June 2006 Cheap Eats

Buffets conjure up thoughts of food languishing beneath flavor-killing heat lamps, the quantity intended to offset the lack of quality. Indian food is the exception to this rule, its curries benefiting from the steady simmer, the spice-laden flavors deepening as they sit.

These sparsely decorated southern-Indian vegetarian restaurants--spinoffs of the London original--serve up one of the best buffets in the area, a varied feast that attracts hordes of customers at lunch during the week and especially on weekends. Quality plus quantity is hard to beat, particularly at prices that rival a Friday's or Bennigan's.

The regular menu is just as reliable. Omnivores won't miss their meats, not with curries this rich and complex--if anything, the varieties using coconut milk, like the vegetable korma, are prone to being over-rich. The fry breads are hot, puffy, and addictive, if a little greasy. No visit is complete without an order of the fabulous dosai, crispy, thin rice-flour crepes that look like giant tuile cookies and, when stuffed with a black-mustard-seed-dotted mixture of potatoes and onions, make a meal all by themselves. Among the list of lassis is a beguiling lychee lassi, at once creamy, tangy, and sweet.