stuff.   Unlike with Korean food, I didn't have Indian friends to take me to try their authentic favorites.   So I searched and experimented, and finally I found a place that made really good Indian food, accessible to everyone.  But the key was to go on a Friday or Saturday night, when they would offer an Indian food buffet.   The place was right on the edge between Chinatown and Downtown Honolulu, on the corner of King St. and Smith St., simply called Zaffron.

Lunch Buffet at Zaffron

The owners of Zaffron, are Indian, but they're not from India.  In fact, they're from Fiji.   Somehow, this didn't phase me, as one of my best Korean friends spent her childood in American Samoa, and I am a little Chinese boy from Hawaii.   The fact that people are away from their source countries, tends to make them cherish and celebrate their culture more.   Besides that, like Keo's did with Thai food, I was perfectly satisfied that the Indian flavors presented there, were based upon the family recipes of this particular Indian family (from Fiji).  But the moment I tasted their lamb masala curry, it brought me back to London, and to Seattle.   It wasn't exactly the same.   It was a little milder than the incredible melange of spices in London, but it was just as savory.   It was my favorite thing on their dinner buffet.    Recently, they have begun offering a full lunch buffet as well, in which the lamb masala does not appear.   But it does have a wide variety of other tasty things.

Naan Bread at Zaffron

To begin with, they offer you a piece of that wonderful naan bread that I remember from London.   It is crisp on the outside, and nice and chewy on the inside. It is the perfect for tearing off pieces and using them to pick up your food, no utensils required.

Lunch Buffet at Zaffron

They have quite a selection of vegetables.   Yes, they still have many of the lentils that I wasn't so enamoured with to begin with.  But they've also got leafier vegetables and things with more texture and crunch.  They have a very nice okra dish that has beautiful wheel shaped cross sections of okra.   My favorite is their cabbage, which like kalua pig and cabbage or corned beef and cabbage, retains the crunch of the cabbage while absorbing the savoriness of whatever it's cooked with.

Buffet Plate at Zaffron

They've got a good selection of curries.   Of course they've got a good chicken curry, but what always surprises me is their fish curry.   I've never really thought of Indian food as utilizing a lot of seafood.  Lamb, beef, and chicken, yes, but I never really associated seafood with Indian food.  To my surprise, the fish curry at Zaffron is one of the best things there.  Somehow the tenderness of the fish absorbs the oils and spices in a way that the other meat and foul do not.  The other big surprise is their egg curry.  The eggs taste almost like an omelette that my Po Po used to make.  Sort of an Indian variation on egg fu yung.   It kept me wanting more and more.

Plate of Seconds at Zaffron

Of course you must top off any Indian meal with a cup of chai tea.   Chai has become so popular now, you can pick up a cup from any Starbucks on the corner.  But the difference with getting it at Zaffron is the intensity of the spice mix.  It's a sweet, milky, cinnamony pleasure.   For some reason though, drinking chai always reminds me of Christmas.  It's probably the cinnamon, or the combination of sweet and milky.  But the precise spice mix used in good chai, always reminds me of holiday spices and the smell of baking desserts. 

Chai Tea at Zaffron

Buffets are usually not the best quality for food, since they sit there and get cold or overcook, and many places pass off quantity for quality.   At Zaffron, however, the buffet is a wonderful way to expose yourself to something new, to try new flavors and taste sensations, and explore a different culinary culture.  I can't attest that they're the most authentic Indian cuisine, but somehow you can taste the family, the ohana, in their recipes.