India Garden an Oasis of Earthly Delights

When I go to an Indian restaurant, I like to go in a big group, and, to my mind, that group should always include my childhood friend Michele. With a lot of people, we get to taste a lot of dishes, and with Michele along, we know what we’re eating.

She and I grew up in that era when it was not uncommon to spend a few years at an Indian ashram between high school and college, and she did exactly that. For years after she returned, she put on huge Indian feasts with the ease and calm with which most people order take-out. It made all her friends very fond of her and the food she served.

These days, like the rest of us, she no longer has the time to soak beans, much less prepare 10 or 12 courses, but we can occasionally corral her to come along as an expert guide in our eternal search for a new source of that wonderful subcontinental cuisine. And sometimes, as in the case of our visit to Canoga Park’s India Garden Tandoor Restaurant, our search is rewarded.

India Garden is a small neighborhood restaurant on Saticoy Street, next to a music store and a little international grocery. Inside, the pink and white walls are sculpted into Moorish arches, the windows are hung with lace, and the smells from the kitchen are particularly enticing. On a weeknight, there’s a slow but steady stream of business.

There are a mind-boggling 61 items on the menu, not counting desserts, condiments, and beverages, so we let Michele do the ordering.

She starts us out with onion pakoras : deep-fried balls of onion and batter, crispy like the best onion rings on the outside, soft and chewy like a dumpling on the inside. Michele also insists on trying the vegetable samosas , fried packets of dough and ground vegetables; these, unfortunately, are bland, a bit sandy in texture and generally disappointing, although a particularly pungent tamarind chutney does much to perk them up.

Michele knows that, in addition to entrees, we need the basic side dishes of tarka dal (lentils), bread, and basmati rice to serve as the sturdy backbone of the meal, a sort of bass-line against which the spices of the entrees can sing.

The dal is rich with ghee and fried onions and garlic, and the huge flaps of naan baked in the tandoori oven are soft and bubbly. Michele also remembers to order raita (cucumbers and yogurt), which is handy for extinguishing fires in the mouth. And, for extra shots of intense flavors, she requests mango chutney and lime pickle.

With the basics covered, Michele ranges far and wide through the menu. We have wonderful chicken tandoori , a succulent, yogurt-marinated chicken cooked in the tandoor oven at 800 degrees; it comes sizzling and spitting to the table.

When we order, the waiter asks if we want our entrees mild, medium, or hot. I, who am happiest in life when I’m weeping from chili-heat, compromise and agree with the others to go “medium” with all dishes except one. . . . My obvious sulkiness concerning this arrangement vanishes when the waiter assures me he could bring a deadly hot sauce should I require it.

The dish we order hot is the lamb vindaloo , which turns out to be gloriously tasty and quite searing. I never get that hot sauce. Just forget to ask for it, I guess. I’m too busy emptying the raita bowl.

The only entree we virtually ignore is the shrimp bhuna --a small number of small shrimp in a bland sauce with some crisp peppers and tomatoes, like a generic Chinese take-out dish. But overall, we agree that the food is freshly prepared and of very good quality, and the portions generally are quite generous, and the prices are right.

The rice pudding is sprinkled with fresh pistachios and not too sweet, which makes it the best rice pudding I’ve had in an Indian restaurant. The homemade mango ice cream is also refreshing.

As we’re leaving, we grab a take-out menu and see they’ve been stamped in red: Free Delivery Around Six Miles. So armed, we deliver Michele an ultimatum: either she starts cooking again, or we’re all moving to Canoga Park.

Recommended dishes: onion pakora, $3.50; chicken tandoori, $5.95; vindaloo, $5.50-$5.95; bindi bhajee, $4.25; tarka dal, $2.95; naan, $1.50; kheer rice pudding, $1.25.

India Garden Tandoor Restaurant, 20252 Saticoy St . , Canoga Park; (818) 998-2727. Open for lunch Monday through Saturday 11:30 a.m. to 3 p.m., dinner Sunday through Thursday 5 p.m. to 10 p.m., Friday and Saturday 5 p.m. to 10:30 p.m. Wine and beer. Most credit cards accepted. Parking.