Good first impression

It's unusual for a Cheap Eats restaurant to get a buzz as soon as it opens, but that's what's happened in the past two months with Grain and Salt. Owned by Syed Shabbir, who worked at the Bombay Club in Harvard Square for many years, Grain and Salt is already playing to a full house on weekends.

And it should. This food, a mixture of Indian and Pakistani specialties, with some Indian-Chinese dishes as well, is unusual. Each sauce has its own integrity; the dishes are quite different from one another; homemade breads are spectacular; and the tandoori chicken, made in a tandoor oven, is alone worth a visit.

Shabbir decided that after seven years at the Bombay Club, ''it was time to have something of my own.'' He had also worked with the Sheraton Oberoi, based in Bombay, which is his hometown. Grain and Salt's menu is entirely halal, which means all meat and chicken are slaughtered according to Muslim halal standards; no pork is offered, nor is alcohol.

Begin with the pakoras, a variety of fritters: crisp, wispy vegetables ($3.50); paneer, cow cheese made on the premises ($5) that is soft inside a golden crust; or chicken ($6), which comes in long crunchy swirls of meat and tastes like the best chicken fingers you've ever eaten.

The tandoor-baked naan ($2.50) is a delightful oval puff of chewy bread, while chappati ($2) is a pita-style bread that splits easily in the middle and arrives hot and deliciously soft.

There have been concessions made to American tastes. Shrimp vindaloo ($12.50), which comes with tiny potatoes, is quite hot but not the fiery sauce you're expecting. That's not to say the food is without character. Lamb bhuna ($12) begins with grilled meat - really good meat in generous morsels - tossed with tomatoes and bell peppers. The meat, Shabbir tells me later, is Australian halal lamb. Seekh kebab kakori ($10) are thick cylinders of moist ground lamb seasoned with mint and coriander.

Waiters are wearing all black, and though they seem in full command of each table, our waiter forgets raita and a cucumber salad on one visit. The raita ($3.25), which we order another time, is based on the restaurant's own yogurt, saucy with a deep minty flavor. The night we get it, we spoon it alongside chicken tandoori ($10.50), generous servings of a moist, garlicky bird smothered in spices and served with thinly sliced red onions.

We also try the chicken tikka curry ($11.50), in which the tandoori-cooked bird arrives in a gingery sauce. Aloo matar gobhi ($9.50) is a delightful cauliflower, potato, and pea mixture in a tomato-based sauce. Among the biryani dishes - rice-based plates garnished with various meats and vegetables - the pleasing subzi biryani ($10) also boasts cauliflower, potato, and peas.

Basmati rice ($3), which comes with many of the entrees, is an elegant presentation with a drizzle of saffron and water on top. Shabbir says that high-end restaurants at home do this saffron garnish (it's also a trademark of Persian rice).

To finish, we order kulfi ($3.50), which comes in four flavors: lychee, strawberry, mango, and plain. The plain is a sweet milky ice cream, completely unadorned, quite cold, and just right.

Among the Indian-Chinese specialties, which include hot-and-sour soup and chicken noodle soup, is shrimp manchurian ($11.50), which is hot but has no depth. Chinese food is so popular among Indians, says Shabbir, that his clientele encouraged him to add these dishes.

There are typical Indian dishes available on the weekends, including paya, which is a beef marrow bone in a clear, hot broth. ''Good for men,'' our waiter tells us, which almost prompts a battle over who gets to take leftovers home. That promise alone will surely fill Grain and Salt.