With its carved-wood screens and well-spaced tables, this little restaurant is an ideal spot for a catch-up. Curries are especially well done—we like the Butter Chicken in its tomatoey brew ($9.95), the fish curry (usually cod) in a creamy coconut gravy speckled with fenugreek seeds ($10.50), and the dal wali murgee, a spicy marriage of lentils and chicken ($9.50). Other pleasures: fiery tandoori chicken wings ($4.95), crisp samosas ($1.95 for two), onion kulcha ($2.50), and rice biryanis of lamb, chicken, or vegetable ($9.95 each) fragrant with cardamom. Open daily for lunch and dinner, Sunday for all-you-can-eat buffet brunch.
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Ann Limpert joined Washingtonian in late 2003. She was previously an editorial assistant at Entertainment Weekly and a cook in New York restaurant kitchens, and she is a graduate of the Institute of Culinary Education. She lives in Petworth.
