RESTAURANTS : Gandhi Strives to Be Different--and Almost Succeeds

Most Indian restaurants are conservative, even staid. The overwhelming majority specialize in the solid cooking of north India, with an occasional bit of the south sneaking in to mollify strict vegetarians.

Gandhi, in the South Coast Plaza Village, aims to be different. It’s easy to get your fill of Mughlai dishes but there are plenty of alternatives: Bengali fish; Kashmiri chicken; dhansak , a Parsi dish with lentils and garlic from Bombay; lamb vindaloo from Goa, cooked in mustard oil.

And despite the Bengali waiters in snappy tuxedoes, a Punjabi chef with a large turban, and wood blocks depicting various Hindu epics on every wall, Gandhi doesn’t look like a typical Indian restaurants. Walking in, you see an ornate brandy cart, and you think you’ve come to the wrong restaurant. You haven’t. It’s just that owner J.J. Shah is a wine fancier.

The main dining area is an enclosed patio with curved windows framed in faded brass. There are fans overhead, pink tablecloths and a rich, russet carpet. The ambience recalls a cafe in suburban Paris, one of those places where you’d eat steak frites or grab a quick espresso. This belle epoque design may have suited the original occupants who served pizza and bistro food, but now, with curries and tandoor dishes appearing on the tables, it makes an unusual impression.

Much of the cooking at Gandhi is refined and pleasant. Portions tend to be small, meaning that it’s possible to spend a deceptively large sum of money before the evening is finished. Two appetizers, onion pakoras (deep-fried white bean cakes with shredded onion) or samosas (pastry triangles stuffed with savory fillings of potato, pea and lamb) are exceptions to this rule: They are relatively filling and inexpensive. Unfortunately, they’re also too oily. I wouldn’t order them again.

More interesting beginnings are those based around chicken tikka , chunks of chicken cooked in a real tandoor clay oven. Indian pizza--a naan bread crust topped with minced garlic, cheese, curried tomato and pieces of the chicken tikka--is delightful. Cold chicken tikka salad is served on a crispy pappadum lentil wafer with cilantro, lettuce, onion and a mango chutney.

All the tandoori dishes here stand out, even if the servings are a bit stingy. Quail dries out somewhat in a tandoor, but the deliciously gamy flavors and unusual spices make it worth a try. Fish tikka, made from chunks of fresh halibut, is appropriately crusty. There is an excellent preparation called ginger chicken marinated in green chili, bell pepper and abundant mint; it tastes more Thai than Indian. Tandoori prawns are marinated in lime for 24 hours before cooking. Lamb tikka is trim and melts in the mouth.

Service at Gandhi is inconsistent. Dishes may come out of the kitchen in one great rush or they don’t show up at all. On two occasions I ordered items only to find out later that they were unavailable.

Another time our waiter had a great deal of trouble with the Kashmiri chicken, the house specialty ($30 for two people). At first he presented the dish with a great flourish--the whole chicken sat on a silver platter, elegantly dressed like a Christmas turkey. According to the menu, the chicken is stuffed with minced lamb and herbs, then served with special rice, naan and mixed vegetables. What the menu doesn’t tell you is that the dish is virtually impossible to carve. Our poor bird fell apart when the waiter tried to serve it. The stuffing spewed out like buckshot. He had to spoon it onto our plates.

You’ll do better at Gandhi if you exploit the strengths of the chef, namely traditional Punjabi dishes based around such spices as turmeric, cumin, coriander and red pepper. The chicken tikka masala , chunks of chicken cooked in the tandoor and then smothered in a grainy, yogurt-based curry sauce, is one of the best I’ve ever tasted. Lamb saag , pieces of lamb in a spinach puree dripping with ghee (clarified butter), is terrific. Most of the vegetable dishes, bhindi masala, sauteed okra, bhangan masala, curried eggplant and saag aloo (potatoes with spinach) are as good as the ones at little roadside dhabas in India itself. And rice dishes are exemplary, fluffy, fragrant, subtle.

Desserts and ice creams are prepared by the chef and the ones I tasted were quite good. On two occasions I missed his rasmalai , soft patties made from boiled milk and garnished with pistachio, but if the dessert is available I urge you to try it. It is a favorite in West Bengal and the most refreshing Indian dessert I know of. I did try his homemade kulfi , little frozen discs of almond-pistachio ice milk, flavored with saffron and rose water, and gulab jamun , fried pastry balls served in a sweet syrup (the gulab jamun would have been better but the waiter flamed them in Sambuca, as if they were some sort of special after dinner coffee).

Gandhi is moderately priced. Appetizers are $2.50 to $4.50. Tandoori dishes are $9.95 to $12.95. Curry dishes are $8.95 to $12.95. Vegetable dishes are $4.95. An exceptional wine list with many rare vintages is just one more of this restaurant’s surprises.

GANDHI

3820-D Plaza Drive, South Coast Plaza Village, Santa Ana, (714) 556-7273.

Open seven days for lunch and dinner. All major credit cards accepted.