Royal Rasoi

FOOD

Royal Rasoi’s lunch spread brings together North Indian restaurant favorites, from chicken biryani to tomato-based curries, paneer and dal. The selection rotates, with familiar dishes returning alongside changing additions. Samosas, papad and three named chutneys give the smaller end of the spread a personality of its own. There’s a whole lunch here between the rice dish, the curry pans and those little sauce bowls.

Chicken biryani starts with chicken, herbs and seasoned long-grain basmati together in the same dish. Beside it, raita brings lightly spiced yogurt with shredded cucumber and carrot, a vegetable-flecked partner to the rice and meat. The two make an appealing pair within a spread otherwise generous with gravies. Biryani has its own preparation and its own company; it needn’t spend lunch pretending to be plain rice.

From biryani, the chicken curries move into tomatoes in two familiar forms. Chicken tikka masala combines boneless chicken pieces, bell pepper and onion in a tomato-based sauce seasoned with Indian herbs. The vegetables are part of the curry, woven among the chicken pieces. Butter chicken, also called chicken makhani, follows the creamier tomato route. For the tomato-and-cream loyalist, that makhani gravy is a very understandable attachment.

That tomato-sauce family extends to paneer tikka masala. Cubes of Indian cheese meet green peppers and onions in tomato-cream sauce, with the vegetables sharing the pan rather than serving as a garnish. Paneer gets to be the main event here. Quite right, too.

Dal makhani is for those of us who read past the chicken names and go straight to the lentils. Black lentils and kidney beans are slow-cooked with butter, cream and spices, a substantial vegetarian dish beside the paneer curry. It asks for no meat to make its point. Lentils have been managing perfectly well on their own.

Alongside those curries, samosas bring filled pastry into lunch. The kitchen’s vegetable version combines potato, peas, cumin and other spices in a savory turnover. Papad is the thinner affair: curled, blistered wafers piled in a basket, with chutney bowls close by. Between the filled samosa and those delicate papad edges, the starters have two quite different shapes before sauce enters the picture.

Mint, red onion and tamarind supply that sauce collection. Mint is the green, herbal choice, while tamarind brings the fruit’s sweet-tart character to the samosas. Red onion has its own bowl alongside them. Their green, red and brown sauces make a colorful trio beside the papad basket. Together, the wafers and chutney bowls form a compact little appetizer spread of their own, an agreeable interruption to all that curry.

Naan completes the bread side of the meal, baked in a tandoor and served in a basket at the table. The kitchen’s plain naan uses dairy-rich dough and a butter glaze; a garlic version is also on the menu, though its inclusion in the buffet price isn’t confirmed.