The butter chicken attracted my attention immediately. To a typical southerner like me, the fresh and original flavor of the ingredients must stand out, and curries seemed too overwhelmingly spicy. I had thought all curries used vast amounts of chilies and spices.

But when we sampled the butter chicken at the Cafe Cha at the Shangri-La, I was surprised by how mild it was. Instead of the acrid spiciness that I expected, this was sweet, with the slightest heat from the fresh chilies.

Veteran Indian chef Mahendra Rathod, who stood right beside the dishes to answer questions, explained that he added sugar, honey and tomato. A fine mixture of butter and honey adds a smooth richness to the sauce.

I no longer worried about what was in the sauce, because I was enjoying the dish too much. The chicken was tender and tasty and went perfectly with the vegetable pilaf with its pleasant mix of green pepper, cowpea, corn, fried onions, carrot and cauliflower. Fragrant basmati rice is flavored with cinnamon.

Chef Rathod explains that the aroma of basmati rice is all-natural, and it is a specialty of India, grown in the foothills of the Himalayas. In India, it is often eaten on its own so its fragrance can be fully appreciated.

I found the texture of the rice a little harder than I am used to, but eaten with the butter chicken, it was a pleasing combination. Actually, I find the greatest joy of eating Indian is having the curry sauce at hand to go with the fried and roasted dishes.

Other attractions on the buffet include typical Indian delicacies such as the roasted papadum crackers, butter naan, lamb tikka, fish tikka and vegetable tandoori, which all goes very well with my "dip it in the curry" approach.

There are also meticulously made side dishes, such as mango pickles, mint chutney, tamarind chutney and cucumber raita, with beautiful colors that light up the table.

At Cafe Cha, all the ingredients - spices, vegetables and meat alike - were imported from India. Except for the fish.

In India, the chef says, fish tikka usually uses the large kingfish. But here, he used salmon, which is delicious but delicate and adds to the difficulty of getting it perfect.

On the same buffet are Cafe Cha's famous Boston lobsters. Many diners go straight for the seafood before tackling the curries because the spiciness of the sauces may distract the taste buds. There is always an art to what to eat first at a buffet.

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