Food: 3
Service: 3
Atmosphere: 3
Value: 4

I never do buffets. All you can eat of mediocre food, slow cooked over Sterno is my idea of a science fair project, not a plan for lunch.

But the Santa Fe grapevine buzzed that one of my favorite eateries, India Palace, hosts a buffet well worth the visit.

It is true, and if you have never eaten here, the Palace's lunch buffet is an excellent introduction to the piquant pleasures of Northern Indian cuisine.

As well, in glorious springtime, a chance to sit under the resplendent tenting of their patio, surrounded by a vivid, custom- made, hand-painted, hand-stitched Rajasthan wedding scene mural. While you relax beside the soothing presence of a handmade rock fountain, enjoy the sweet, cooling comfort of that most sensuous of beverages, mango lassi, concocted from India Palace's homemade yogurt and the pulp of specially imported Alphonso mangos.

For $7.95, you may feast, literally, on curried koftas: meatballs, the sauce a luscious blend of yogurt, sauteed onions, garlic, tomato puree and the many spices that mean "curry." There's also a sultry chicken curry with plump, meaty pieces, and chicken tandoori, an amazing recipe that renders the chicken moist yet slightly crisped, with an irresistibly yummy flavor all through. We adored the aloo gobi, tender cauliflowerettes and chunks of potato in garlic, ginger, onion and a gentle tomato sauce; and the matter makhani, fresh mushrooms and peas in a light but well-flavored yogurt and tomato infusion. The lentil dish was fine, the rice pilau (pilaf) laudable, neither dry nor gummy. And kudos for my absolute favorite, the chana sag, spinach with pureed garbanzo beans, which I could not stop devouring, like the wedding planner in Monsoon Wedding, wolfing down marigolds, the flowers of Shiva.

No steam tables here. Everything is prepared absolutely fresh each morning, served and constantly replenished in regal chafing dishes.

Marvelous condiments accompany luncheon: a wildly addictive chutney of well-blended fresh mint, cilantro, onions and green chile; and a delicate cucumber raita (yogurt salad).

Homemade mango and almond ice cream is a blissfully simple dessert, as is the creamy khir, saffron-flavored basmati rice boiled with milk.

Some dishes vary daily but the buffet always offers rice pilau, tandoori chicken, a meatball dish, chicken curry and four vegetable dishes: one green, one lentil, one cream-based and one very seasonal. Dessert changes daily.

A basket of freshly made flat bread called nan is brought to table, so it does not become soggy or dry out over heat on the buffet table. We added an order of spinach paratha ($2.95), whole wheat dough stuffed with spinach that has been gently wilted with a bit of onion, fresh ginger, garlic, salt and pepper, then rolled out flat and - in the centuries-old tradition of tandoor cooking - slapped against the wall of a clay oven. In India, the tandoor oven is usually buried in the ground. The women sit around the oven, making bread for many families at once - singing, and I have been told, swapping stories about their mothers-in-law.

Liking extra heat, we also ordered the delicious mixed pickle: a piquant, wonderfully exotic melange of mango, lime, ginger, green peas, green chile, lotus and ginger root ($2.15); in most cultures where refrigeration is a luxury, pickling, a natural means of keeping food from spoiling, is a fine art.

For $7.95 a person, India Palace has probably the best deal in town. In addition to being a meal, the buffet is a kind of journeying in that exquisite way that food opens doors on the tongue and in the heart.

Lunch for two, including two buffets, an order of mixed pickle, an order of spinach paratha, and two mango lassi, came to $37.56, before tip.

- Judyth Hill

227 Don Gaspar Ave., 986-5859

Lunch 11:30 a.m.-2:30 p.m. daily

Dinner 5-10 p.m. daily

Wine & beer

Reservations recommended

Handicapped-accessible

Major credit cards Local checks

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