Traditional steamed basmati rice served as the foundational canvas for the Wazwan feast.
Historically, high-quality local Kashmiri rice like Mushk Budji or classic Basmati is used to form a large mound in the copper trami platter.
Tourist Tip
It is shared among four guests and forms the base for all subsequent meat courses.
Plain short-grain rice steamed soft and slightly clinging — the foundation of the trami and of every Kashmiri meal. In Kashmir, batta is not a side; everything else on the plate exists to be eaten with it.
Waza Tips
Wash the rice in several changes of water until the water runs nearly clear.
Bring the measured water to a rolling boil in a heavy, lidded pot.
Add the rice and the pinch of salt if using, stir once, and boil uncovered until the water falls level with the rice, 8-10 minutes.
Drop the heat to its lowest, cover tightly, and steam for 10-12 minutes.
Rest off the heat, covered, for 5 minutes, then loosen gently and serve in a generous mound.
Any soft short-grain rice reproduces batta faithfully; avoid aged long-grain basmati, which is the opposite texture.
Heap it and ladle any Kashmiri gravy over — rogan josh, yakhni, haakh or matschgand.
Thirty-six courses, one copper trami — the feast Kashmir is named for.
Begin the feastA concierge that has eaten everywhere and slept nowhere — ask it anything about Kashmir.
Not a list — a seating. Scroll, and be walked from table to table.
Where Srinagar has eaten since 1918.
A century-old dining room on Residency Road that taught generations what a proper Rogan Josh should taste like. Unhurried, unchanged, unmistakable.
Enter the dining room
The wedding feast, every single day.
Wazas work the copper degs from dawn — the same courses served at Kashmiri weddings, plated for a table of two. Gushtaba here ends arguments.
Enter the dining room
The art of dining, facing the Zabarwan.
Modern Kashmiri fine dining — heritage recipes composed like paintings, served in a room of walnut wood and candlelight beneath the mountains.
Enter the dining room
Dinner beside the still water.
A boulevard institution where houseboat lights flicker across your table. Come at dusk, order Yakhni, and let the lake do the talking.
Enter the dining room
The tash-naer comes to you before the food — warm water poured over your hands. Nothing touches the rice before the water touches you.
The trami feeds four. Your wedge is yours alone; the far side belongs to a stranger — and to their trust in you.
No hand reaches before the senior one. Rank at the trami is measured in years, never in wealth.
The last course is the host's honour, pounded smooth by hand for hours. Declining it ends more than the meal.
Every pass and valley crossing in Kashmir, mapped by distance, altitude and the stops worth slowing down for. Drive one now — without leaving your seat.
One road, one steady climb into the meadow.
43.5 km · 1.5 hrs
The same valley, four different masterpieces. Watch it turn.
The valley wakes in tulips.
Mustard fields run gold to the mountains; mornings smell of blossom and wet earth.
Meadows climb to the snowline.
Rivers loud with meltwater, shepherds moving higher, days that refuse to end.
The chinars catch fire.
Orchards heavy with apples; every avenue burns amber, copper and rust.
Snow rewrites the valley.
Frozen lakes, pine forests hushed white, kangri embers glowing indoors.
No matter when you arrive, Kashmir has another story waiting.
Explore Kashmir
Honeymoons, one-day loops, hidden valleys, the best Wazwan near Dal Lake — Waza is the intelligence behind everything you just scrolled through.
Traditional steamed basmati rice served as the foundational canvas for the Wazwan feast.
Historically, high-quality local Kashmiri rice like Mushk Budji or classic Basmati is used to form a large mound in the copper trami platter.
Tourist Tip
It is shared among four guests and forms the base for all subsequent meat courses.
Plain short-grain rice steamed soft and slightly clinging — the foundation of the trami and of every Kashmiri meal. In Kashmir, batta is not a side; everything else on the plate exists to be eaten with it.
Waza Tips
Wash the rice in several changes of water until the water runs nearly clear.
Bring the measured water to a rolling boil in a heavy, lidded pot.
Add the rice and the pinch of salt if using, stir once, and boil uncovered until the water falls level with the rice, 8-10 minutes.
Drop the heat to its lowest, cover tightly, and steam for 10-12 minutes.
Rest off the heat, covered, for 5 minutes, then loosen gently and serve in a generous mound.
Any soft short-grain rice reproduces batta faithfully; avoid aged long-grain basmati, which is the opposite texture.
Heap it and ladle any Kashmiri gravy over — rogan josh, yakhni, haakh or matschgand.
