Roomali

[2 ½ Stars]

97 Lexington Ave. (at 27th St.) (212) 679-8900

IF bread has gotten a bad rap from a certain segment of the dieting population lately, don’t blame the wraps at Roomali.

The Indian rolled sandwiches from this counter-serve eatery hit on all cylinders, making them worth every ever-loving carb. And the secret is the bread, a flat disk called paratha that’s cooked on a griddle until golden and freckled.

The small, orange-walled Curry Hill spot from the owner of nearby Madras Mahal has just half a dozen tables and a small eating counter.

You can observe the cooks in action across the kitchen counter, using the pancake to bundle up filling for a paneer tikka roll ($4, $7 for two), an appealing melange of paneer (kind of a compressed ricotta), red onion, pickle, herbs and spices. It gets swaddled in a paper wrapper for peel-as-you-go eating.

The combination leaves your mouth tingling, as does a spicy aloo roll, a heavenly 6-inch starch bomb of fluffy, sour potato and onions. A chana pakora roll, filled with chick pea fritters, was the one dry patch (literally) in the sandwiches we tried.

A few simply skewered and grilled items are made in the three-man kitchen, too. But paneer, so pleasant in the roti roll, just seems dense and flavorless made this way, grilled with green and red peppers and onion.

A reshmi kabob of sausage-like chicken links was moist and well-seasoned enough, as was a not overly gamey seekh kabob of soft, finely ground lamb (both $7).

Next time we’ll try those items in their sandwich version instead. Because at Roomali, it’s the rolls that rock.