Back to Curry Corner in Hayward and Special Menu for Good Friday
Yesterday I had some business in Hayward, putting me in striking distance of Curry Corner Takeaway for a return visit. I’d not been there since my one lunch in 2005.
http://chowhound.chow.com/topics/42294
It’s in the same spot, the mostly vacant strip mall across from the cemetery. Guess the moving plans fell through. I arrived before noon, and Sara, the owner apologized that I would need to wait a bit as she’d nearly run out of food and needed to cooke more rice. “It rains, and everyone comes in.”
Worth the wait, the day’s thali included chicken curry (on the bone), a very spicy tomato chutney served warm, four kinds of greens (I could identify swiss chard but not the others) cooked in coconut cream with a bit of chili, rice, and a whole wheat roti. Total tab was $7.
Sara was telling her regulars to be sure to come back on Good Friday (4/10), as she’ll be serving shrimp, fish curry, and maybe even crab for the end of Lent.
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Curry Corner Takeaway
26657 Mission Blvd, Hayward, CA 94544
By Melanie Wong
on Apr 8, 2009 01:20 AM
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on our visit this past Saturday the veg's were a black eyed pea/eggplant combination, and a 'bitter squash'(ku gua) masala, the tomato chutney you had; fish was boneless snapper pieces coated in spice and deep fried; meats were chicken like the one you had, and lamb, and there was a potato side dish she'd made while we waited for our lunch and ate, in addition to the rice and fresh roti. She said this coming Sat. she planned on having goat. She piles a huge quantity of foods in the take out containers for $7--we waited for one of the two two-tops to become available to eat from wide, sectioned metal platters. The food would go perfectly with a well-hopped ale.
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She'd been busy even before noon, so all the metal thali plates were dirty and I had to eat off styro. One of the guys at the other two-top asked for seconds of the chicken curry and she said he could have some of the next batch after she'd served those waiting. At other places, thalis are often refilled on request, would you know if that is SOP here too?
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Here's a photo of the lamb curry and the strip mall. The lamb curry was very flavorful and definitely spicy. You get a full container of food.
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That truly looks like home cooking.
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And that would be Fijian-Indian home cooking served here.
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Your photo is quite flattering to the looks of this strip mall. I think there had been plans to bulldoze it, but now the developer's sign is promoting it as an Indo mall or something like that. I noticed a "coming soon" sign on a place called Fiji Sweets.
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This place truly is amazing. I've been here a few times, and the last time I was there was on a saturday a few weeks ago and was served lamb curry, chicken curry, black eyed peas curry, eggplant/potato curry, and fish fry (even better than I ate in Kerala!). All of it was great, and each dish had its own distinct flavor. She told me that her family was originally from south india, and the flavors there are reminiscent of sri lankan and malayalam food. Her roti's are superb as well. You can tell that she really cares about her food and ingredients. Apparently she is also writing a cookbook, so does anyone have any info on that?
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Last sat. she also spoke about the cookbook, but it's still "work in progress." One (or two?) of her kids are accomplished graphic designers and work in publishing, from what I overheard. As for getting seconds on the thali, we didn't even order two complete plates because of the amount and richness of the foods, had to take away some of it, and requested a little takeaway of the potato masala she was finishing up just after serving us, plus an extra roti to go, as fresh made whole grain versions are one of my favorite flat
breads. She charged us a little extra over the standard $7 x 2 and I insisted on paying more so she tossed in a small container of the ku gua. The people ahead of us though
looked like they might have gotten some extras. Eating there is cramped, but since it's like sitting in mom's kitchen if she were an indo-islander (to me the food has similarities to caribbean indian; haven't experienced sri lankan food), her banter and bustle adds a lot to the experience of the food.
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Thanks for more details. It's so hard to find a good South Indian style fish fry around here, wish I could be there today. Some of the regulars mentioned that she's often closed by 3pm, if she runs out of food, so it might be wise to call ahead if running late.
And, yes, the mom's kitchen aspect is definitely part of the experience. Sara asked me to wait while she served other customers, then made my roti. She leaned over the counter to pass it to me, from her fingers to mine, and cautioned, "hot!"
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