I crave Indian food pretty regularly and I'm happy to know that there are a number of Indian restaurants in Madison to satisfy my craving.
The samosa, vegetable pakora, paneer (cheese) pakora are decent. However, the Aloo Tikki (small spicy potato discs) is very tasty with the right amount of spices.
I LOVE Parantha (layered whole wheat bread made with melted butter) and the Maharani Parantha here are delicious and remind me of when I used to make these with mom. You have to eat them right when they come out though because that's when they're the best - hot, buttery, crispy and tender.
The Roti Naan is pretty good too. Made exactly the way naan is (baked in a tandoor oven) except they use whole wheat flour instead of white flour.
The Chicken Tikka Masala is delectable. The sauce is orange colored, rich, creamy and has nice chunks of boneless chicken (could use more chunks of chicken). This is also spiced really nicely. You get a choice of mild, medium or hot for the level of spiciness in your dishes. Medium here is really good - it teeters on medium and hot.
The Palak Paneer (spinach cooked with homemade cheese) is earthy, spicy and buttery. This is really, really good. The only thing about the dish is that the ginger pieces were a little overwhelming.
Dessert
Gulab Jamun (it's like a deep fried dounut hole soaked in sugar syrup) has been my favorite Indian dessert since childhood. Not a lot of places know how to make this dessert right. It has to be lite and airy not dense and hard. Maharani makes it just right and hot off of the stove! It's delicious!