The butter chicken attracted my attention immediately. To a typical southerner like me, the fresh and original flavor of the ingredients must stand out, and curries seemed too overwhelmingly spicy. I had thought all curries used vast amounts of chilies and spices.

But when we sampled the butter chicken at the Cafe Cha at the Shangri-La, I was surprised by how mild it was. Instead of the acrid spiciness that I expected, this was sweet, with the slightest heat from the fresh chilies.

Veteran Indian chef Mahendra Rathod, who stood right beside the dishes to answer questions, explained that he added sugar, honey and tomato. A fine mixture of butter and honey adds a smooth richness to the sauce.

I no longer worried about what was in the sauce, because I was enjoying the dish too much. The chicken was tender and tasty and went perfectly with the vegetable pilaf with its pleasant mix of green pepper, cowpea, corn, fried onions, carrot and cauliflower. Fragrant basmati rice is flavored with cinnamon.

Vegetable basmati rice. Photo by Han Bingbin / China Daily