The search for authentic Indian regional cuisine continues. Samir Majmudar and his partners, who finally got us some South Indian food at Rangoli, and a sampling of all the regions at Tanjore, have now re-launched their original Bombay Bistro as Rani Indian Bistro, and relocated its culinary heart in Hyderabad, well east and somewhat south of Bombay/Moombai. So instead of our usual Anglo-Punjabi menu cooked by Bengalis in a restaurant owned by Gujaratis — which would be like an American restaurant in New Delhi owned by Californians with a kitchen full of Brooklynites making Southern fried chicken with curry powder — we have something analogous to a Boston restaurant serving southern food. Rouge or Magnolia’s, say.

In a way, Hyderabadi food is the meat-heavy Southern Indian cuisine we non-Indian restaurant-goers should have had all along. (Of course, if Boston’s colonial government had been friendlier to the refugee Acadians in the 1750s, we would have had restaurants like Rouge and Magnolia’s all along.) The Hyderabadis didn’t make the British version of meat-heavy Indian restaurant food because the British did not formally run Hyderabad. It was the decadent capital of a surviving Muslim principality twice the size of Ireland until it formally merged with independent (and democratic) India. The Nizam of Hyderabad was a fabulously wealthy potentate surrounded by an aristocracy of meat-eating gourmets. Hyderabad is also the chili-pepper-growing region of India, so the food can be spicy. Since the owners aren’t actually from Hyderabad, there is still some vagueness in the flavors, but a lot of this food is very good, if not perfectly authentic.

They’ve also done a really nice job expanding and redecorating the old restaurant. The colors are the reds and oranges of India, with a little purple detailing, and there’s lots of nice wood, Modigliani-like small paintings on the walls, and vases in fitted alcoves. The chairs are well padded and comfortable, although there is a fair amount of fashionable noise as the restaurant fills up, and service lapses a bit as well.

On a recent cold night we started with corn-ginger soup ($4), which is somewhat blander and richer than the description implies, but ideally warming. My favorite appetizer, sabzi pakora ($3.75), was very warming, since each of the five mixed-vegetable fritters was flavored with a provocative blend of caramelized onions and hot chili peppers. If that wasn’t spicy enough, the dip looks like ketchup but tastes like hot sauce. (You could also cool down this and other appetizers with a coriander-mint chutney on every table, or reheat with a raw onion chutney.)

The Rani platter ($9) brings two potato-pea samosas (wrapped pyramid dumplings), four milder pakoras (a little cabbagy, even), and one aloo pattice ($3.75/four), an intriguing flat potato dumpling with minty coriander chutney stuffed inside. Bhel ($6), my old favorite from Rangoli and Tanjore, is a kind of Indian mix of puffed rice, fried-cracker pieces, chopped tomatoes, potato, and onions, with dots of sweet-sour tamarind sauce, yogurt sauce, and cilantro. The only appetizer that didn’t fully appetize was dahi bhalla ($4.50), described as "lentil dumplings" but served cold. So you have four objects with the consistency of refrigerated rice pudding, topped with yogurt and tamarind sauce.

The menu is hedged with traditional Indian-restaurant appetizers and entrées, but has 10 "Hyderabadi Style" entrées, three kinds of Hyderabadi rice, and some unusual tandoor items. On top of the Hyderabadi-style list is mirchi ka salan ($11), described as "very popular, very hot green pepper curry." That’s all true, but this is the only dish ever invented in which scraping off the moderately hot sauce leaves the even hotter peppers to eat. Hotness aside, there’s a nice contrast between the green chili peppers, which are slightly dry and bitter tasting, and the sauce, which is richer and sweeter. I also liked chutney gosht ($14), a very meaty-tasting stew of roasted lamb in a great, spicy gravy with black mustard seeds. Kari murgh ($12) is a lighter version with boneless chicken meat. Although the sauce is made with unripe mangoes, it’s red and only somewhat sweet and sour, not like the dried-apricot masala. I think a sprinkle of fresh cilantro would make this dish, but maybe that’s not traditional. Hussainy Lamb ($14) is a less distinctive lamb stew than the chutney gosht, and is less spicy while leaning a little more toward garlic.

Dinners are small bowls of stew, with large helpings of superb basmati rice, cooked up with a little cumin. You also get a buttery-yellow lentil dal, also cuminated, and some yogurt sauce. With tandoor dishes, there is also a slice of lemon and some sliced tomato and onion. Boti kebab ($17) offers quite a few lamb chunks, which are rare yet marinated to the edge of a powdery texture. Hara Bhara Tikka ($12) is chicken allegedly marinated in green herbs, but it’s not that much tastier than plain roast or red tandoori chicken, I’m afraid.

Biryani ($12) is "our signature dish prepared in the classic Hyderabadi style." That style is to cook the rice first, then blend in the vegetables and sauce, so it’s less like a pilaf than other biryanis. You can have it with chicken or vegetables. The vegetable version is based on the same side-dish rice with cumin, but with potato, carrots, and peas, plus a curry, some nuts and raisins, and a few dribblings of saffron. Masala bhath ($6) seemed like the same rice again, with some of the vegetables mixed in. Rather than any of these extra rices, you might prefer the very good breads, if our buttery chappati ($2.50/two) was any indication.

Rani has quite a decent wine list, with six wines by the glass, none of them ready to stand up to Hyderabadi food. If you’re just drinking, the 1998 Conde de Valdemar rioja reserva ($5.50/glass; $25/bottle) is a red with a sweet nose and lots of flavor. The alcoholic drink to have is beer, such as Tremont or Bass on tap, or Kingfisher ($3.75), an Indian beer now bottled under contract in Saratoga, and somewhat livelier and hoppier in the American version. Badshah ($3.50) is a thinner chai made with cardamom seeds and cinnamon. Like all the teas, this is brewed in a metal pot, so it cools down before brewing fully.

Desserts are either the familiar ras malai (cheese balls) and gulab jamun (doughnut holes in syrup), or kheer ($3.75) — Indian rice pudding, but perfectly good stuff. Kulfi ($4.50) is homemade Indian ice cream, which is usually pretty icy. Rani offers a smoother sherbet, with a good mango flavor. Newer to this market is shrikhand ($4), a thickened yogurt pudding with a strong saffron flavor, typical of Western India.

The big news at Rani is that Indian food really works well in a modern, semi-formal restaurant design. I think we’ll see a lot more of this style, maybe even the waiters in black pants and electric-blue shirts. These waiters are game, but there are lapses and disappearances, likely caused by the kitchen coping with lots more business than was expected. The crowd is young, informal, and clearly suburban.

Robert Nadeau can be reached at RobtNadeau@aol.com .