Some Indian restaurants have moved upscale, but this isn't one of them. Bombay Curry Company, along with Minerva, also in Northern Virginia, offers the simple pleasures of authentic Indian food at low prices.

The menu is short but varied. Good appetizers are the potato-onion fritters called bhaji and the chat papri, a many-textured salad that includes yogurt and chickpeas. The tandoor turns out wonderfully bronzed chicken along with a variety of meats and seafood. Other good choices are the spicy lamb vindaloo, chicken curry with lentils, moderately seasoned fenugreek-laced fish curry from the former Portuguese colony of Goa, rich and creamy butter chicken, and several kinds of biryani. Vegetable selections include curries based on potatoes, eggplant, cauliflower, chickpeas, and spinach with house-made cheese. Breads, which range from the simple naan and roti to the crunchy onion kulcha, are excellent.