Tucked away on the busy JNC Road is Parsa's, a restaurant that serves wazwan and other traditional Kashmiri dishes. We went on an invite to try their wazwan and truth be told, we couldn't finish the multi-course feast but whatever we had is enough for us to make plans for the next visit. Wazwan, for the uninitiated, is a multi-course Kashmiri meal consisting of several meat-based dishes that are generally served at weddings in Kashmir. Although we would have liked to attend a Kashmiri wedding and have wazwan, the experience at Parsa's is quite elaborate enough.
We started our lunch with Kehwa, a traditional drink made with almonds and saffron. Soon the Wazwan arrived at the table in a traami, a copper thali that's covered with a cloche called sarposh. Lift the sarposh and feast your eyes on the rice topped with Seekh Kebab, Tabakh Maaz, and Waza Chicken. The Tabakh Maaz is mutton ribs that have been deep-fried in ghee and spices. It's one of the crispiest ribs we've had. And so flavourful and rich. Once you're done, it's one to the gravy-based dishes. The Rista, which is made in-house, is a beautiful curry consisting of succulent mutton meatballs in a spicy, red gravy. The star however was the Aab Gosh which is a soup-like dish with slow-cooked mutton and has such a delicate sweetness that just calms your palette after the heat and spices from the Rista. We tried a bit of the really good Roghan Josh as well.
The traami is available for four and two people, so go with a group of people and have a literally sit-down Kashmiri-style dinner.
