Yesterday’s eats were kind of random and not too exciting so instead of boring you with pretty and no-so pretty pictures of food that didn’t taste great, I’ve decided to post about Kashmir – an Indian restaurant Adam and I went to last Friday. We’ve actually been to Kashmir at least once and loved it (you can find my previous review here) so when I saw a Groupon for the restaurant a few months back, I had to buy it. I think we paid $15 for a $35 gift certificate. Not bad, especially since I knew we would go back to Kashmir anyways so the discount was pretty much free money.
As a side note, I was just contacted by a Living Social representative yesterday to let me know about their new website and a deal on one of my other favorite local restaurants – Pazzo. The website works exactly like Groupon – there are daily deals with large discounts. I signed up yesterday and got a $30 certificate for Pazzo that I paid $15 for (I twitted about the deal so follow me on twitter if want other randomness from me in between posts). This was another one of those “no brainers” – I knew I’d be back to Pazzo (especially after being reminded of how much I loved that place) so might as well get a few bucks off the bill. If you’d like to sign up for Living Social, use this link and you’ll get $5 “deal bucks” that can be used towards your first purchase. I’ll get $5 too when you use that credit. It’s a good deal for all of us. 
[PS - the Pazzo deal is no longer available but they have daily deals and I'm sure something fun will come up. Living Social also has deals for DC, LA, NY, San Fran, Austin, Seattle, Atlanta and St Paul.] All right, back to Kashmir…
Last time we went to Kashmir, we were seated outside. I love their outdoor patio on a nice summer day. In the winter, however, a cozy warm space is the perfect recipe for comfort. This is an example of what the space looks like. The dim lighting left me with few usable pictures. If you’re in Boston, you should come and check it out for yourself! 
Compliments of the chef… something oniony 
I had to wash it down with lots of wine. 
(okay, I think I really had 2 glasses tops, throughout the entire dinner)
This Cono Sur cabernet is made with organically grown grapes; bikes instead of trucks were used to transport the wine (thus the bike on the label). I love the company’s environmentally conscious practices! The wine was quite nice as well. We picked up a bottle of the Cono Sur Pinot Noir on the way back home from dinner (to enjoy later).
For the first time in my life, I wanted to order something other than samosas and chicken tikka masala at an Indian restaurant. Call the doctor! Seriously, this has never happened but I’m trying to expand my (Indian food) horizons. I know these are not traditional dishes (well at least tikka masala isn’t) and I was also hoping for something lighter. Indian cuisine has a lot of spices, which to me means that I should be able to enjoy something healthy-ish without sacrificing great flavor.
This was my thought process behind ordering the tandoori tikka salad – (from the menu) strips of barbequed white meat chicken served over garden salad with our special homemade dressing
I was surprised to be served this:
Not exactly the light salad I was hoping for. Surprisingly, this actually tasted lighter than it looked. The dressing wasn’t the heavy mayonnaise coating typical in “chicken salads” – I believe it was yogurt based. I picked at it a bit and packed the rest to take home. Adam still ordered the vegetable samosas and I stole one.
I couldn’t resist it especially with all the yummy sauces (the sweet one on the left is my favorite)
For my main entree I also steered away from chicken tikka masala and ordered the malai kafta – vegetable balls cooked in a creamy nut sauce with fresh herbs and spices
+ garlic naan and basmati rice
My first plate (you can multiply it by 3)
The malai kafta was really great, but here is the kicker – it tasted exactly like tikka masala sauce but with the added crunch of a few almond slivers and the occasional raisin (I think there were 4 raisins in total). The vegetable balls also appeared to be made of something mushy like potatoes and they were fried – again not exactly the light fair I was hoping for. I LOVED this dish and nearly licked my plate clean but that’s because I love chicken tikka masala. Since I am not a vegetarian, I actually think that going with white meat chicken would have been a healthier option + after thinking about it a bit more, this does not speak much for the restaurant’s versatility. I mean, 2 dishes tasting identical? I can tell you this in fact was the same sauce because Adam did order the chicken tikka masala and we compared it. Oh well, I’m going for something non-creamy next time (onion hatred is my giant limiting factor but I’ll try to find something anyway).
All in all, this was another delicious meal at Kashmir and I will definitely be back there since the food is good, the atmosphere is inviting and it’s a few blocks from our house. Do you have any onion-free recommendations for me for my next visit?
For other restaurant reviews, check out my Restaurant Reviews page. Happy Friday!
