Flavours from Paradise

Diners will be spoiled for choice,given the litany of dishes,but the staff is always ready to point you in the right direction. First up is an interesting degustation,Haaq ka Shorba. One of the few vegetarian items on the Wazwan menu,haaq is traditionally a spinach subzi,which Tarami has tweaked into a soup. While it makes for a pleasant soup,not being Popeye,we’re unable to go into paroxysms of joy over it,especially considering what’s coming up.

Next,Chicken Tuji,a Kashmiri street snack is rapidly dispensed to us,and just as rapidly dispensed with. Large,succulent,and vividly coloured,this is a far more evolved cousin of our traditional chicken tikka. The pièce de résistance of the starters is the legendary tabak maaz,allegedly shallow fried in ghee,but more like drowned in it. Repeatedly. In the interest of not having an apoplexy before we write this review,we restrict ourselves to one piece each. It’s dripping with fatty goodness,the kind that would make most blanch and scream for their dietician.

We love it.

In a classic case of eyes bigger than stomach,we order rishta and Marchwangan Korma with rice for our mains,not having taken into account the richness of the appetizers. Upon their arrival on the table,our spirits slightly sag (kind of like our stomachs,over our belts),but we perk up on the smell of that seductive,slightly dangerous fiery red chili gravy of the korma,which makes a nice contrast to the far more subtle saffron gravy of the rishta. In this case,appearances aren’t deceiving and the two gravy dishes taste as good as they smell. Feeling slightly ashamed of ourselves,we just have one bite of the rice with each gravy and then abandon it for the meat. Our guilt vanishes as quickly as the meat off the bones. Of the rishta,there remains no detritus.

For dessert we had the Kashmiri classic,phirni. Without going into details,our Kashmiri dining companion said she’d like to marry the chef. Enough said. Seeing our bloated albeit contented expressions,we’re offered kahva,which acts as an instant tonic. Before we get tempted to peruse the menu,we hurry out. But to misquote Schwarzenegger,“We’ll be back”.

Meal for two: Rs. 2500 (including taxes,excluding alcohol)Address: 30 A,1st Floor,Hauz Khas Village,Contact: 40591823.