237 Balmoral Road,
Sandringham
Auckland,


(09) 846 0022

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3 out of 5

This restaurant likes it hot, turning out tantalising Tamil food (akin to southern Indian cuisine) from a prep area no larger or flasher than a home kitchen.

Inside the spare shop front, the friendly accommodating owner talked us through the small and inexpensive menu. There were biriyani rice-and-meat dishes, and rotis for lunch. The dinner list included deep fried vadai fritters, steamed lentil flour buns (known as idli), bowl-shaped rice-flour pancakes called hoppers, and fried rice and egg.

KPS is situated across Sandringham Road from the Hindu temple, from where much of their clientele probably comes. Strictly speaking a takeaway, there is also a bar leaner and some stools if you want to eat on the spot.

The owner didn’t ask what degree of heat we preferred, and we soon discovered they crank it up.

Pieces of fresh green chilli in our chicken curry ($7.50) gave the game away. It featured large pieces of bone-in meat in a runny sauce. The accompanying starch was puttu: twice-cooked wheat flour shaped into a cylinder together with layers of dried coconut. It was bland and a perfect foil for the curry.

Five spongy, pliable dosai pancakes ($5) made with fermented lentil flour had a good bitter-and-earthy flavour. We slathered them in a fragrantly hot dhal which boasted chunks of carrot and potato. We added dollops of coconut sambar, coloured orange from chilli peppers and by far the hottest components of the meal.

The portions had looked small but filled both of us, and had our taste buds doing a sultry dance.