Tandoori Corner

Good food, a little on the pricey side. Got the lamb curry which was good. Ate some sort of naan like bread with butter but tasted like greasy undercooked dough. Saag and chicken masala good. Samosa was excellent but you can fry anything and it will come out good. They didn’t have raita and were out of yogurt for the lassi.

When I get there I try to walk in but the door is locked. One of the owners was inside and came and opened the door to talk to me. I ask if they are open and I get the story that the other owner (and apparently the only other worker) was out today and he was running the place by himself. Long story short he explains that it will be an hour or two before he’ll be able to start serving people but it could possibly be as late as dinner time till he opens. OK, so I guess I won’t be eating there for lunch that day, so I ask if he has a take out menu so I can study it and know exactly what I want to try when I come back. I guess they made 100 copies and didn’t have the time to make more. Luckily he had a photocopy of a business card that had the website with a menu online.
Later that night I go online to peruse the website. I really like how the home page scrolls thru a few of their dishes. Its a pretty simple site, only offering their menu, contact and location. I pull up their menu and was a little disappointed that prices are no where to be found. Chicken Tikki Masala, my favorite dish, is listed right there. Also the Shrimp Coconut Korma also piqued my interest. Was a little disappointed with the vegetarian side dishes listed as none of them seemed traditional at all. Saag Paneer is more commonly found than the Saag Chana they offer, substituting the goat cheeze with garbanzo beans. Similarly I expected to see Aloo Gobi but instead found a Chana Gobi, again substituting with garbanzo beans and leaving out the cauliflower. I decided I’ll try what I’m assuming are the more Nepalese dishes.
I go back two days later and talk to the same owner as Tuesday. Again he tells me he is not ready yet as his partner is not there. He says he needs maybe 30 min to an hour. I’m pretty hungry and didn’t want to try coming back a third time to try this place, so I explain to him how I was just there and got the same excuse. He says that if I don’t mind him microwaving the food then he could make me something right away. He also said that the Chicken Vindaloo was pretty much ready. This is no chicken tikki masala, but since I like how spicy vindaloos are, it would be better than a microwaved entrée. He also mentions he has mutter masala that basically uses a chicken tikki masala sauce with peas and mushrooms instead of chicken. The instore menu was much different than the online menu (maybe 30−50% of items on the online menu substituted with different items) which made choosing what I wanted beforehand pointless. I choose a samosa for my 2^nd side since he can freshly fry it and will spare me from having two microwaved side dishes.
1 meat and 1 vegetable entrée is $ 9.99 ($ 11.95 for lamb) while 1 meat and 2 vegetable entrée plate is $ 11.95 ($ 14.25 for lamb). Plain nan adds $ 3, while garlic nan adds $ 3.65. Theres even an extra charge of $ 1.50 if you want the special indian spiced «fried» rice instead of the plain jasmine rice that comes with the plate. Likewise, you can substitute a nan for the rice for an additional $ 1.50. I am not new to indian resturants. I’ve been going to them for over a decade and have been hooked since my first indian lunch buffet in Seattle. Anytime I’m on the mainland, I seek out the indian resturants because Hawaii has a lack of them. That being said, I’ve been to all the indian resturants on Oahu and this one is quite expensive for the take out type platelunch style food they were offering (Korma Curry House on Bishop is much less). I politely inform the owner that while these prices might be expected for dinner, I would hardly spend $ 15 on a plate lunch style take out food when I can head to Makino Chaya for the same price and have all you can eat sushi and Japaneese food! He mentioned that they considered smaller portions for lunch to be able to afford to do it and also that indian spices were very expensive. Whatever, I figure I’m all in at this point and will avoid all the extras like having nan or the tastier rice. I really like my nan so am kinda disappointed to not be able to get it without going over the $ 15 mark.
I get my food and the vindaloo is mild. Quite disappointing. NO ONE orders a vindaloo and expects it mild. It is always one of the hottest dish on the menu. The korma was also so-​so. The best thing was definately the samosa. And it even came with mint chutney. The portion sizes were also very small. I thought the reason it was moderately expensive was because there would be a substantive amount of food. Thats why i love the $ 8 indian lunch buffets with 8 – 12 choices and fresh nan.
This place is fine if you don’t want to drive to town to have indian food, aren’t a connoisseur and don’t mind the price for what you get. Otherwise I’d avoid it, drive to town and get some made to order indian food at TajMahal or Maharani. Or if you’re in a rush, hit up Korma Curry House for similar plate lunch style place that has more food for less money.

Ooooh, Nepalese food! Images of myeself, the Yeti, the Dalai Lama and some bangle adorned Nepalese sitting down, smiling, and enjoying something that was rather delicious coursed through my mind as I wondered about the adventure me and my coworkers were taking seeking out this place (unfortunately not on a llama through the himalayas, but finding parking in the Waimalu center is a adventure in itself!)
The trek for Nepali cuisine began after reading about the establishment in the Star Advertiser. A bit more intriguing than a plate lunch, I decided to check it out (at the expense and anxiety of my coworkers). What was even more exciting than the restaurant being new was that I couldn’t pronounce or knew many of the items on their menu! The element of surprise really heightened the little expedition.
So we called in our order, but it turns out there’s only the owner and he was slammed. He said that our orders would take a while and we’d have to call in prior to see if the food was ready. So we did and no answer. Had our journey ended already?. 3 more calls ensued, to no reply. Determined o have Nepalese food, we went there anyways. Upon entering the restaurant was decked with «asian-​style» seating, a TV blaring indian pop and one sole worker. I can only imagine a flowing restaurant with only one person, the owner, trying to do everything. A recipe for disaster really. We chatted with the owner that said he did hire another hand, but will it be enough? He was very nice though.
So, to the spoils of our trials and tribulations. I ordered the Tandoori chicken, Saag Chana and Alam Tama Bodi. The chicken wasn’t as exotic as I’d have liked it to have been. It had nice color, but lacking in flavor. The Saag chana, a spincah and garbanzo bean curry, looked like a green mash. However, it had more flavor than the chicken. Maybe more salt, but it was pretty good nonetheless. The Alam Tama Bodi, bamboo shoots in a tomato sauce, was also ok. I didn’t see a hint of tomato sauce (red) but I suppose that’s the way it was supposed to look. Now I know the food didn’t sound exotic, more like regular Indian cuisine, wll that’s because the restaurant ran out of ingredients! My ideal of a grand dinner with the Yeti and Dalai Lama dashed until I encounter another Nepali restaurant (not likely in Hawaii) or go to Nepal.
The food was ok. Good, not exceptional or the cultural exploration you would have liked. How does a nepali restuarant have Acai bowls? The food looked as if many of the ingredients came from a can, so freshness and health comes to question. Having one person do al the work, good luck sustaining the restaurant. I bid thee good luck Tandoori Corner, but my travels for a good Nepali cuisine continues.

Okay, so here I am in high school speech class. My topic is food service, but I’m so gosh darn nervous about screwing up in front of everyone that I can’t think straight.
Decided to visit, what I thought would be, a hidden gem in a sea of Japanese establishments (well, isn’t that Hawai’i in general). Well, you get my point. An Indian/​Nepalese establishment in Aiea isn’t exactly dime-​a-​dozen.
Glanced at their menu and noticed 5 items «Sold Out». Time at the tone will be is 7 o’clock, pm. Red flag?
Got acquainted with the different prices per main dish depending on one or two sides. We ordered the only two main dishes available: Chicken Tikka Marsala with two sides of Saag Paneer (or spinach & cheese) and Mixed Vegetable Curry; & my main dish (daily special) of Lamb Vindaloo with one side of potato pea samosa.
Most of the dishes had nice flavor, but lacked that added something to take it to the next level. The portions were ridiculously small considering the almost $ 12 – 15 per dish. My mint chutney came in a usual take out dip container that was not even half way full. Savor every drop, baby! The amount of protein in our dishes was pathetic. Probably due to the fact that they probably didn’t have enough of it in the first place. My lamb had two half inch pieces and no cheese could be found in the Saag Paneer. The basmati rice was overcooked, tasteless and crunchy.
Back to the high school speech class. The staff were definitely nervous, unprepared, deers in headlights. It took 2 minutes to acknowledge us as we stood there waiting under the «Order Here» sign. Water took an additional 10 minutes to arrive after ordering. We overhead one of the workers mention that since the Star Advertiser article, they were swamped. And boy did it show.
Much work needs to be done here. We kept thinking we should have made the trip to Himalayan Kitchen. Thing is, many Aieans (okay, bear with me as I invent my own terminology) have never experienced Indian, let alone Nepalese food before. I think people will get the wrong idea.
I wish them the best in ironing out the edges (or maybe getting new edges altogether) and concentrating on delineating specific tasks to the limited staff, tweaking par levels (don’t sell it if it wasn’t as good as the first serving), increasing serving sizes appropriate to price and swearing off Styrofoam and plastics for biocompostable products:
Interested to see how they improve in, say, 6 months.

This place is awesome. Newly opened and owner run. The prices are pretty decent. The samosas are ono!!! My children had the smoothies and they are pretty good too. Some of the dishes are pretty saucy, but otherwise good.

After a fairly long day of shopping, we were heading to eat a local fave – saimin and fries at Shiro’s at the Waimalu Shopping Center.
Lo and behold as we entered the parking lot my eyeballs spotted a make-​shift paper sign that said INDIAN FOOD. I thought I died and went to heaven!
In my wildest dreams I never thought I’d come across an Indian restaurant on the West side of the island. I about resigned myself to eating at mostly chinese, fast food or even American cuisine-​based restaurants so imagine my surprise when my eyes zoomed immediately in on the sign.
My hubby, bless his heart, was kind enough to let me try the restaurant although I know he had his heart set on the «Don Don Pa» saimin at Shiros. (I owe him big time!)
As I giddily walked towards the restaurant, we tentatively walked in (it was empty) and the co-​owner named Richard said they were open and to excuse the slightly messy tables as he just had a large Indian party come in, dine and just finish their meals.
I stood at the counter and noticed on the menu many of my favorites, including Saag Aloo, Naan bread and samosas.
Several of the items were sold out due in part to the large party earlier so we ordered what was available. I was bummed but oh well, I still was able to order a few of my faves.
For my hubby, tikka masala with rice and a samosa. I had saag aloo with rice, samosa and Nepali dal (yellow lentils).
The service was quick, fast and delicious! Albeit my hubby’s order was a bit skimpy and I teased him that his tikka marsala actually translated into «little» chicken! :)
I agreed that there could’ve been more on his plate. However, mine was quite filling and had just enough spice.
Richard, the co-​owner, was generous enough to offer some samples – I tasted their Vegan Katmandu chili – complete with a spicy flavoring and green bell peppers. Yummy!
We also sampled the Mango smoothie which was creamy, cold and perfect for today’s summer heat!
All the while we dined, they had Bollywood music videos playing on a large screened television – LOVE IT!
We discovered that this is a sister restaurant to the Himalayan restaurant in Kaimuki, one of our faves.
I hope this restaurant lasts so I have a nice alternative to our dining out meals. Thanks honey for letting me enjoy a taste of India today!