Like Indian Food? The Curry Club on Long Island is Hard to Beat

There are people, I am told, who do not appreciate buffet-style dining. They prefer to choose a single entrée from the menu, have their food set down in front of them by a waiter, and remain seated throughout the meal. They are comfortable with the notion of paying extra for second helpings and, as I understand it, are generally satisfied with a single serving of dessert.

I am not one of those people. I love the idea of sampling a variety of dishes, taking as much as I want of whichever dish most appeals to me at the moment, and helping myself to as many servings of dessert as I might choose to leave room for. Indeed, I have been known to sample the dessert first to know just how much room to leave for it.

When it comes to Indian food, The Curry Club, located near near Stony Brook University at the corner of 25A and Nichols Road in East Setauket, is hard to beat. The Curry Club offers its superb buffet daily between 11:30 and 3. (Don't come before noon on Sundays.) The buffet always features such vegetarian delights as cottage cheese cubes, lentils, potatoes, cauliflower, okra, or other vegetables in various tomato, spinach, or cream sauces. For the more carnivorously-inclined, several chicken, beef, or lamb dishes are always available as well. The buffet invariably includes a soup of the day, a rice dish, an Indian bread or two, a selection of fresh fruit and salad items, and a variety of Indian condiments for those who might prefer their food a little spicier, milder, or otherwise adjusted. For me, side servings of raita (a refreshing yogurt and cucumber sauce) and tamarind chutney (a thick red sauce that brings delicate sweetness to any dish it is eaten with) are essential accompaniments to any Indian meal.

As I have already implied, the Curry Club desserts are almost worth the price of admission all by themselves. The buffet invariably includes either gulab jamun (balls of fried dough in a sweet rosewater syrup), kheer (rice pudding with pistachios), or ras malai (delicate cottage cheese cakes in a sweet milk sauce). Not a loser in the bunch, and the entire buffet a steal at under $10!

For those who prefer to order lunch from the menu, or those who arrive too late for the buffet, The Curry Club offers an extensive menu of curries, kabobs, rice dishes, and Indian breads and beverages of all kinds. A sweet lassi (a frothy, fruit-flavored yogurt drink) makes an excellent palate cooler. The food is delicious, the setting is elegant without being pretentious, service is fast and friendly, and most dishes are priced well-under $20. After 5, you can have your curry and cocktails in the adjacent Velvet Lounge, where live music is presented every Wednesday, Thursday, Friday, and Saturday night at 10.

Owner Kulwant Wadhwa, who hails from northern India, is usually around to greet arriving guests and usher them to their tables. On the way out, he asks if you enjoyed your meal, and you get the feeling that he really cares.