Those who crave terrific tandoori chicken and unabashedly bold curries should look to Happy and Mona Singh’s Urban Tadka, an eleven-year-old Punjabi institution in an Irving shopping center. In addition to zingy yellow dal loaded with earthy cumin seeds and tender lamb korma with almond sauce, we feasted on butter chicken and tandoori chicken, the latter glowing-red and sprinkled with chaat masala (a tangy Indian spice blend). Served with sliced bell pepper and onion and a creamy mint chutney, the all-dark-meat plate made us think twice about fajitas’ being the most exciting dish to emerge from a kitchen hissing and smoking. Shreds of a similarly prepared chicken were mixed into our radiant, tomato-based butter chicken, and the paneer makhani came with sweet, soft cubes of fresh cheese. We finished with badam kheer, a cardamom-scented rice pudding, and two domes of gulab jamun in a less-sweet syrup than other renditions. Our weak masala chais aside, we left thinking this restaurant could hold its own with any in Irving.