By Muneeb Naqeeb
Srinagar- Pizza has gained a reputation of being one of the world’s most famous and favourite foods. Every country has its own style of making and baking its pizza. The roots of modern pizza can be traced back to Italy, and as globalization took place the Pizza found its way around the globe.
The origin of pizza however dates all the way back to the 6th century, rooting from Iran or Greece. Around 2500 years ago the Soldiers of Persia would garnish a flat piece of bread with dates and cheese, later this culture was adopted in Asian Greece and they named this flatbread as “Pitta” garnishing it with cheese, oil and herbs. Give it a few years this “Pitta” found a new name “Picta” in Latin. As Picta made its way into Italy The name “Pizza” was coined.
In Kashmir Pizza took quite some time to become popular. Taste is really a subjective matter but Pizza had already made its way of dominating the Kashmiri market. As Pizza came to Kashmir, it took its time to adapt to the flavours of Kashmir. In about a decade of its arrival in Kashmir, particularly the non-veg Pizza started to gain popularity. It tickled the taste buds of the youth, and became a go to meal for people from every walk of life.
Here are my top three picks to enjoy a delicious slice of Pizza in Srinagar;
“Amigos” in Spanish Means Friends, but in Kashmir Amigos is a very famous restaurant owned by “Tariq Ahmad Bhat” a very successful entrepreneur from Kashmir. He started his venture all the way back in 2008 with two people, three serving tables and an investment of 1.2 lakh Rs. Slowly but steadily the place got popular, the reason behind the popularity of this restaurant is the quality of the Food and the ambience of the place. Within 15 minutes of ordering your favorite Pizza, the ever so satisfying and mouth-watering meal is served hot and fresh. For Pizza lovers across Srinagar this restaurant has gained quite a reputation. With more than 50 varieties of pizza Amigos sure does stand out.
“Eatalian” a quite cozy and comfortable restaurant at Nigeen Srinagar, is one of the goto places for students of Kashmir University and N.I.T Hazratbal. Owned By Issar Mir, a graduate from Central University of Kashmir, who after completing his Law Degree wanted to shape his passion for food into a business. They serve a variety of veg and non veg Pizza’s, the restaurant is thriving in a very competitive place. The quality of their food is something really appreciated by the customers. The Pizza might take a few minutes Extra to be served, but the wait is worth your time. Best things come to those who wait, aptly fits this restaurant. “Eatalian specialty” is one of the bestselling and most recommended Pizzas of the restaurant, the chef of the restaurant has more than a decade of Experience under his belt, fine tuning the art of cooking all so well.
“The Caliph”, at the bay of Hyderpora bypass a restaurant is making quite a name for itself, owned by “Mohammad ShafiShora” an A class contractor and His son “ShadaabShafiShora” a medical student by profession and a foodie at heart run the place quite eloquently. The father son duo focus upon the quality and the quantity of the Food. They try to meet the expectations of the customer in every way possible, with highly trained staff the job indeed is well done. The restaurant feels quite nice as one enjoys his end of the day chatter and a hot slice of Pizza. The restaurant offers a variety of pizzas but Spicy Chicken, Mexican Pizza and the Golden Delight Pizza are the three musketeers of the restaurant.