Every evening, the air inside a small restaurant in Srinagar’s Jawahar Nagar turns warm with the aroma of freshly made idlis and dosas.
Inside, a Tamil cook wearing a green cap stands over a hot griddle, swiftly spreading batter into thin circles, while Kashmiri staff move between tables carrying plates and calling out orders.
Customers wait at their tables, some scrolling through their phones, others watching for their plates to arrive. A few have travelled across the Kashmir Valley. Others are tourists from Tamil Nadu, Kerala and Karnataka.
Most, however, are surprisingly Kashmiris.
They are here not for wazwan, the Valley’s famed cuisine, but for something simpler — food from nearly 3,000 kilometres away.
Among them is 26-year-old Zahid Iqbal Shah from Srinagar, who is visiting for the first time.
“South Indian food is healthy and lovely, and I have been to South India,” he says. “When I heard that South Indian food is available in Kashmir, I decided to come here. I mainly like dosa, and this is my first time here.”
“Initially, I came only for 10 or 11 days,” she recalls. “Even then, I came only for travel purposes. But the experience I had here, with local people, made me come back again. I did not expect that feeling.”
At the centre of this culinary bridge is Sindhu, a 27-year-old from a small village in Tamil Nadu, who first arrived in Kashmir in February 2021 as a solo backpacker, with no plan beyond travel.
Dressed in a green embroidered pheran, the traditional Kashmiri robe, she moves between tables, occasionally stopping to speak to customers — an image that reflects how closely she has blended into the place she once visited as an outsider.
“Initially, I came only for 10 or 11 days,” she recalls. “Even then, I came only for travel purposes. But the experience I had here, with local people, made me come back again. I did not expect that feeling.”
An accidental journey to Kashmir
Sindhu’s journey to Kashmir was never planned.
After COVID-19 restrictions eased, she set out on a solo backpacking trip across India, travelling through Kerala, Karnataka, Maharashtra, Gujarat, Rajasthan, Uttar Pradesh, Himachal Pradesh and Delhi. Kashmir was not on the list.
“Honestly speaking, I had not planned to visit Kashmir initially. When I was in Delhi, I randomly checked if I had the budget and whether there were trains available. I found a train to Jammu and thought, ‘Okay, let me go,'” she says.
But she carried with her a set of fears shaped by what she had heard.
“In some places, I felt a little discrimination because I am South Indian. But in Kashmir, never. Not even a single day,” she tells The Better India. “The people were so kind. I felt safe. That made me want to stay.”
When asked why she eventually decided to stay on in Kashmir, Sindhu says there were two reasons. The first was emotional.
“For me, Kashmir was love at first sight,” she says. “I planned to stay only for 10 or 11 days, but the kindness and hospitality of the people made it difficult to leave. I felt welcomed and safe here from the beginning.”
What was meant to be a short visit slowly turned into something deeper when she returned in 2022 and spent months in villages around Pahalgam.
The second reason emerged later, after she started her tour-and-travel business. As she began bringing families from Tamil Nadu and other southern states to Kashmir, she noticed there was no authentic South Indian restaurant catering to visitors from the South.
“That was when I realised there was a gap,” she says. “Many tourists were struggling with the food and wanted something familiar. That was one of the reasons I decided to stay and start Idli Dosai Delight.”
What was meant to be a short visit slowly turned into something deeper when she returned in 2022 and spent months in villages around Pahalgam.
“The people I lived with in rural parts of Kashmir were not even well-off, but they would give me the best food they had. They were buying things for me that they were not even giving to their own children. I had never seen this kind of hospitality anywhere,” she says, pausing.
“I travelled to almost 28 states, but this feeling I did not get anywhere else.”
Back home in Pudukkottai, Sindhu’s life had already taken a difficult turn.
Her father, a lorry driver, passed away in an accident in 2018 while she was still in college. Suddenly, she became the sole earning member of the family.
“He always used to say that he was eager to visit Kashmir one day, but he never got the chance,” she says. “Maybe that is also one of the reasons I feel connected to this place.”
Growing up, her movements were restricted.
“In my village, after 7 pm, my parents would not allow me to step outside,” she says.
Kashmir, in contrast, offered her a different reality.
“I close my restaurant late at night, sometimes even at 1 or 2 am, and I go back home alone. In these four years, I have never faced any harassment. Not even once. As a woman, I feel this is one of the safest places for me,” she says.
From travel videos to tourism entrepreneur
Sindhu began documenting her experiences in Kashmir through videos, capturing breathtaking meadows, gushing streams, daily life and interactions with locals.
The response from Tamil Nadu surprised her.
“Many people told me that after watching my videos, they cancelled plans for other places and booked Kashmir instead. That really touched me,” she says.
In 2022, she turned this into a business, launching a tour and travel company that now employs around 24 people and has helped more than 1,000 families, mostly from Tamil Nadu, visit Kashmir.
“They feel comfortable because they see a Tamil girl already living here. They feel safe choosing Kashmir,” she explains.
While guiding tourists, Sindhu noticed a recurring issue.
“For South Indians, the food here is totally different. Within two days, many people were getting sick or feeling uncomfortable. They just wanted simple food like idli and dosa,” she says.
That observation sparked an idea.
“I thought, why not start something small? Just a small idli shop for tourists.”
The idli shop that Kashmir embraced
In September 2024, she opened a tiny 120-square-foot outlet in Khayam called Dosai Delight.
What followed surprised her.
“Within two to three months, I realised that 90 per cent of my customers were Kashmiris,” she says, smiling. “Tourists were fewer. Locals were coming more.”
To maintain authenticity, Sindhu goes to great lengths. “Almost all my ingredients are sourced from Tamil Nadu.
For example, idli rice, urad dal, tamarind, hing and filter coffee powder,” she says. “Taste and authenticity matter.
You cannot replace Tamil spices.”
Many of them — students and professionals — had studied or worked in cities such as Chennai, Bengaluru and Puducherry.
“They would tell me they had not eaten this kind of food in 20 years. Then they started bringing their friends and families.”
Among her regular customers is 29-year-old Basit Manzoor from Srinagar’s Eidgah.
“I have spent time in Chennai, and I love masala dosa,” he tells The Better India. “South Indian food is unique, and I enjoy trying different cuisines. Here, I get the same vibe that I got in Chennai.”
He adds, “I have tried South Indian food in other restaurants, but at Sindhu’s Idli and Dosai Delight, I taste genuine authenticity. People should not limit themselves to Kashmiri wazwan. One should try different varieties of food.”
Soon, customers were travelling from across the Valley just to eat there.
To maintain authenticity, Sindhu goes to great lengths.
“Almost all my ingredients are sourced from Tamil Nadu. For example, idli rice, urad dal, tamarind, hing and filter coffee powder,” she says. “Taste and authenticity matter. You cannot replace Tamil spices.”
She also hires chefs from her home state, but that comes at a cost.
“For one dosa master, I pay more than Rs 35,000 plus accommodation. For the main chef, it goes up to Rs 60,000 with accommodation. For one person, I spend almost Rs 50,000 to Rs 70,000,” she explains.
“And the courier cost for ingredients is also very high. Whatever I earn goes back into the business.”
Despite the mounting losses, Sindhu says she has not taken investment or financial support from her family. Nor has she relied on outside investors to keep the business running.
Instead, she uses the income generated through her tour-and-travel company to sustain the restaurants. According to her, much of what she earns from the tourism venture is reinvested into the eateries to cover salaries, rent, ingredients and other operational expenses while she continues building the business.
Today, she runs two restaurants — one in Khayam and another in Jawahar Nagar — and employs around 12 people, most of them locals.
Despite the growing popularity, Sindhu is candid.
“To be frank, to date I have not made a profit. Not even once,” she says.
During periods of declining tourism, especially after political disruptions, she faced heavy losses.
“My monthly expenses were around Rs 4.5 lakh to Rs 5 lakh, but sales were not even Rs 1 lakh. For six months, I faced losses of Rs 3 lakh to Rs 4 lakh every month. All my savings were gone,” she says.
Yet she continued paying salaries and rent without cuts.
“I know loss is for everyone, not only for me. So I paid everyone fully,” she says.
When asked what keeps her going despite the lack of profits, her answer is simple.
“I am doing it for my happiness,” she says. “Every day, people come and bless me. They say, ‘God bless you, you will grow.’ That feeling is something else.”
Bringing dosa to Kashmiri weddings
As her popularity grew, her food began appearing in unexpected spaces.
At a Kashmiri wedding, she was invited to set up a dosa counter alongside traditional wazwan.
“They asked us to prepare 500 to 600 dosas. But we made more than 1,000. People loved it,” she says.
The response led to multiple wedding bookings.
Sindhu hopes more local young people will eventually learn the cuisine well enough to build careers of their own around it.
Her restaurant has also attracted high-profile visitors, including Chief Minister Omar Abdullah and Farooq Abdullah, who praised her food and encouraged her journey.
For Sindhu, this journey has never been about expansion alone.
“I want local people to learn this too. If they learn, they can earn. That is important,” she says, though she admits training people has been challenging.
One of the local employees she has trained says the experience has opened up entirely new opportunities.
“Before joining here, I had never worked with South Indian food,” says one employee from Srinagar. “Now I know how dosas are prepared, how the batter is fermented and how customers like their food served. It is a different cuisine and a different skill set, and I am happy I got the chance to learn it.”
Sindhu hopes more local young people will eventually learn the cuisine well enough to build careers of their own around it.
Looking ahead, she remains open but grounded.
“I just trust God. Every year, my journey is different. Whatever comes, I will go with that.”
