More Than Credible, Less Than Pricey

Bukhara, a town along the Central Asian caravan road in northwestern India, is said to be the original home of the subtly spiced, meat-rich Mughlai cuisine. There are Mughlai restaurants in New York, New Delhi and, in fact, all over the world calling themselves Bukhara.

Orange County has its own Bukhara, too--an attractive little jewel of a place in Huntington Beach, a comfortable and relaxing restaurant with long, cream-colored banquettes and teal green chairs that you sink right down into. The soothing beige walls are graced with Indian watercolors.

The owners are Inder Jit Sangh and Gurcharan S. Sandher, both from Jalandhar in the Punjab, the hotbed of Mughlai cooking. Sangh is the one in the natty black tuxedo, gracefully serving tables. Sandher is the one in white chef’s clothes, standing by the tandoor oven.

Since they’re Punjabis, like most Indian restaurateurs in Orange County, the menu here is a virtual match for those found at Mayur, Royal Khyber, Far Pavilions--in fact, all the major Indian restaurants in the vicinity. If you’re looking for something else in Indian food, you’ll have to cross the county line and head for Cerritos, where Standard Sweets sells Gujarati snacks and Madhu’s Dasaprakash offers south Indian vegetarian fare. But for what they do here, Bukhara does a more than credible job.

Despite toned-down, even muted spicing, the cooking is generally fresh and honest. The dishes I tasted measured up to the standards of the other restaurants mentioned--often at a much lower price.

For instance, the lunch buffet, that fixture of our Indian restaurants, is incredibly generous at a mere $5.95: five vegetable dishes, salad, an appetizer called onion bhaji, tandoori chicken, a curry dish, hot naan bread from the tandoor and a fine, fluffy rice pilaf. The bhaji is particularly good, a round, puffy, Indianized equivalent of the onion loaf you get at Tony Roma’s. It’s made from a spicy lentil flour batter and shredded onions, deep-fried to crispness. The waiters bring bhaji s from the kitchen piping hot and drop them onto your plates with a flourish.

At night, you will probably want to begin with one of the appetizers cooked in the tandoor. Tangri or ginger kabab impressed me most: tender chicken legs marinated in yogurt and ginger, eaten with a refreshing mint sauce. The meat just falls off the bone. I also liked the seekh kabab very much, even if the kitchen did get a little enthusiastic with the red food coloring. Seekh kabab is a minced lamb sausage roasted on a skewer; Bukhara’s is tasty, crumbly, and pungent with onion and garlic. If only it didn’t look like a cherry Popsicle.

I wasn’t so taken with fish tikka, chunks of mahi-mahi marinated in garlic and herbs. Mahi-mahi is used because of its firm flesh, which doesn’t fall apart in the tandoor. But it’s somewhat tired and tasteless. Fresh swordfish would have been a much better choice.

The entrees are basically a choice between chicken or lamb with a few seafood dishes thrown in. Karahi lamb is delicious--cubed lamb cooked in an iron skillet with spices. But don’t expect too much variety: Lamb patiala --a chef’s specialty made with diced onion, bell pepper, ginger and garlic--tastes and looks exactly the same. Chicken vindaloo, usually a blistering-hot stew of meat, potatoes, and sauce, is just plain hot here. I couldn’t taste the vinegar the recipe calls for. In fact, I could barely taste the chicken.

Malai kofta is the best of a good vegetable group. Mock meatballs made from grated vegetables served in a rich cream gravy, they are seductively heavy and indulgent. I’d also give high marks to the channa masala, mildly spiced garbanzo beans in a fragrant sauce. Spinach, eggplant and lentil dishes all are tasty and strongly flavored, though there is little contrast in the way they are seasoned.

Compliment your meal with some of the good house breads, or perhaps a rice dish. Paratha, unleavened, multilayered whole-wheat bread, becomes a sophisticated treat when eaten with a spoonful of dark green mint chutney. A pillau of basmati rice cooked with zucchini, tomato, peas and almond slivers is lively enough to make a meal by itself.

Indian desserts often are cloying, but not here. Gulab jamun, a golden ball of highly condensed milk served warm in honey syrup, is light and sticky. Kulfi, a nut ice cream served in chunks, may be the most riveting dish the restaurant serves. The chef makes it himself from pistachio, almond, and milk he boils slowly for several hours until it’s extra thick. It’s one of the richest ice creams you’ll ever taste.

Bukhara is, as we’ve noted, moderately priced. Appetizers and breads are $1.95 to $5.50. Tandoori specialties are $5.95 to $11.95. Entrees are $6.95 to $13.95. Desserts are $2.95.

BUKHARA

7594 Edinger Ave., Huntington Beach

(714) 842-3171

Open daily from 11:30 a.m. to 2:30 p.m. and from 5 to 10:30 p.m.

All major credit cards accepted.