Kashmir Tandoori indian Restaurant

The name says Kashmir, the menu says North India

The name points in a direction the menu does not follow — which is not a criticism but a useful thing to know in advance. Kashmiri cooking in the narrow sense, the Wazwan tradition of the valley with yakhni, gushtaba or the spiced tea kahwa, is not what you will find here.

What you will find is one dish of genuine Kashmiri descent: rogan josh. It sits in the row of sauces, made with tomato, ginger, garlic, coriander and a touch of cream — that is, in the version that spread through the Indian restaurants of Europe, not the one from the valley.

More interesting is what the house does with the word elsewhere. Kashmiri here is a house label rather than a statement of origin: it names the mixed starter platter, a curry combination of chicken, lamb and king prawn, a house dish built on chicken breast — and a salad with feta and green olives. It also names a sauce made with cream, banana and pieces of fruit: the mild, sweetish style that runs under that name in the curry houses of Britain. It has nothing to do with the cooking of the Himalayan foothills, and a great deal to do with what many guests are after on a holiday evening.

From the tandoor

The grill section is listed as sizzlers and is the part by which a tandoori house is judged. It carries chicken tikka and lamb tikka, whole chicken legs as murgh tandoori, king prawns, shashlik on spiced onion, mushroom and pepper, and a mixed grill. Alongside them come sheekh kebabs of minced meat — and here something stands out that Indian menus rarely carry: you can have them made with chicken or with beef.

The bread comes from the same oven. Guests single out the garlic naan, and the samosas with it — the two things you try first in a tandoori house, and the quickest way to tell whether the kitchen is working fresh.

How the curry menu works

The curries are laid out as a grid, which is practical: you choose the base first — chicken, chicken tikka, lamb, beef, king prawn, mixed vegetable or paneer — and then the sauce. On offer are masala, vindaloo, dopiaza, balti, bhuna, pasanda, classic curry, dhansak, madras, jalfrezi, karahi, korma, rogan josh and saag.

The heat can be adjusted; asking is normal here and is not taken as an imposition. If you want none of it, you end up at korma or pasanda, both worked with cream and nuts; if you are looking for it, at vindaloo or madras.

The vegetarian section stands on its own and is no token gesture: Bombay aloo, aloo gobi, saag aloo, tarka daal, daal makhni, chana masala, mushroom bhaji and palak paneer. Children get a short menu of their own, with chips or rice. To finish, there are gulab jamun, mango lassi and brownie.

Kashmir Tandoori on the harbour at Cala Bona

Cala Bona is a small harbour village on the east coast, administered from Son Servera and joined to Cala Millor by the promenade. What stands out is how many Indian kitchens have gathered here in a small space — unusual for a place of this size, and it makes the choice a real one.

Among them, Kashmir Tandoori stands for the unfussy version: no concept, no claim to regional cooking, just a family, a clay oven and a menu that delivers what it announces. That the water is right outside the door is the bonus a spot on the harbour brings with it.