Curry Hut, Highwood's first Indian restaurant, resides a stone's throw from a north suburban Metra station. The owner, Bala Ghimire, leads the efficient and courteous service team and presides over a white-tablecloth dining room spiffy and simple with swag drapery, peach walls, and blond wood chairs. Hardly a hut, this is a lovely space for executive chef Tek Chand's Indian and Nepalese dishes. The two countries-each a part of Chand's heritage-have similar culinary traditions.

I was impressed with all the de rigueur In­dian appetizers, from paneer pakora-homemade cheese deep-fried in garbanzo batter-to three kinds of zesty samosas: chicken, lamb, and vegetable. (Go with lamb.) A companion also loved his clove-scented lentil and vegetable soup-after a spoonful I agreed with him.By all means try a few of the ten tandoori breads; the simple naan and roti are fine, but the piazi kulcha stuffed with onion and cilantro and the keema naan stuffed with minced lamb are really special.

Chand's expertise with Indian classics is undeniable: the chicken tikka masala is tender, the tandoori prawns truly exceptional, and several lamb dishes stand out. Of course there's a lamb curry, cooked in tomatoes and onions with a cardamom-dominated sauce. As usual, the lamb vindaloo, chunks of meat marinated and cooked in a sauce of vinegar, hot chilies, spices, and mustard oil, is fiery-with potatoes to make the dish authentically Goan. Three juicy and flavorful tandoori-roasted lamb chops, with a thick spice coating, arrive on a sizzling platter in a bed of raw vegetables with lemon wedges, meant to be squeezed over the chops for a final flourish. Gosht biryani-a generous platter of saffron-scented balsamic rice with spices and chunks of lamb-is perfect for sharing.

My favorite Nepalese dishes were mo mo (the name alone makes it irresistible)-dumplings of spiced minced chicken that looked Chinese but had a distinctive sauce, a mustardlike achar-and khasi ko maasu, tender goat meat braised on the bone with herbs and spices. Both were less oily than most Indian food, though I confess it was hard for me to detect what exactly was different about the "Himalayan herbs and spices" other than the achar.

Curry Hut's mango kulfi is not as elegant as Marigold's, but the mango flavor alone makes it a winner; the gulab jamun was just as tasty as the one at India House. Indian wines are listed strictly by the glass, but when I asked if they could be had by the bottle, the waiter recommended the 2006 Sula Vineyards syrah ($30). It's one of the first Indian wines I've tasted and its style convinced me that India's vineyards, just like these three very good restaurants, have a future.

Curry Hut-410 Sheridan Road, Highwood; www.curryhutrestaurant.com. Appetizers $3.50 to $12.95; entrées $8.95 to $24.95; desserts $3.50 to $3.95. Lunch and dinner daily. Reservations: 847-432-2889.