Jal Mahal

Hand the menu around a Jal Mahal table and four people will build four different meals from it. One runs straight to Butter Chicken and Garlic Naan; another wants the rice to carry the meal and lands on Lamb Biryani; a vegetarian works the Sakahari Dill Bahar curries toward Paneer Butter Masala and Chana Masala; a fourth treats the tandoori section as the main event and orders Chicken Tikka before anything else arrives. This is an Indian kitchen on Thorold Stone Road in Niagara Falls, set back from the falls-view dining strip, and it is built to take all of those orders off a single line.

The menu is organized the way regulars actually eat. Starters come from Desi Tadka — Samosa, Chicken Pakora, Aloo Tikki, the vegetarian Shabz Pakora and the vegan Masala Peanut. The tandoori section, Tandoori Zaika, runs from Chicken Tikka and Tandoori Chicken through Murgh Malai Kabab, Reshmi Kabab and Murgh Hariyali Kabab. Chicken Delicacies hold the room's two clearest anchors, Butter Chicken and the creamy Murgh Shahi Korma, while the lamb list carries Lamb Vindaloo, Lamb Seekh Kabab and a homestyle curry. Lamb Biryani and the saffron-scented Zafrani Chawal cover the rice, and Garlic Naan is the bread most orders are built around.