New Indian restaurant?

[punafish]

Ha ha, that's a great article, thanks for sharing Tom!

[Carey]

Tom, had to smile, we have spent some time in the homeland (grandpa was a dual national...)and I am always amazed how the smallest little village can have a decent curry shop!

Punafish, we also are Chitown bred & you can get some awfully decent Indian faire ... DH's college study partner was from Punjab & we had many good meals along Clark, 58th St & down Devon to the western burbs (along with at his house!)

[Ino]

Don't forget your 10% off Kama'aina discount good until 3-31-15. Please see the front page of Herald Tribune's Tues. Jan.6th edition for more details.

[punafish]

Carey, I grew up on the North side near Clark and Peterson. From the early 90s we were in the Hoffman Estates/Palatine/Schaumburg area. So many great Indian restaurants, and most of them offered an all-you-can-eat lunch buffet at the time for about $8.00 (that included nan and tandoori chicken).

So happy Kamana Kitchen came to Hilo. We really want them to succeed...for purely selfish reasons.

[jackson]

Don't get me wrong. I'm happy they are here and I want them to be as good as possible for my own benefit. I'm sorry, but this is very mediocre Indian food. The food is under seasoned and seems to be cooked without real feeling for the cuisine. A great way to judge an Indian restaurant is by the quality and care of their rice. It should be special on it's own and not an afterthought. Still the best Indian in Hilo.

[Carey]

We were there the first day, and the rice was good, tasted with hints of star anise & clove (though not totally full on with the spice in the rice, perhaps cooked with a bouquet garni?)

The best seasoned were the Pakora appetizer & Paneer Tikka Masala. Have no idea if they are adjusting their spices (something we have noticed with eastside restaurants, some start with an imaginative spice pallette, but moderate them fairly quickly - have no idea wether it is to customer feedback or spice prices...)

[punafish]

Either we all have different standards in taste, the restaurant's dishes aren't consistently prepared (not a good thing), or both?

All I know is what I like. My dish was very good, similar to what I've eaten at other Indian restaurants in Chicago and Tokyo. If I want to nitpick, I like my nan a little softer than what I got, but it was still very tasty. The rice was good too but I'd rather stick with nan. I still want to try their tandoori chicken.

Disclaimer: I've never been to India or U.K. so my credentials as a food critic are questionable at best.

[jackson]

seriously, I'm thrilled that they are here and opened in Hilo. I would just want them to be as good as possible and their food really is mediocre when compared to what is considered "good" Indian food. I have eaten a Gaylords in London and New York as well as many smaller, exceptional places. there is a baseline for what I consider decent and Kamana falls just below that. I would be thrilled with decent and I think they can do it. They seem to have the proper equipment but not the correct attitude. The food seems "lazy" if that makes sense.

[terracore]

My wife, daughter and I ate there for lunch today. My background with Indian food isn't huge, but I have enjoyed some great Indian cuisine in NYC, PDX, SEA, DC, SFO, and other places so I'm no expert but I know good Indian food when I eat it. The only other Indian restaurant that I know of in Hilo is Prabha's. I only ate there once and at their old location and I didn't care for any of it. Kamana's place is much better. We all had the lunch specials and ordered lamb curry, tikka masala, and chicken curry. The tikka masala was the flavor winner, followed by the lamb curry, and then chicken curry. We all ordered 'medium' and found the heat to be just about perfect. The only complaint on the food was the lamb curry contained very little lamb and was mostly sauce, I guess lamb is more expensive so they only give you 1/2 as much meat as chicken. Even getting shorted on the lamb it was still a huge meal.

The service was pretty slow and so was the food. If I was on a lunch break from work I would have been in trouble. After we got our food nobody ever came to check on us so we weren't able to order more naan. I would endure the slow service/food to eat there again though.

One thing I don't think I can do is sit in one of their black booths again. When we sat down we sunk nearly to the floor. I'm a little over six feet tall and I felt like I needed a booster chair. I felt like a little kid and my head was so close to my food I could practically eat it off the tray like a dog if I wanted to. By the time we left my back was killing me and so was my wife's hips. If we go there again and there is only seating available in one of the black booths, I'll either inquire about eating at the bar or getting takeout. I don't think I could handle those seats again.

ETA clarity

[terracore]

Old thread here on Prabha's http://www.punaweb.org/Forum/topic.asp?TOPIC_ID=15593&SearchTerms=Prabha