Vatan Indian Restaurant   

Even if you're not Indian, you'll feel right at home in this popular Murray Hill eatery. A lively, colorful restaurant that asks you to take off your shoes before entering and sit cross-legged on low comfy cushions, Vatan will paint your palate with a rich portrait of life back in North India (as seen on the evocative wall murals.) Serving the cuisine from the Gujarat region, this spacious, bi-level eatery offers vegetarian fare that is hearty enough to satiate die-hard carnivores. A perfect destination for the indecisive, Vatan dispenses with menus and replaces them with an all-encompassing all-you-can-eat prix-fixe feast at a surprisingly reasonable price. New and plentiful dishes -- like samosas, toor dal, kadhi, chana masala -- are continually brought out to your table in three courses. Fragrant rice, chutney, lentils, chickpeas -- sample all the tastes in a gleeful group atmosphere (but note that children under ten are not permitted.) -- Yon Motskin