Cheap Eats buffet edition: Amaya Indian Cuisine

Subcontinental Smackdown! When you want to eat a whole lot of really good food without breaking the bank, nothing beats the Indian buffet. We have a large and vibrant Indian community here, and we’ve always had a great variety of Indian options such as the India House and Raj Mahal. Over the next several months, I’ll be visiting local Indian buffets to provide an idea of what you can expect at each.

The joint: Amaya Indian Cuisine, Tops Brighton Plaza, 1900 S. Clinton Ave., Brighton. (585) 241-3223, www.amayaindiancuisine.com. Dine in.

The meal: Lunch buffet.

The check: $12.95.

The story: The Amaya location has been an Indian restaurant, under various ownership, for the better part of two decades. The current owners are definitely aiming high end, with linen, fine cutlery and glassware, and a focus on quality. Connoisseurs will appreciate the effort. While the price tag is among the highest for an Indian buffet in town, Amaya delivers the goods.

First thing I noticed was the impressive display of appetizers. It looked good, and it was good. There was an assortment of pakora (battered, fried vegetables), vada (a savory doughnut made from a fermented bean dough) and panipuri (which I’ll get to). Definitely get yourself some sambar (a lentil soup/stew) for dipping your vada.

For the vegetarians, there was kadi pakora (vegetable fritters in a spiced, sour yogurt sauce), saag paneer (spinach with homemade farmer’s cheese), killer cabbage with vegetables, and mixed vegetables (all the appetizers were also vegetarian). The cabbage was particularly good, a bit more complex than similar dishes I’d had elsewhere.

Meat eaters won’t be left wanting, either. Our options included succulent, curried goat on the bone; tender and juicy tandoori chicken kabobs (it’s a feat to keep this moist); chicken tikka masala (the same chicken in a spiced, creamy tomato sauce); and fish masala, which despite the name similarity was quite different from the chicken dish (“masala” is a many-purposed word).

The options: Too many to even begin to discuss. Amaya makes dishes from many regions in India, and in many styles. There are six basic types of bread, for instance, several coming in many forms. With the buffet, they’ll bring you a fresh basket of naan (a white pocket bread cooked in a clay oven, or tandoor), which is great for gathering up the last bits of the various sauces on your plate.

But you’ll want to come again at dinner and explore the menu. Amaya has a tantalizing array of lamb dishes, and also serves four kinds of dosa — the large, South Indian rice-and-lentil crêpes stuffed with your choice of filling.

And vegetarians should always remember that Indian restaurants are The Way to Go. When in doubt, go with a culture that’s had vegetarians for thousands of years. Amaya, in particular, has well over a dozen vegetarian entrées, and a huge variety of veggie sides.

Don’t forget to ask … How to eat a panipuri. I tried panipuri, or golgappa, or water balls, for the first time on a business trip to New Delhi back in 1999, and I fell in love with the experience. It’s a street food all over India. You take a hollow, crisp ball; poke a little hole in it; fill it with your choices of garnishes (chickpeas, onion, potato, coriander, tamarind chutney); then you dip it in spiced tamarind water (fast) and pop it in your mouth whole. It creates a wild flavo-textural epiphany in your mouth. Fun and delicious.

Adam Wilcox’s numinous experience with Indian street food was a spiritual awakening.