You may not expect it, but Hawaii has more than a handful of tasty Indian restaurants offering a variety of homemade dishes. With transplants from Fiji, Nepal, and India, diners can expect to find varied cuisines served in atmospheres ranging from fast casual food courts to ashram-style retreat buffets. Whether you’re seeking a hearty butter chicken with rice for dinner or a fast, healthy papaya curry for lunch, these restaurants will hit the spot.
ISKCON is a complete spiritual retreat that focuses on wellness through yoga, religious practices, suites, meditation, and a lunch buffet. Anyone can visit ISKON Hawaii to enjoy a vegetarian and vegan lunch buffet from Govinda’s on Monday through Saturday. The affordable buffet costs only a donation of $13 and the menu items change daily. Expect to enjoy a selection of freshly made healthy options such as papadams, dahl, and vegetable dishes. Main entrees might include nutloaf or two curry options. The meal ends with sweet halwa and a lemon, mint, ginger juice.
This small, local chain offers the widest selection of Indian food on the island. The delicious appetizers are definitely the perfect place to start a meal, with samosas, pakora, and three different types of soups available. An array of vegetarian dishes can be found on the menu including sweet potato masala, palak paneer, and aloo matar. Vegans are also catered to at Kamana Kitchen, with aloo gobi and yellow daal fry as two of the standout dishes. Carnivores will also find dishes incorporating lamb, chicken, and seafood. End your meal with a sweet gulab jamun or halwa.
Enjoy Nepali and Indian food at the Himalayan Kitchen, a restaurant that boasts friendly staff and tasty food. The menu features fresh naan to accompany an array of curry dishes. Cool your mouth down from the heat of the curry with a freshly made ice cold lassi. Come with friends and order a few dishes to share around the table, so you can taste all of the delicious flavors.
Monsoon India offers busy workers seeking a hearty midday meal a great value for money lunch special every Wednesday through Sunday. Lunch specials available include chole bature, poori bhaji, a vegetarian plate, and a chicken curry plate. These vegetarian and chicken curry plates come with rice and naan. For extra hungry eaters, a Sunday buffet is also available from 11:30 a.m. until 2 p.m. Outside of these special times, other menu items are available include papadum with chutneys, samosas, pakoras, soups, and several curry options.
Café des Amis is a unique restaurant that offers an extremely varied selection of dishes on their menu, with a particular focus on Italian, Indian, and French food. For those ordering Indian, start off with an appetizer of chutneys with pita bread and finish with a chicken or vegetable curry served with rice. For something a bit different, Café des Amis also serves curry wraps, which can be filled with a variety of curries and are served with chutney and a cucumber raita.