Kashmir Valley · Western Himalaya & Trans-Himalaya
Wazwan served as a restaurant meal
A family business of the early twentieth century, and one of the few places a visitor can eat wazwan dishes without a wedding invitation. The trami is served in a reduced form for a table rather than for four on the floor.
Rista, gushtaba and tabak maaz
A long-running wazwan restaurant a short walk from Ahdoos; the two are compared endlessly.
Vegetarian Kashmiri food — dum aloo, haakh, nadru, rajma
The reference point for the no-onion-no-garlic side of the valley's kitchen.
Harissa at dawn, October to March
Individual shops open and close across generations, so ask locally rather than for a name. They make nothing else and they are finished by mid-morning.
Girda and tsochvor at dawn, lavasa in the evening, bakerkhani for guests
Not a shop to seek out but the institution to understand — the valley buys its bread twice a day and does not bake at home.
Shawls, carpets, papier-mâché and walnut wood at fixed, labelled prices
Housed in the old Residency building. Useful chiefly as a calibration exercise before buying anywhere else, because the labels state fibre, technique and hand-work status.
Kashmir saffron under the GI grading and packing regime
Buying at the field edge is cheaper and riskier; the graded, packed route exists precisely because adulteration of saffron with dyed maize silk and safflower is an old trade.
Famous shops, markets and workshops in Kashmir Valley, and what each is known for. (7)