Eat Drink Hong Kong

Discovering Indian vegetarian cuisine is almost like discovering Indian food all over again. There are so many possibilities that you simply don’t see many of them on the menus of most restaurants. Unless, of course, the restaurant is dedicated to serving only vegetarian dishes.

Khana Khazana is just such a place. There are two branches, I was at the Wanchai restaurant. It boasts quite a large dining area with functional but pleasant decor. The staff are friendly and knowledgeable. I took a table towards the back and ordered a kingfisher beer to go with the complimentary poppadums.

As mentioned the menu offers a range of dishes that are not seen in most Indian restaurants. Idlis, Rasam and Wada all appear on the very first page. Helpfully the menu does include descriptions so you know what it is you are ordering.

My first dish was Haryali kebab ($78). This is the familiar looking kebab shape but since it is made with spinach and garden vegetables it is an unfamiliar green colour. It arrives on a sizzling hot-plate garnished with fresh cabbage and onions and wedges of lemon.

They are mildly spicy and very flavourful but my attention is distracted by the arrival of the South Indian platter ($88). This took my breath away. I’d already noted that the kebabs were a generous serving but this, a selection of small dishes was just huge. It includes smaller portions of many of those intriguing dishes.

Rasam, a lentil soup flavoured with tamarind, tomato and pepper occupied one end of the long platter while a dosa masala took up the far end. The dosa is a kind of pancake filled with spicy potato and onion. In between these was a ground lentil fritter called a wada, a steamed rice cake known as an idli which is served with a delicious coconut chutney. There was an uttapam which is another kind of spicy pancake.

It was so big that I could have made a meal of this one dish alone. Indeed two gentlemen and completely different tables were doing just that. I still had a vegetable Jaipuri ($78) to come and, true to form, when it did arrive there was enough food on the table to easily feed three or even four people.

The basic sauce for the Jaipuri is similar to a classic vegetable curry that you might find elsewhere. But unlike anywhere else this vegetable curry is definitive. It comes thick with fresh crunchy vegetables including carrots, cabbage and peas. I really didn’t need the nan I had ordered but it did help scoop some of it up.

I was well and truly beaten. I think I ate less than half of what I’d ordered but I felt I couldn’t leave without trying the Kesar badam kulfi ($68), home made ice cream flavoured with saffron and almonds. Mercifully it was a smaller serving and I was glad I made the effort.