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	Relocated Akbar is fast currying favor in Plano Waltrina Stovall - Dallas Morning News - May 10, 1996
	Lots of restaurants have been testing the Plano-Far-North Dallas waters by opening offshoots there. But Akbar didn't just dip a toe in: the 10-year-old Indian restaurant went in headfirst, moving in toto from Richardson's Promenade Center to Plano's Ruisseau Village.
	Owner Nick Kumar says as the restaurant's lease was running out, "we decided to take a chance and go for greener pastures."
	One aspect of a move to Plano seemed particularly attractive, he says. It had no Indian restaurants.
	In gaining Akbar, named for the great 16th-century Mogul ruler, Plano now boasts one of the best Indian places around.
	The decor is understated but serene. Aside from the attractive Indian prints and wall hangings moved from Richardson, about the only decoration is slate tiles used to outline dividers in the two-level dining room (and also used on the restaurant's facade). Sitar music was soothing one visit, but seemed loud on another.
	What gives the restaurant its real character is the staff. Dressed in crisp white shirts and black pants, the waiters are almost uncannily silent, yet super-attentive. You know your entree is about to come from the kitchen when a server appears wiping dinner plates with a snowy white towel. He murmurs "Hot" as he sets one before you; it feels as if it's just been plucked from a boiling bath.
	And from the arrival of complimentary pappadams - paper-thin, saucer-size lentil wafers that are to Indian restaurants what chips are to Tex-Mex spots - and on through the blandly sweet desserts, Akbar's food is dependably good.
	Pappadams often have almost doughy, undercrisped spots. Here they were evenly toasted throughout, and both chutney dips -- a tangy-spicy mint and a fruity tamarind with plumped golden currents in its depths -- were fresh tasting and delicious.
	From the menu, we liked samose ($2.75), pastry triangles stuffed with spiced potato chunks and peas, and subzi ke pakore ($2.95), cauliflower florets fried in chickpea batter. Dahi bhalla ($2.95) is almost breakfast food; a thick crunchy chickpea patty floated in a bowl of yogurt and drizzled with chutney.
	Raita ($1.75), the souplike cucumber-yogurt "salad", is listed as an appetizer, but it's especially good as a cooling counterpoint to fiery entrees. Soups (each $2.50) include the chicken and lentil jehangiri, not tried, and tamatar, a delicately spiced tomato-coconut broth.
	Even those leery of "foreign" food take quickly to meats and seafood cooked in the Indian tandoor, a clay oven capable of extremely high temperatures. Tandoori khoobiyan ($12.50), a mixed grill, was a bountiful selection: juicy chicken, scarlet-skinned from being marinated in yogurt and spices; ground lamb kebabs, tender chunks of lamb and a couple of whole pink shrimp.
	Fiery curries are agreeable to the Tex-Mex palate, too. The chef's specialties come with lamb, more traditional, or with beef, $1 less per entree. Gobi ghost ($11.95), an herb-strewn mahogany curry, held wonderfully moist and flavorful lamb and al dente cauliflower florets. Ghost saagwala, same prices, is a milder dish, with the lamb swathed is a rich, creamy spinach sauce - imagine cream-style spinach punched up with spices.
	Murg mirch masala ($10.95), a chicken and potato curry, is touted as "only for the brave at heart". They might add "and of cast-iron palate." Those who like food on the blistering side will be contented (as we were).
	Indian restaurants are nearly always good choices for vegetarians, too. Akbar is no exception. There are 11 vegetable dishes, priced $7.50 to $8.95, plus a special three-course vegetarian meal ($11.95) served on a traditional thali platter.
	A waiter steered us to navrattan korma ($8.75), an A-to-Z mix of vegetables, nuts and raisins in a cream sauce. We wished we'd stuck with our plan to order one of the eggplant dishes - baigan bhurta ($7.95), baked with onions, peas and tomatoes, or baigan aloowala ($7.50), sauteed with potato in a tomato sauce.
	While we never tried either eggplant dish, a lunch buffet visit verified that simpler can be tastier. Two buffet offerings that are also on the menu were saag paneer ($8.95), rich, emerald-green creamed spinach laced with chunks of snowy housemade cheese, and tarka dal makhani ($8.75), soupy, long-simmering black beans.
	Not on the menu but offered on the buffet was a saute of okra and onion in a spice mix that added an almost fruity character. Try some if you spy it. Other vegetarian dishes on the lunch spread ($5.95 weekdays; $7.95 weekends) included two kinds of vegetable fritters, salads (mixed greens, potato and fresh cubed pear in masala spice mix) and the day's soup - cream of mushroom, not exactly Indian but excellent.
	The buffet, said to be even bigger on weekends, also had ample meat dishes, including two kinds of tandoori chicken legs (one rosey red, the other dusted with brown spices) and beef and chicken curries, both tongue-searing. Carrot-strewn basmati rice helped sop up all the luscious juices. There were also soft, warm bread pillows from the tandoor oven - though the puffy, lightly scorched naan that we ordered a la carte ($1.25) at night was better.
	Most Indian desserts remind me of nursery food - sweet and bland - but one dining companion loved gulab jamun ($2.25), light pastry balls soaked in cardamom-perfumed honey; shahi rasmalai ($2.95), chalky cheese patties in a creamy, pistachio-flecked sauce, seemed well-made.
	Because it crossed county lines in its move, Akbar couldn't transfer its club license. When a new one is obtained, beer and wine will be offered; in the meantime, you may BYOB.
	Akbar's move is going swimmingly, Mr. Kumar says. Open only four weeks and with little publicity, the Plano restaurant already has higher sales than when it was in Richardson.
	Perhaps Plano residents have been hungry for Indian fare.
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