30/06/2007 (Sat.) We went to Kashmir Cottage on Bearwood Rd. This is one of the closest restaurants from our house, and for me this was the third visit. Three times are not numerous for average people, but for me who often want to visit new to me restaurants, 3 times are many.
This is how it looks from out side. There used to be a big banner saying "Monday Tuesday Buffet £7.95". Fortunately it is now gone, although the same buffet still is still on offer.
The place is very small. There are about 40 covers. It you want to make sure to be able to get in, reservation is recommended, especially for Fridays and Saturdays. At all three occasions, I saw it quite populated or many table already reserved.
First, Popadoms. They charge for these. I think I payed about £1.5 for 2 popadoms and dips. But, as you see at the end, as the other dishes are so well priced, we end up paying less than at other places. Anyway, you have choice not to order them. I think it is always good to have choices.
For starter, we shared stuffed chili from their special menu. The green peppers were filled with yellow mashed-potato like, spicy stuffing and deep-fried in chick pea flour batter. Very nice, with fresh heat. Look also this large salad. They cost only £2.50!
Following are the main dishes. First, Chicken shashilik. Big, succulent pieces of chicken and vegetable cooked in tandoori oven. You think some of the vegetable are burnt; they are bit burnt, but give pleasant bitterness. This is my favourite dish, and I ordered it at all the 3 occasions.
Shashilik comes with this salad. Often the tandoori main dishes are accompanied by token salad, but at Kashimir Cottage, it comes in a separate dish in a big heap! All these for £4.95.
This is aubergine curry, Baingan Bhartha. Baked aubergine mashed and mixed with onions and spices. This again nice, but it is slightly too salty to my taste. I ordered stuffed paratha to go with, but this dish should have gone better with boiled rice.
My stuffed paratha, or, rather, a half of my paratha. I am not sure what was the stuffing. It was a yellow paste. It might be the same as the thing staffed in the peppers. This is the second time that I ate paratha in my life, and I just wanted to try again. I thought it was bit dry, but I don't have clear idea how paratha should be. On the other hand, Dim had cheese naan, his favourite.
The final bill came to £17.65, including Dim's coke. The place is licensed, but we did not have any alcahole. The price we thought was very good and I left £20, to express my satisfaction. Service was very good as it was at the other occasions.
If you live in the area, and you have never tried, I would recommend heartily to do so.
This is their website, with map and menu. http://www.kashmircottage.co.uk/
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If you are interested in this, you may want to read also about Teknaf Cuisine.
