Kashmir reminds me of a number of things – mountains, shawls, kahwa, rugged roads, shikaras, flowers and of course, amazing food. While for most of these things, we have to drool over the television or plan a holiday there, Kolkata was lucky to get Kashmiri food right here in Kolkata at the Oceanic, Peerless Inn.

When I visited Oceanic a few days bac on an invitation for dinner at their Kashmiri food festival, the place was full of people.

The meal started with the gorgeous golden kashmiri tea, Kahwa. The spread had a good mix of vegetarian and non-vegetarian dishes. The signature non-vegetaran Kashmiri dishes that were on offer at the festival were Dhani Phool, Seekh Kebab, Shammi Kebab (Mutton/Chicken), Methi Maaz, Mutton Roganjosh, Mutton Mirchi Korma, Chicken Dhaniwal Korma while the vegetarian dishes on offer were Palak Mushroom, Munj Haaq, Schuk Wangun, Rajmah Gogji, Moong Dal Nadru, Bum Choont, Karela Yakhni etc. The menu featured some of the signatures at each of the meals throughout the festival days.

The Mutton Yakhni was my favourite that evening and the saffron rice complemented it wonderfully. The Doodh Wangoon was another show-stealer. The baby aubergines in the spicy milk based gravy tasted delectable indeed.

The meal ended at the dessert counter with a line of sweet treats ranging from Firni, Sewiyaan Halwa to Brownies, Malpua and warm, soft Gulab Jamun.

 The Buffet spread was available from Monday to Friday for Dinner and on weekends for both Lunch and Dinner and s priced reasonably at 1299/-+ tax per person.