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Very Best Restaurants: Bombay Bistro

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Bombay Bistro **
Rockville , Fairfax , ¢

The addition of a larger restaurant in Fairfax has partially remedied one of the problems for fans of this fine Indian foodgetting in. The lines are a bit shorter at the original Maryland location and nonexistent in Virginia except on weekends.

The menus, a balance of traditional Indian food from all parts of the subcontinent with an occasional original creation, focus on the tandoor, which produces everything from kebabs of ground meat and bronzed morsels of skinless chicken to fish filets and whole fish. A recent special was a whole rockfish marinated in yogurt, spices, and herbs and cooked in the tandoor until the flesh blistered. Other dishes are started in the tandoor, then finished with sauces. These include tikka makhani, tandoor-roasted chicken bathed in a tomato-yogurt sauce; and tikka jhalfrazi, slivers of tandoor-roasted chicken tossed with onions, tomatoes, green peppers, and mustard seeds.

Vegetarians won't be disappointed. Crisp, deep-fried vegetable samosas and bhel puri, a mixture of yogurt and crispy noodles, are fine nonmeat starters. Good vegetarian curries include roasted eggplant, spinach with house-made cheese, and cauliflower with potatoes.

Luncheon buffets, which combine tandoor dishes and curries of the north with some unusual dishes from the south of India, are excellent and are bargains at $6.95 on weekdays and $8.95 on weekends.

Bombay Bistro , 98 W. Montgomery Ave., Rockville ; 301-762-8798. Open daily for lunch and dinner. MapIt!

Bombay Bistro , 3570 Chain Bridge Rd., Fairfax ; 703-359-5810. Open daily for lunch and dinner. MapIt!

QUALITY: ****Excellent; *** Superior; **Very Good; * Good
PRICE RANGE: $$$= Very Expensive; $$ Expensive; $=Moderate; ¢=Inexpensive

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