Get A Slice of Kashmir In Goa At This Beautiful Garden Restaurant At Calangute

The Literati bookstore’s beautiful garden has now been converted in to a mini Kashmir. Okay not really, but you could totally imagine yourself in Kashmir, in one of it’s beautiful gardens enjoying some amazing traditional Kashmiri Wazwaan cuisine…but in Goa.

Gusto restaurant previously known as Tamarin, which recently kicked off operations at this new location, is well known as a Mediterranean restaurant. Thanks to the efforts of Jennifer, a British woman living in Goa, who’s a chef herself and brings forth her skills and cuisines from Libya, Egypt as well as other well known Mediterranean countries. But it’s the Kashmiri food brought into limelight by her husband Bilal, a Kashmiri himself, that had us venturing there this time. With the lush green setting and soft live music playing in the background, it is definitely an oasis of calm in the otherwise chaotic Calangute.

Kashmiri food is probably not available exclusively anywhere in Goa. And definitely not the way Bilal and his brother Saeed make it. They seem to have stolen all of their mum’s recipes and thankfully made them available for us to gorge on. Unfortunately, the kebabs were not available that night, but if the rest of the food is anything to go by, we are pretty sure we will be back for them soon.

We kicked off with the Marchwangun Korma, which came with these perfectly marinated, tender and succulent pieces of mutton in a fierce red-hot curry. Bilal was very proud of the fact that they add no turmeric in their food or artificial colours, but give the curry that fiery red colour using traditional Kashmiri fresh Marwal flower. For those that don’t like too much spice, the Badami Mutton Korma is a great option. We happily polished those off with their soft buttery parathas. Bilal’s love for his home food shows even in his enthusiasm to show us the Kashmiri Shallots or the saffron, praan and red chillies that he sources from back home.

What will be a pleasant surprise to the vegetarians is how many dishes are available in this menu {unlike the popular perception that it is all meat}. They have at least 10 dishes to choose from, but we were really keen on trying the Bom Chount, since it is made with traditional Kashmiri apples that add a tangy flavour to the red curry. Those apples were delicious. Again, thanks to his sister back home, he gets seasonal apples straight from Kashmir to Goa, and refused to give his secret for storing them. The Dum Olav, which is like a potato curry, was another delight if you are not feeling very adventurous or just love potatoes too much. There are other vegetarian options as well along with the famous Kashmiri pulao. But we mostly gorging on the Chicken Biryani that we had, and it was one of the best in Goa for sure. A warm Phirni that followed was the perfect way to end this meal. also not to be missed.

They have a pretty extensive wine list, drinks, cocktails and of course the Kashmiri Kahwa, which for the uninitiated is Kashmiri Green tea which is perfect for those chilly evenings. We were curious to try out the Italian cocktail called Sgroppino. Champagne, lemon vodka and Italian lemon sorbet for main ingredients and come together to make one helluva cocktail.

Bilal & his team add that extra charm to the place with their warm hospitality and conversations, so we suggest you go here on your next Goa trip.

So it is bit away from the main Calangute road, but we definitely recommend a visit to try out their Kashmiri food. And they are dog friendly, so woof woof we say!