The Thai food at S&P Kitchen is vibrant, colorful, flavorful and as mild or spicy as you want it.

The menu is 49 items long and includes all the popular and expected dishes among the appetizers, salads, soups, noodle and rice offerings, curries, fish dishes and wok specialties. Most can be ordered with a choice of protein or as vegetarian options.

Should you bring your own alcoholic beverage, not only is there no corkage fee, but nobody will judge you, despite the restaurant’s weekdays-only, midday service hours.

Food can be ordered from mild to Thai hot, or even beyond that incendiary spice level.

Some of S&P’s customers request that their orders be prepared three times Thai hot, owner Somnith Sombatphibane said.

“Thai hot is 15 Thai peppers, but three times Thai hot is 30 peppers,” and there is an extra charge, she said. She added that she cannot taste those dishes as she prepares them, because even for her Thai palate, that many peppers is too much.

About the business: S&P is a neighborhood restaurant on Middle Street in Kalihi, above the freeway and right below Rose Street, and it is popular with military personnel at adjacent Fort Shafter, as well as their families.

By the time S&P Kitchen opens for lunch at 10 a.m., Sombatphibane, the “S” in S&P, has been working since midnight helping her husband, John “the Bento Man” Phrakonekham (the “P”), make food for his lunch delivery business. (Sometimes it is simpler to explain the restaurant’s name as meaning “salt and pepper,” which is also true.)

While Phrakonekham makes his rounds peddling as many as 400 bentos in a day, Sombatphibane runs the restaurant with help from sister Somphet and her father, Khamphay.

Customers clamor for Sombatphibane to extend her hours of operation, but by the time they see her for lunch, she’s been working all night.

What to order: Evil Jungle Curry is the top seller, but the Drunken Noodle dish also is very popular. There is no alcohol in the dish, which Sombatphibane describes as being drunken on vegetables, because it is so packed with vegetables and herbs.

How to order: Phone orders are preferred for takeout customers, not just to give the sparsely staffed kitchen a heads-up, but so the customer can be told when the food is likely to be ready. Reservations are not required for dining in, but are requested for large parties. Cash and credit cards are accepted.

Grab and go: The restaurant has four reserved stalls behind the building, accessible from Rose Street. Street parking also is available after 8:30 a.m., but be mindful of tow zones.

Grab and Go focuses on takeout food, convenience meals and other quick bites. Email ideas to crave@staradvertiser.com.