By Suzanne Parker
Calling themselves 5 Star may be a self-fulfilling prophesy for the owners of this new South Indian eatery in New Hyde Park. If we used a star rating system, they would be seeing multiple stars in their rating. Then again, they could just as easily have called it Mom’s, because in this family-owned-and-operated business, the matriarch, Tessy Chrian, is the one working the magic in the kitchen.
This unassuming gem of a restaurant serves the foods of Kerala, a narrow strip of land in the Southwest of India ensconced between the Arabian Sea and the Western Ghats. This region is a favorite vacation spot for Indians, with many resorts capitalizing on the natural beauty of its coastline, rivers and lush forests. The Hindu Malayali majority lives harmoniously with its Christian, Muslim, and a few Jewish neighbors. Because of the presence of its Christians, you’ll find beef and pork as well as goat, chicken and duck in this cuisine. Spices are an important crop in Kerala, so predictably they are used liberally, although few of the dishes here are excruciatingly hot, and they can be adjusted to taste. With all that coastline and rivers, fish and seafood is plentiful, as are coconut and exotic tropical produce.
5 Star’s menu emphasizes the dishes of Kerala, but also offers some of the most popular Punjabi dishes. We stuck to the stuff from the south. There are plenty of little tidbits to sample at very modest prices, so it’s fun to do a lot of sampling.
Mathy fry are large seasoned sardines (about four inches) fried to a crisp and sold by the piece. Meat cutlets are a mixture of seasoned beef and potato, crumbed and fried. Ditto for the fish cutlet, which uses fish instead of beef. Each was a tasty little hockey puck. Masala dosa, common all over southern India, is expertly prepared here, enclosing the spicy potato mixture in the thinnest, most delicate crepe.
The truly standout appetizer is shrimp fry, which can also be ordered as a main dish. Baby shrimp are coated with spices and dry fried with something else that gives them a wonderful crunch.
Kappa (yucca, cassava, tapioca) is a popular staple in this part of the world. It appears here as either a vegetable entrée, or in kappa biriyani, one of their “special” entrées. If you thought, as we did, that biriyani was always a rice dish, guess again. In this preparation the rice is replaced by the kappa and topped with a spicy beef stew. We are told that this is the quintessential comfort food for Keralans, and we can understand why.
Anchovy fry, an off-menu special, was a lot like the shrimp fry, but with anchovies. We recommend it to lovers of those little fishies.
Three vegetable dishes were outstanding. Thoran, a traditional dish of thinly chopped vegetables — often cabbage, but in this case cauliflower — was transcendent. The cauliflower was punctuated with mustard seeds and curry leaves. Chakka kuru mango, a name you can dance to, is jackfruit seed mixed with small pieces of mango in coconut milk, also accented with curry leaves. Avial is an intense mixed-vegetable curry cooked in coconut oil.
Make sure you don’t miss out on the Keral porotha, the multilayered Kerala take on pan-fried flat whole wheat bread. You’ll need it to soak up all those luscious sauces. And speaking of soaking up sauces, instead of the usual basmati rice popular in northern India, try some Kerala rice—fluffier than basmati with a buttery flavor.
They’re not as big on sweets in Kerala as other parts of India, and they favor hot desserts over cold, although ice cream is offered here. For something sweetly authentic, try some pasayam, a pudding of cashews, raisins and short strands of thin noodles cooked in sweetened milk.
The Bottom Line
This is the kind of restaurant foodies dream about. The food is delicious, authentic and unusual for these parts, freshly and lovingly prepared by a traditional cook. On top of all that, it’s a treat for your wallet as well.
Suzanne Parker is the TimesLedger’s restaurant critic and author of “Eating Like Queens: A Guide to Ethnic Dining in America’s Melting Pot, Queens, N.Y.” She can be reached by e-mail at qnsfoodie@aol.com.
5 Star Indian Cuisine
274 Jericho Turnpike
New Hyde Park
516-488-1230
fivestarindiancuisine@yahoo.com
Price Range: Appetizers: $1-$7.95; entrees: $4.95-$14.95
Cuisine: Kerala-style Indian
Setting: Small, unpretentious.
Service: Friendly, professional.
Hours: Lunch and dinner Wed.-Mon.; weekend buffet noon-3:30 p.m. Closed Tues.
Reservations: No
Alcohol: License pending for beer & wine
Parking: Street
Dress: Casual
Children: Welcome
Music: No
Takeout: Yes
Credit cards: V, MC, AmEx, Disc
Noise level: Quiet without the jazz, louder with.
Handicap accessible: Yes
