The first raised eyebrow was occasioned by the “pakoray;” often a little leaden, these fried nuggets of chickpea batter with onion, potato, and hints of spinach were light, delicately spiced and extremely good with cilantro/mint chutney. But wait, there’s more: the “seekh kabak roll” was once described by our informative waitress as a kind of burrito. Not really. Rolled in skillet-cooked paratha bread, the mixture of finely ground beef, mixed with a host of aromatic spices, clove among them, was a taste epiphany. Order it—that’s an order.

Tandoor, housed in a space that seems almost too slick, is owned by an Indian woman, raised in Pakistan, who later came to the US. It may have been wise to hire a grad of our own CIA to run the kitchen. “The food used to be spicy; now it has taste, too,” said same waitress in a moment of excessive candor. Further proof is available in the form of the weekends-only “haleem,” a dish of enigmatically flavored lentils. More straightforward is the chicken “shahi kabab,” consisting of deftly spiced ground meat formed to order on a skewer and grilled; it tends toward dryness, but the yogurt-based sauce keeps things cool, and the accompanying mashed potatoes spiked with garam masala are sensational

We suspect the chef hasn’t tinkered with the goat “kahari;” its burly flavors could have come straight out of the infamous border region. The more refined rice pudding called “kheer,” subtly scented with cardamom, is the goat’s courtly counterpart; it too seems untouched.