Srinagar for foodies

In my latest trip to Srinagar, I got great opportunity to spend time doing my most favorite activity.. EATING.. So, if you are foodie and love trying various delicacies.. this article is for you..

To start with, I enjoyed some sweets, chats and bakery stuff at Nathu sweets. Nathus sweets is opposite to Dal lake ghat no. 11.

Nathu sweets not only serves Kashmiri sweets but has amazing variety of bakery, bengali sweets and chaat items.

You can enjoy pastries, puffs and lots of cookies here. Hot veg puff was really amazing.

If you are craving for chaat.. Dahi bhalla, Dahi puri & the famous Aloo tikki will satisfy your taste buds. You can also get panipuri here, but pani puri and shev puri are no where near Mumbai.

You can also try some kashmiri sweets full of dry fruits like appricots, walnut, almonds etc.

For veg lunch / dinner, the road parallel to dal lake, between ghat 11 till dal gate provides lots of Vaishnav restaurants. All of them serving amazing parathas, chhole puri or some even serving south indian.
  
Now comes the part for real food explorer..

I had an opportunity to enjoy traditional kashmiri meal called wazhwan... Its a serving for multiple people and must be enjoyed in group, sitting on the ground (bhartiya baithak).. 
First course consists of platter of kebabs which include chops, seek kebab, chicken leaver, sweetish reshmi kebabs etc. This platter is served on top of base of rice.. this rice is enough to accompany all courses..

This is how Wazhwan enters the eating area ....

And then... the real beauty is revealed and presented to you....

Second course is a spicy red gravy called rista.. its close to apla marathi Rassa.. this rassa has 5-6 big meat balls prepared from minced mutton. 

Third course is of gostaba.. its a white curd based gravy again with meatballs. Tastes really fantastic.. not spicy, but sour gravy and made very rich probably by adding dryfruit paste..

Fourth serving is of roganjosh.. this is again brown spicy gravy with mutton, but this time not minced.. it has big pieces with bones. The gravy is spicy and tastes amazing.

Dont take your closest friend if he is foodie.. else that bone can break the friendship

Once you put all this in your tummy.. drink hot kawa to help digesting it..

This amazing drink is made up from cardemom, saffron, sugar and some local spices.. its real bliss

If you are in shrinagar, dont miss this lavish grand meal.. but dont forget to go in a group and enjoy this meal together.. the best place to get this meal is at mughal darbar restaurant which is 15 minutes walking from dal gate. There are two restaurants with similar name, the real one is on first floor..

They also serve portion for one person but then you will miss grandeur of this treat.. so go in a group and enjoy...
Apart from this, you can also try yakhni, kashmiri pulav, chicken kanti, Kabarghah (Mutton Chops)...

So.. when you are in srinagar.. apart from shikara ride dont miss on this SHIKAAR.. 
Bon Appetit