Restaurants in Skardu: Where to Eat

Restaurants in Skardu are mostly simple and local. In the bazaar you eat karahi, barbecue and daal; for Balti dishes such as mamtu and prapu, look for one of the few places that cook them, such as Dewan-e-Khas in town, or ask your hotel. Trout is eaten by the Kachura lakes and at the resort restaurants, and the most memorable dining rooms are at Shangrila and the restored palace hotels at Shigar and Khaplu. A growing number of cafés serve coffee, burgers and cake.

Skardu is not a food destination in the way Lahore is, and it doesn't need to be. This guide covers what to eat, where to find it around the valley, and the practical points that make eating out easier.

What to eat in Skardu

Balti cooking has more in common with Ladakh and Tibet than with the Punjab. The dishes worth looking for:

• Mamtu: steamed dumplings of minced meat and onion, eaten with chilli sauce.
• Chapshuro: minced meat sealed in thin bread and cooked until crisp.
• Balay: a thick noodle soup, usually with goat meat, made for cold days.
• Prapu: hand-made noodles covered in walnut or almond paste with apricot oil.
• Marzan: sprouted-wheat dough eaten with apricot oil, usually made for special occasions.
• Butter tea: salty tea made with butter and milk, the backbone of a Balti breakfast.

Mamtu and chapshuro are easy to find. Balay, prapu and marzan are home dishes that take time to prepare, so you are more likely to be offered them at a guesthouse or a heritage hotel than to see them on a bazaar menu. Our guide to traditional food in Gilgit-Baltistan describes them in more detail.

Beyond that, most menus in Skardu are the Pakistani standards: chicken and mutton karahi, tikka and seekh kebab, daal, sabzi and naan. Fruit is the local luxury: apricots and cherries in early summer, and dried apricots, walnuts and almonds all year.

Where to eat in Skardu town

The bazaar. The main bazaar and the roads leading off it have plenty of small restaurants and tikka stalls. Evenings are busiest, when the barbecues are lit. Choose places that are full of local customers and cooking fresh, and ask for the price of karahi by weight before it is made.

Balti food. Dewan-e-Khas, a long-running hotel and restaurant in town, is one of the few places known for cooking Balti dishes alongside Pakistani and Chinese food. Some dishes need notice, so call or ask your hotel to order the day before.

Nangsoq. The organic village behind Kharpocho Fort is a good place to try Balti home cooking. It pairs well with the climb to Kharpocho Fort for an afternoon in town.

Cafés. A number of cafés with espresso machines, burgers and cakes have opened in Skardu in recent years. They open and close quickly, so check recent reviews rather than relying on a list, including this one.

Hotel restaurants. The dining halls of the established town hotels are dependable if unexciting, and a safe choice with children. PC Legacy Skardu, by the airport, has a restaurant, a coffee shop and a rooftop eatery with valley views.

Trout at Kachura

Brown and rainbow trout were introduced to the lakes and streams of the Skardu valley long ago, and trout is the dish visitors come to Kachura for.

• At Upper Kachura, simple eateries near the shore serve fried trout in season. Fish are usually priced by size, so ask before you order.
• At Shangrila, the Pagoda restaurant over the water and the café inside the old DC-3 fuselage serve trout among other things, at resort prices.

Lunch by the water after a morning on the lakes is the classic Kachura day. Our comparison of Upper and Lower Kachura covers which lake suits what, including where to eat.

If you want to catch your own, trout fishing in Gilgit-Baltistan needs a permit from the Fisheries Department. Ask in Skardu how to get the current one before you go out with a rod.

Eating at Shigar and Khaplu

The two palace hotels run by Serena have the most atmospheric dining rooms in Baltistan.

• Serena Shigar Fort, Fong Khar restaurant: Pakistani, Balti, Chinese and continental food, with garden seating in good weather and cherry ice cream made from the orchard's fruit. Breakfast runs from 6:30 to 10:30 am and dinner from 7 to 10:30 pm.
• Serena Khaplu Palace, Sarfa Khar restaurant: Balti, Pakistani and continental food, with 26 seats and an outdoor loggia, using produce from the hotel's own vegetable garden. Dinner runs from 7 to 10:30 pm.

If you are not staying, check whether the restaurant is taking outside guests before you plan a meal there. On a Shigar or Khaplu day trip, the villages also have small local places for a simple lunch.

Eating on day trips and on Deosai

Outside town, food gets simpler and scarcer:

• Deosai. Take a packed lunch, water and snacks. Seasonal hotels and commercial activity inside the national park were banned from the 2026 season, so don't expect stalls on the plateau. Your hotel can pack food the night before.
• Manthokha. The waterfall in Kharmang has a restaurant serving trout nearby.
• Satpara, Katpana and the drives. Carry water and something to eat. Tea stalls exist along the main roads, but not everywhere.

Practical tips for eating out

• Carry cash. Outside the big hotels, few restaurants take cards.
• Drink bottled or filtered water. Most hotels provide it; ask.
• Eat dinner at a sensible hour. Skardu is not a late town, and outside summer many small places close early.
• Muharram and Ramadan. Skardu is a largely Shia town, and on the ninth and tenth of Muharram most of the bazaar closes for Ashura. In Ramadan, most bazaar restaurants shut during the day. Hotels usually go on feeding their guests, so eat where you are staying on those days.
• Vegetarians can eat daal, sabzi and, if they find them, prapu and marzan. Say "no meat" clearly, as stock is often meat-based.
• Budget. Food in the bazaar costs far less than at the resorts. Our Skardu trip cost guide has rough daily figures for 2026.

Is it worth seeking out good food in Skardu?

For a quick trip, eat simply and don't go out of your way. The best meals most visitors remember are a fried trout by Upper Kachura, a plate of mamtu, and dinner in a restored palace, not an evening in a smart restaurant.

Seek it out if you are curious about Balti culture: ask a day ahead for Balti dishes at your hotel or guesthouse, and spend an evening at Shigar or Khaplu.

Don't expect a city food scene. There is no food street to rival Lahore's, menus overlap, and in the peak weeks of July and August the busiest places are rushed. Pick hotels with a decent kitchen if food matters to you, and see the Skardu destination page for the rest of the valley.

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