Restaurants in Srinagar: Where a Local Sends Friends to Eat, With Costs (2026-27)

When friends ask me where to eat in Srinagar, I give them the same short list: Ahdoos and Mughal Darbar for wazwan, Amigos for a pizza unlike anything they get at home, and the vegetarian dhabas near Dal Gate for chole bhature and sabzi with roti. This page is that list, plus the well-known places other guides recommend, with what to order, where each one is and what it costs. For the rest of the city, see our Srinagar travel guide; for the dishes themselves, our Kashmiri food guide.

Two kinds of entries, clearly marked: the places I send friends to, and places reported online that we have not reviewed yet. Every cost carries its source and date.

Our top 10 restaurants in Srinagar

The first five are where I send friends. The other five are the names that keep coming up across the guides and directories we read, picked to cover what visitors ask for next: a lake view, Tibetan food, a hotel dinner and barbecue.

In short: how this list is made. Places 1 to 5 are my own recommendations. Places 6 to 10 are named by at least two of the guides and directories we read, ordered by Google rating where one exists; we have not reviewed them. Costs for two are Zomato's figures read on 25 October 2026 where Zomato has the place, otherwise the dated guide named. Google ratings and review counts are from Wanderlog's Srinagar lists, updated July 2026. The full method is at the end of this page.

Which restaurant in Srinagar should you pick?

• Your first wazwan: Ahdoos. Order rista, gushtaba and rogan josh by the plate and share them.
• Wazwan for three or four people: Mughal Darbar, and order the trami, the shared platter.
• Vegetarian: the dhabas near Dal Gate; the best known is Krishna Vaishno Dhaba.
• Something you will not get at home: an Amigos chicken blast pizza.
• Dinner by the lake: Stream or Shamyana on Boulevard Road, or The Chinar at The LaLiT for a hotel evening.
• Noon chai, kahwa or winter harissa in a cafe: Chai Jaai on the Bund.
• Kebabs in the evening: the barbecue stalls of Khayam Chowk.

Ahdoos: wazwan on Residency Road since the 1920s

Ahdoos is the first name I give anyone who asks. It opened in 1918 as a bakery on Residency Road and by the 1920s had become a restaurant, the first in the valley to offer wazwan, according to the Hindustan Times (June 2018). WION's centenary report (March 2018) adds that it stayed open through the early 1990s, when other hotels in the city shut their doors, and that a third generation of the family runs it now.

Order the wazwan dishes a plate at a time. The menu on its ThreeBestRated listing, read on 25 October 2026, prices rista, gushtaba and mutton rogan josh at ₹765 to ₹780 for a plate of four pieces, and Zomato puts a meal for two at about ₹1,500. Two directory listings give its hours as 12 noon to 9:30 pm, every day.

It is a short walk from the clock tower, so pair it with the markets in our Lal Chowk guide.

Mughal Darbar: a trami to share

Mughal Darbar, on Residency Road near the GPO, is the other place I send friends for wazwan. Order the trami: one large platter of rice topped with several meat dishes, meant to be shared. The photographer of the picture above, who ate there in 2014, noted that one trami serves four.

It is the most-reviewed restaurant on Wanderlog's Srinagar list, at 3.7 stars from 8,030 Google reviews, so expect it to be busy. Outlook Traveller (January 2024) put a meal for two at about ₹1,000 and named rista, tabak maaz and dum aloo among the dishes to order.

Wazwan in a restaurant, and wazwan at home

Honest advice: the wazwan most tourists eat in restaurants is not the wazwan Kashmiris eat at weddings. Visitors often get a lower-quality version and pay a lot for it. A writer for Outlook Traveller found the same: his first restaurant wazwan, chosen from online ratings, was ordinary, while the one at a friend's wedding was fresh and full of flavour (updated February 2022).

Wazwan is cooked by a waza, the specialist wazwan cook. That is why my family has a waza cook it fresh when friends and guests visit. Our last full wazwan was at my uncle's wedding in September 2026. I love every dish, but I would never skip rogan josh, tabak maaz and yakhni, I love the spicy, tangy onion chutney, and the walnut chutney is my all-time favourite.

In a restaurant, Ahdoos and Mughal Darbar are where I would go. If a Kashmiri family ever invites you to a meal, say yes. The feast, dish by dish, is in our wazwan guide.

Vegetarian food in Srinagar: the dhabas near Dal Gate

Srinagar is easy for vegetarians once you know where to look. My answer is the dhaba-style restaurants around Dal Lake, near Dal Gate. I love the chole bhature there, and the simple sabzi with roti.

The best known is Krishna Vaishno Dhaba (listed on some sites as Krishna Vaishno Bhojnalaya), by the Durganag temple near Dal Gate. Zomato rates it 4.3 from 2,167 ratings and puts a meal for two at about ₹500 (25 October 2026). Its ThreeBestRated listing says it has run since 1984, notes a Jain menu, and prices dishes from ₹130 (dal fry, aloo gobi) to ₹290 (kadai paneer, nadru yakhni). It opens in the morning; listings give 8 am or 9:30 am.

A writer for Outlook Traveller named rajma chawal at New Krishna Vaishno Dhaba, a busy roadside vegetarian dhaba, his favourite meal in Srinagar. Similar names are common on this strip, so read the board before you sit down. For chole bhature away from the lake, The Locavore's Srinagar writer (August 2025) has his after morning treks at Shakti Sweets on Residency Road.

Ask for the Kashmiri vegetarian dishes too: nadru yakhni (lotus stem in yoghurt gravy), dum aloo and haak, the local greens. The strip is a few minutes from the lake, so it fits around a shikara ride; the rest of the lakefront is in our Dal Lake guide.

Amigos: the pizza I make friends try

This one surprises people. Pizza in Kashmir is very different from what you get at home, and Amigos is where I send friends for it. The chicken blast is the one that is really popular in Kashmir. If you love cheese, add a cheese burst topping and thank me later.

Amigos opened in 2008 in Gogji Bagh, opposite Amar Singh College, and by November 2023 had four outlets, two of them in Srinagar (Gogji Bagh and Hazratbal), according to Greater Kashmir. Zomato puts a meal for two at about ₹800. Its ThreeBestRated listing gives hours of 10:30 am to 11 pm and prices pizzas from ₹180 to ₹360; the chicken pizzas are not priced there, so ask (both read on 25 October 2026).

The Hazratbal outlet is handy after a visit to the Hazratbal shrine and the lake drive.

Boulevard Road: lake views, Tibetan food and a hotel dinner

Boulevard Road runs along Dal Lake, and most visitors stay near it, so these are the easiest dinners to reach. We have not reviewed them; this is what recent guides and listings report.

• Stream, by the Dalgate bridge: Kashmiri, Indian and continental food with outdoor seating (Outlook Traveller, January 2024). The highest-rated of the classic names, at 4.7 from 12,978 Google reviews.
• Shamyana, at Ghat 2: Kashmiri, Mughlai and international food by the lake, with live traditional music, according to Outlook Traveller. 4.5 from 4,055 Google reviews.
• Lhasa, in Lane 3 off Boulevard Road, a lane once known as "the Lhasa lane": it opened in 1976 and first brought Tibetan and Chinese food to the valley, and now serves Kashmiri dishes too (Kashmir Life, June 2016). 4.0 from 2,309 Google reviews.
• The Chinar at The LaLiT Grand Palace, on Gupkar Road above the lake: the hotel's multi-cuisine restaurant, with The Chinar Garden looking over Dal Lake and the valley, according to The LaLiT.

Srinagar is not a late-night city. Most places wind down by 9 pm and cabs are hard to find after that, so book your ride back before you sit down to eat.

Khayam Chowk barbecue and street food at Hazratbal

Some of the city's best food is sold at shrine gates, bakery windows and grills, not in restaurants. Outside Hazratbal, stalls fry nadir monji (lotus stem) and fish and sell giant parathas with halwa; prices are in the Hazratbal food market. In the old city, I make friends try masala tchot, paratha with halwa, and noon chai with chicken patties from a local bakery: the walk is in downtown Srinagar.

Khayam Chowk is the city's barbecue street. Condé Nast Traveller called it a must-do: numerous stalls grilling mutton kebabs over coal, served with a spread of condiments and lavasa, the thin Kashmiri bread (June 2018). Outlook Traveller (January 2024) names two of the stalls, Sher Barbeque, around 80 years old, and Imran Barbeque, each at about ₹800 for two, for mutton skewers, tujji and kebabs.

Closer to the lake, The Locavore's Srinagar writer (August 2025) sends people to Dar Brothers Barbeque at Makai Point on Boulevard Road for fish, chicken and mutton off the grill, and says it is best after sunset in autumn and winter, when the fire is welcome.

Cafes in Srinagar, and harissa in winter

Srinagar's cafes deserve a page of their own. These are the three open cafes at the top of Wanderlog's Srinagar cafe list (updated 17 July 2026), with the Google ratings it showed:

• Chai Jaai, on the first floor of the Mahatta studio building on the Bund: a tea room modelled on English Cotswold tea rooms, looking over the Jhelum, serving tea from Kashmiri samovars in papier-mache cups (Condé Nast Traveller, 2018), with noon chai, kahwa and breads like shirmal and kulcha. Curly Tales counted over 60 teas in 2019. 4.0 stars from 2,936 reviews.
• Books & Bricks, on Gogji Bagh Road opposite Amar Singh College: a book-lined cafe. 4.1 stars from 1,686 reviews.
• Winterfell, on Boulevard Road near Ghat 5: the Game of Thrones themed cafe. 4.3 stars from 2,416 reviews.

Older lists still name Goodfellas on the Bund and Coffea Arabica on MA Road; Google now marks both permanently closed.

Harissa: from November, all winter

Harissa, the slow-cooked mutton dish Kashmiris eat for breakfast, is made only in winter, from November. The harissa shops cluster in Rajouri Kadal in the old city, and a plate runs about ₹400 to ₹1,000 depending on where you get it. For a cafe version, Chai Jaai serves it in season. More in our harissa guide.

Is food expensive in Srinagar?

No, not by big-city standards. Budget about ₹100 to ₹300 per person for a meal at a simple local restaurant, ₹300 to ₹700 at a mid-range one and ₹800 to ₹1,500 at a premium or hotel restaurant. These are figures other guides reported in 2026, not bills we have paid ourselves yet. On Zomato, the places on this list run from about ₹500 for two at Krishna Vaishno Dhaba to ₹1,500 at Ahdoos.

Two restaurant meals a day come to about ₹200 to ₹600 a person at simple places and ₹600 to ₹1,400 at mid-range ones. Wazwan is where bills climb, because it is meat ordered by the plate. Our guide to what a Kashmir trip costs builds meals into a full budget, and the day-by-day Kashmir itinerary shows where each one falls.

Alcohol, McDonald's and other things visitors ask

Alcohol: it is legal, but limited. The government counted 305 licensed wine shops across Jammu and Kashmir for 2025-26, spread over ten districts in Jammu and four in the Kashmir valley (ETV Bharat, March 2025). Big hotels have bars: The LaLiT lists its Dal Bar for malts, wines and liqueurs. None of the restaurant menus we read for this guide list alcohol, and in March 2025 traders in Lal Chowk put up a poster asking tourists to avoid liquor, so drink in your hotel and keep it out of public view.

McDonald's: we found no McDonald's in Srinagar when we checked on 25 October 2026. The outlets reported in Jammu and Kashmir are on the Jammu side: Jammu city, Katra and Suketar on the highway near Jhajjarkotli. Srinagar does have chains such as Pizza Hut, listed on Zomato at the City Walk mall on MA Road, but come for the local food.

How we made this list

Places 1 to 5 are where I send friends: my own recommendations from growing up in Srinagar. The facts about them (history, address, menu prices, hours) come from the sources named beside each, not from memory.

Places 6 to 10 come from what we read on 25 October 2026: the live Google top 10 for "restaurants in srinagar" (Zomato, The Locavore, The LaLiT, KashmirHills, Wanderlog, Condé Nast Traveller; Tripadvisor, Justdial, Taj and MakeMyTrip blocked us), plus Outlook Traveller (January 2024), TravelTriangle and Veena World (December 2024). We kept places named by at least two of them, ordered them by Google rating where one exists, and chose them to cover a lake view, Tibetan food, a hotel dinner and barbecue. We have not reviewed them.

Costs for two are Zomato's "for two people, approx." figures read on 25 October 2026, or the dated guide named where Zomato has no page. Sources disagree a lot: TravelTriangle lists Ahdoos at ₹350 for two, against ₹1,500 on Zomato and ₹765 to ₹780 a plate on the menu. Menu prices and hours come from ThreeBestRated listings, and Google ratings from Wanderlog's lists updated in July 2026. Restaurants change prices and hours often, so check before you order. We will update this page when we check these places in person.