Hungry Hut

Authentic Indian cuisine with savory spices, chutneys, puffy breads and a wide range of vegetarian dinners, fish dishes and stews are sure to satisfy at the modest prices in this Franklin Park restaurant.

By: Pat Tanner

Hungry Hut

Franklin Town Center

3991 Route 27

Franklin Park

(732) 422-1163
Food: Very good

Service: Helpful and efficient

Prices: Inexpensive

Cuisine: Indian

Ambiance: Light, airy storefront

Hours: Breakfast: Sat.-Sun. 8:30-11 a.m.; Lunch: Tues.-Fri. 11:30 a.m.-3 p.m.; Dinner: Tue.-Thurs. 5-10 p.m., Fri.-Sun. 5-10:30 p.m.

Essentials: Major credit cards accepted; BYO; no smoking; wheelchair accessible; reservations accepted.

Directions

   There must be a half-dozen Indian restaurants operating along a one-mile stretch of Route 27 in Franklin Park, all of them offering great value. One that had been recommended to me time and again was Cochin Cove, but by the time I visited it had changed over to Hungry Hut. One of the new owners, who identified himself as Mahalingam, said he and a group of friends who own a computer-consulting business took it over last September. I’ll never know how good Cochin Cove was, but Hungry Hut stands out for its delicious, carefully constructed, inexpensive fare. Its menu, though, holds few surprises, featuring the most popular Indian-restaurant dishes that many of us have come to expect and enjoy.
   Of course we have to get past that name, which has to be one of the worst ever, rivaling only, to my mind, the old Feedbag in Princeton Shopping Center. (Anyone remember the Feedbag?) Although Hungry Hut sounds like a place Frankie and Annette and their beach blanket buddies would have gone for a burger, it couldn’t be more different.
   For one thing, you can get dosas for breakfast, which Hungry Hut serves on weekends. Actually, you can at any time get these big, thin, platter-size crepes made with rice flour ($4.25). I was jealous as I watched an order go by, along with its accompanying sambal, coconut chutney, onion chutney and muligapuri, a fiery mix of chile powder and dried lentils that sometimes goes by the name "gunpowder."

"Dining

TimeOFF photos/Frank Wojciechowski
Décor is a pastiche of Indian and Western icons on stark white walls in a brightly lit room that seats about 30. Fancy crystal chandeliers and ornate gold cove molding seem out of place in this storefront, but like the fare here, represent caring and proud owners. "Entrance

   Dinner begins at Hungry Hut with a choice of either complimentary soup or pappadam, the latter being the puffy, cracker-like bread made with lentil flour, which I find addictive. The soup, rasam, is a savory but spicy broth studded with lentils, tamarind, cilantro, tomatoes and a touch of garlic. Main dishes, which span the Indian subcontinent from Delhi in the north to Kerala in the south, are good across the board, with lots of vegetarian choices, including my favorite, palak paneer ($9), the wonderful fresh cheese with spinach and spices.
   I never pass up goat when I can get it, and enjoyed every bite of malabar mutton masala ($14), made with full-flavored boneless chunks in a thick, spicy brown sauce speckled with sautéed onions and small green chiles and spiced with cloves and what I think is dried fenugreek leaves.
   One less adventurous and chile-averse companion was delighted with her goan shrimp curry ($14) in a mild, pink-tinged savory coconut sauce. Ditto for another companion, who claims not to favor Indian food in general, but who wound up raving about his chicken thikka masala ($12), wherein cubes of boneless chicken are first grilled in a tandoor oven, then cooked in very mild tomato cream sauce.
   Our fourth diner, an Indian food devotee — this was his third Indian meal in five days — was more than pleased with kerala fish curry ($13). This is a spicy stew of kingfish chunks in hot chile sauce dotted with smoked kudam pully, which our server, Sameer (another partner), defined for us as a type of tamarind. While portions of all main dishes are suitably large, Hungry Hut skimps on accompanying basmati white rice. But not to worry: as many extra helpings as necessary arrive as asked for. I suggest supplementing the meal with an order or two of the many delicious Indian breads here. We chose the naan ($2) and relished every bite.
   Two things in particular set Hungry Hut apart. One is that those tasty main dishes are totally void of the slick of clarified butter (ghee) that is often found in such dishes. I don’t know if there is less of it or it is just better incorporated, but greasiness is not a problem here. The other outstanding asset is Sameer. This kind and helpful gentleman not only answered all our questions and volunteered other useful information, he actually tried to dissuade us from ordering so much food, assuring us that three main dishes would suffice for four. I commend his goodwill and lack of self interest.
   We experienced one disappointing dish at Hungry Hut, an appetizer billed on the menu as the house specialty: assorted vegetarian pakoras ($5). These battered, spicy, deep-fried bits of cauliflower, eggplant and potato were indistinguishable one from the other, and all were heavy and flavorless. The cilantro sambal that comes with it is pleasingly cool yet hot, although we left untouched the tamarind sauce.
   Typical Indian desserts and beverages round out the menu of curries, tandoori dishes, biriyani and other rice dishes. These include halwas and rice pudding, and sweet or salty lassi. Wednesday night is chaat night, when Indian street foods are featured.
   Décor is a pastiche of Indian and Western icons on stark white walls in a brightly lit room that seats about 30. (A rear dining room went unused the Saturday night of our visit.) Fancy crystal chandeliers and ornate gold cove molding seem out of place in this storefront, but like the fare here, represent caring and proud owners.
Pat Tanner’s reviews can be heard on Dining Today, Sat. 9-10 a.m. on MoneyTalk AM 1350.
For directions to Hungry Hut, click here.