Among the main courses, Cross Culture’s lamb saagwala was a fine version of this dish of mostly coriander-flavored spinach studded with tender pieces of lamb. Shrimp karahi was balanced enough to allow the sweetness of the shrimp to come through its onion-tomato-green pepper mix. And the Goan fish curry made with salmon, while more boldly spiced, ran a respectable second to the gentle navratan korma.

Cross Culture in Princeton is one of four such restaurants — others are in Lambertville and Haddonfield, and in Doylestown, Pa. — owned by two brothers, Paramjeet (P.J.) Singh and Gurjeet (Monty) Kinth, and their families, Mr. Singh said in a telephone interview after my visits.

The Princeton location, which opened in August 2010 and is overseen by Mr. Singh, occupies a corner of a shopping center, with views across a grassy plaza out front, and across the way to a paint store along the side. The abundant windows allowed the interior to be lighted nicely on a daytime visit, but in the evening, I was grateful to have my flashlight app for menu reading, since the minuscule votive shrank to a wan flicker once the server withdrew his lighter.

But the booths were comfortable and invited leisurely dining, and the servers were quick with water refills (though one of them accidentally topped off our glasses of sparkling water with tap water). Though the best dishes here are very good, some did not rise to that level, including vegetable samosas and pakoras, and the cheese-stuffed hot peppers — all battered, all fried. The mulligatawny soup, though well flavored, was so thin that drinking it from the bowl would have been more efficient and more satisfying.