FOOD

Royal Taj’s buffet is built around the dishes that make the Indian lunch-buffet format so satisfying. Chicken tandoori, chicken tikka masala and saag paneer form the clearest recurring trio, giving the first plate smoke, cream, tomato, spinach and paneer before anything else enters the conversation. It is a compact way to understand the restaurant: familiar North Indian comfort food, handled with enough personality that the buffet never needs novelty for its own sake.

Chicken tandoori is the best place to start because it changes the texture of the plate. The yogurt-and-spice marinade belongs to the restaurant’s clay-oven cooking, and the roasted chicken gives a drier, charred counterpoint to the sauced dishes beside it. It is also a reminder not to fill every inch with curry on the first pass. A piece of tandoori chicken, rice and one spoonful of sauce leaves room to understand the rest.

Chicken tikka masala provides the buffet’s richest familiar center. Royal Taj’s version is built from broiled chicken in a tomato, onion and butter sauce, the kind of dish that turns basmati rice into part of the sauce rather than a neutral side. Chicken makhani occupies nearby territory on the larger menu, while chicken curry, chicken saag, chicken vindaloo and shahi korma show how many directions the kitchen can take beyond that creamy tomato anchor.

Saag paneer is just as important, not a vegetarian obligation tucked beside the meat. The spinach-and-cream base carries cubes of paneer and gives the buffet a softer, greener center of gravity. Royal Taj’s vegetarian repertoire runs deeper: aloo choley, dal tadka, dal makhani, aloo gobi, matar paneer, bhartha, vegetable jalfrezi and paneer makhani all belong to the kitchen’s vocabulary. That matters as the weekend rotation changes, because the meatless side can move well beyond one token curry.

The supporting pieces make the buffet feel complete. Samosas and pakora give the meal a crisp opening when they are in the mix, while chutneys, raita and pickles create the sharp, cool and tangy corrections that rich curries eventually need. Basmati rice is the obvious foundation, but biryani deserves attention whenever it joins the spread; Royal Taj’s menu includes chicken, lamb, shrimp, vegetable and combination versions, each carrying more spice and substance than plain rice.

Then there is the bread. Royal Taj works from a real tandoor, and naan is one of the restaurant’s defining pleasures. Garlic naan is the familiar choice, but the full menu reaches into onion, mint, hot-chile, paneer, potato, keema and Kashmiri versions as well. Buffet lunch does not need that entire catalogue to make the point. Warm bread against chicken tikka masala or saag paneer is the essential move: tear, drag, fold, repeat.

Dessert returns the meal to a smaller scale. Gulab jamun, kheer and ras malai make up the restaurant’s classic sweet repertoire, moving from syrup-soaked richness to cool rice pudding and milky cheese pastry. Even if the buffet rotation offers only part of that set, one small sweet is enough. Royal Taj’s strength is not showing the whole menu at once. It gives the buffet a recognizable core, leaves room for rotation, and lets a modest neighborhood dining room deliver one of Cincinnati’s increasingly uncommon pleasures: a traditional Indian lunch buffet done simply and seriously.