Tandoori Mixed Vegetables are the perfect match to any one of the Bombay Grille's assortment of Indian beers.

BOMBAY GRILLE INDIAN CUISINE Location: 8706 Pineville-Matthews Road in the Tower Place Shopping Center. Phone: 704-542-3933 Fax: 704-341-1987 Web: www.bombaygrille.com Details: Upscale casual; no smoking throughout; corkage fee, $6; off premise catering available, take out; look for coupons on the Web site. Hours: Lunch Buffet: Monday-Friday, 11 a.m.-2:30 p.m.; Saturday and Sunday, noon-3 p.m. Dinner: Sunday-Thursday, 5-9:30 p.m.; Friday and Saturday, 5-11 p.m.

This story begins in 1984 when Naval Sethi, armed with a good deal of vision and faith, opened the first authentic Indian restaurant in North Carolina. Called Bombay Palace, the restaurant was part of an internationally acclaimed chain of restaurants in New York, Chicago and London. Sethi's restaurant was nestled in the Research Triangle Park, between Raleigh, Durham and Chapel Hill.

In 1992, Sethi cut his ties with the franchise and opened his own restaurant, which he called Bombay Grille. After success in the Raleigh/Durham area, it seemed the next step would be to open a Bombay Grille in Charlotte.

The Charlotte location opened in 2000. Since that time, the restaurant has gone through some growing pains with a change in management about a year ago. Now with Sethi's son, Nishal, at the helm, Bombay Grille is thriving in its Tower Place location on Hwy. 51.

Both locations of Bombay Grille specialize in Northern Indian cuisine and the centuries- old style of Tandoori cooking.

The tandoor is an ancient Indian clay oven in which meat, fowl and seafood are cooked over very high heat and served sizzling hot. Indian breads also are baked in the tandoor. The authentic Indian cuisine offered at Bombay Grille offers a combination of fragrantly mixed spices from India, including both black and green cardamom, fennel, star anise, aniseed, cumin seed, tamarind, a combination of curries and an assortment of fresh herbs like mint and cilantro.

The intricacies of the flavors of fine Indian cuisine, paired with the aromas of the spices, make dining at Bombay Grille for lunch or dinner, a feast for the senses. The restaurant's interiors are comfortably upscale, with black lacquered tables and chairs. Service by a patient, caring and very knowledgeable waitstaff is superlative.

A fabulous lunch buffet is prepared fresh daily with an alternating selection of traditional Indian dishes, both vegetarian and non-vegetarian. At dinner, choices on the menu seem to be endless.

RATING SCALE Excellent, a must try. Above average, worth consideration. Average, but nothing spectacular. Just okay. Poor, not recommended.

Not hot and spicy
Owner Nishal Sethi says that novices to Indian cuisine are often under the misconception that the food is hot and spicy. "They think of the traditional curries, and their perception is that everything is hot. I often suggest they start with something mild like the Chicken Tiki Marsala, for example. From there, I steer them to the 'Sizzler Platters' from the Tandoori oven, and then they're hooked."

Hooked indeed. Just one dinner at Bombay Grille, one taste of the soft, Indian bread called Nan, one sip of the traditional yogurt drink called lassi, one bite of the Tandoori chicken, and you'll definitely be back for more.

Dinner starts with a plate of papadum, the traditional Indian flat bread, and a trio of chutneys - a green chutney made with fresh mint and cilantro, onion chutney made with hot, spicy onions in a tomato base, and brown chutney made from tamarind paste. It's hard to pick a favorite, since each is delicious and together they make a perfect introduction to the world of superb Indian cuisine.

You can stick with a standard, American green salad, or try the Tandoori Mixed Salad, featuring large chunks of pineapple, tomatoes and onion, all seasoned with mild Indian spices, then baked in the tandoor until soft and tender. The combination of the sweet pineapple and the stronger flavor of the onion, teamed with the rich tomato and the fragrant roasted spices, is a perfect way to whet your palate.

As far as entrees go, there are a dozen vegetarian offerings, a variety of curries, and dishes with seafood, chicken or lamb. Everything is prepared to order in the Bombay Grille kitchen under the direction and guidance of Chef Shiva, and I have yet to find much I haven't liked. If you like lamb, I suggest the Lamb Vindaloo or the Lamb Korma. In the latter, chunks of tender lamb are baked in a rich, thick Korma sauce made with ground almonds and cashews in a flavorful yogurt base. The sauce is also a perfect foil for Nan, which also comes in a variety of flavors. Garlic Nan would be my suggestion here, but there's also Chili Nan and a plain Nan for those with a less adventurous palate. The Lamb Vindaloo, which is cooked in vinegar and slightly heavier spices, is spicier than the Korma, served with cooked potatoes in spicy gravy. This dish is a real winner.

Wash it all down with any one of a half dozen fine Indian beers or perhaps something from the Bombay Grille wine list. For dessert, try the homemade ice creams in both mango and pistachio flavors. They offer a light, sweet finish, a perfect way to end the evening at Bombay Grille.

With the holidays and other opportunities for entertaining, Bombay Grille specializes in full-service catering, including buffets that serve 10 to 5,000. They deliver in a 300-mile radius for weddings, birthdays, anniversaries, graduations and traditional Indian celebrations. Bombay Grille also caters for offices, hospitals and hotels. Call Nishal Sethi at the restaurant for details.

Bombay Grille offers many traditional Indian favorites, pictured clockwise, starting at the top, soft Indian bread called Nan; assorted chutneys; homemade mango ice cream; papadum, the traditional Indian flat bread; and, at center, mango lassi, a yogurt drink.

Well-known Charlotte restaurant critic, food writer, cooking instructor and connoisseur of food and wine, Heidi Edidin writes "South Charlotte Weekly: Culinary Corner," a restaurant review or food feature that appears weekly. Contact Heidi with questions and restaurant, food or story ideas by email at heidi@southcharlotteweekly.com.

SCW photos by Sean Busher.

This article first appeared in "South Charlotte Weekly" on November 8, 2002. "South Charlotte Weekly" is a free, locally owned, independent newspaper that's "About the Community, For the Community," available every Thursday in South Charlotte and Uptown.

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