In a nutshell:
Good décor & ambience, well mannered staff, overpriced food, smelly old meats consistently in all dishes, non authentic taste in general, with a few exceptions.

Address & other details: Tarami
Meal for 2: Rs. 1800 Tarami platter, Rs. 800 onwards for 2 alacarte

Cuisine Type: Vegetarian & Nonvegetarian
Short Description – In case u r in a hurry:
My perception of overpriced / underpriced is not limited to absolute numbers but is related to the taste & the food experience. So, I wud happily part with Rs. 10000 for 2 if I really love the food & at the same time, I might say ‘overpriced’ for a bad food served somewhere else. I call Tarami overpriced coz u get much better, tastier & more authentic Kashmiri food in the same city of Delhi at traditional Indian Restaurant ‘Chor Bizarre’ or even at the open air ‘Wazwan’ stall in Dilli Haat.

The look & feel of the Dining Hall of Tarami is great. So is the look of the food – it is visually stunning.
Non Indian guests wud love this. Indians without much exposure to Kashmiri cuisine might also love this & find this ‘different’. Indians with exposure to Kashmiri cuisine wud however find this difficult to digest………………… but almost everyone wud hate to be served stale meat. I cud not eat more than 1 bite of meat in a few dishes. Its not just about a day’s experience – It shows the attitude, passion & seriousness of the kitchen, or the lack of it.

The menu card was not too long & had two set menus – vegetarian / nonvegetarian. We chose the nonvegetarian one. There was a formidable list of alacarte items as well.

Detailed Description – In case u have the time to njoy reading:
The platter had 4 starters & 4 main course + 1 dessert. The starters were served on a bed of rice in a Tarami – A traditional Kashmiri metal plate.
3 chutneys were served to start with – as dips. Akhrot (walnut) chutney was awesome.

Onions chutney with less hot but red colored Kashmiri chilly was good.

Mooli (Radish) chutney in pristine white color with specs of green was good as well.

The first starter that I had was Tabak Maaz. This is a traditional delicacy – Fried Mutton ribs. It is characterized by the softness of the meat & the not ‘on the face’ spicy taste & flavor. Here at Tarami, the Tabak Maaz was good but way behind being ‘great’. It was not ‘super soft within’ but the flavors were ok. The meat did not feel fresh but it was not smelly either. I wud say this was 3/5.

The next starter was a mutton sheekh kabab. This was optimally spiced, dark red in color & pretty good to taste. It was however not juicy within. I wud say this was 3.5/5.

The third starter was chicken kabab – the right reddish brown color, good flavors but old meat that smelled. I let it go after 1 bite. I rate this 0/5 as I cud not eat it.

The fourth starter was Nadru Shammi Kabab – Nadru is Lotus stem, pretty popular in Kashmir. The kabab was otherwise good to taste overall but even after being told, I cud not make out the nadru taste / flavor. The pack used in the kabab was just too much & killed the basic ingredient. I wud give this 3/5.

Overall, for starters that makes it 2.5/5!!!!!!!!
Main course started with Rishta – meat balls in red gravy. The meat balls traditionally were hand pounded & that gave an uneven texture to the inside of the meat balls. The meatballs at Tarami were relatively plain within. Nevertheless they tasted good. The saunf flavor was also perfect. The dish looked faboulous. Gravy was enjoyable too. I wud give this 4/5.

Then we had Gushtaba – meat balls in white gravy. The Gushtaba meatball was enormous & it came with a slit. It was soft, nice & enjoyable. Loved the gravy & finished it off till the end. I wud say 4/5.

The third dish that we had was Haaq – a traditional Kashmiri Spinach preparation. In all the places that I have haaq so far, it is cooked with no turmeric, almost ‘just boiled’ but still tastes awesome. The Haaq at Tarami, on the contrary, had a lot of things in it & appeared totally unfamiliar. It tasted good but not as great as the usual boiled haaq. I wud say it was 3/5.

The 4th dish was Mutton Roganjosh. The name Roganjosh is quite popular these days & is indiscriminately used to name mutton curries of different kinds. However, the real Roganjosh is quite a work of art. The fiery looking gravy is usually quite harmless & has an outstanding taste. The roganjosh gravy at Tarami was a disaster – it was just a ordinary gravy with no josh. The meat pieces were a catastrophe. They smelled of staleness – as if someone cooked it in Kashmir & walked all the way from there to Delhi to serve it to us!!!!!! This surely gets a 0/5.

Overall, the maincourse is 2.5/5.
The dessert was the only face saver. The phirni was awesome. Dense, flavorful, daanedaar & just right in every aspect. I wud say 4.5/5.

We ordered for Kashmiri tea Kahwa & also something else called noon cha ‘salted tea’. Noon cha tasted good & I liked it more like a soup than a tea. Kahwa was good.

Overall, I am unlikely to go here again – I wud rather go to Chor Bizarre for a restaurant or Wazwan for a pocket friendly meal. How about u?
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