Mountain food made for cold nights and long days: meat-filled breads, steamed dumplings, slow-cooked porridges, butter tea, and some of the best fruit in Pakistan.
Eat what the mountains do well: hearty, simple food built around meat, wheat, dairy and fruit. The dishes most worth seeking out are chapshuro (a meat-filled bread that is a Hunza favourite), mamtu (steamed dumplings), and harissa (a slow-cooked porridge of meat and wheat). In the Skardu region you will meet heartier Balti cooking and salty butter tea, while across the whole of Gilgit-Baltistan the real star is the fruit — above all the apricots, eaten fresh, dried, pressed into oil, and cracked open for their kernels.
Food here is honest rather than elaborate. Portions are filling, flavours are clean, and much of what you eat is grown or raised within sight of the table. Pair this guide with our Hunza and Skardu pages, or browse things to do on the explore page to build the rest of your trip.
| Chapshuro | A bread filled with spiced minced meat and onion, baked or pan-fried until crisp. A signature Hunza dish and an easy first taste of mountain cooking. | Hunza (region-wide) |
| Mamtu | Steamed dumplings filled with minced meat, served plain or with a little broth. Light, warming and very moreish. | Hunza & region-wide |
| Harissa | A slow-cooked porridge of meat and pounded wheat, simmered for hours into a rich, comforting dish often eaten in the colder months. | Region-wide |
| Balti meat & bread dishes | Hearty plates of slow-cooked meat with locally baked breads, the everyday cooking of the Skardu region. | Skardu |
| Butter (salt) tea | A salty, buttery tea common in Balti households, drunk to warm up against the cold rather than as a sweet treat. | Skardu |
| Walnut cake | A dense, nutty cake made with the region's plentiful walnuts, a well-known Hunza sweet. | Hunza |
| Apricots & apricot products | Fresh apricots in season, plus dried apricots, apricot oil and apricot kernels used across local cooking. | Region-wide |
| Organic fruit | Cherries, mulberries, apples and more, much of it grown without heavy chemicals in valley orchards. | Region-wide |
If one thing defines eating in Gilgit-Baltistan, it is the fruit. The valleys are stitched with orchards, and in season you can eat cherries, mulberries, apples and apricots almost straight from the branch. The apricot is the local treasure: eaten fresh in summer, dried for the long winter, pressed into a delicate oil, and split open for its kernels, which are used in cooking and eaten as a nut. Walnuts and other nuts grow in the same orchards, finding their way into sweets like the famous Hunza walnut cake.
You will also hear about Hunza water, a traditional local drink. Much of what reaches your plate is genuinely organic by default — grown on small family plots, ripened in intense mountain sun, and sold or shared close to where it was picked. Buying dried fruit and nuts directly from growers is one of the simplest pleasures of a visit.
Travel east to the Skardu region and the food shifts character. Balti cuisine leans on hearty meat dishes and locally baked breads, cooking built for a colder, higher landscape and shaped by the cultures across the wider Himalaya. Meals are filling and unfussy, designed to keep you warm and well-fed between long mountain days.
The drink to try here is butter tea, also called salt tea — churned with butter and salt rather than sweetened, and sipped slowly through the cold. It can surprise first-timers, but it makes perfect sense once the temperature drops. Whether you are exploring Skardu or starting out in Hunza, eating local is one of the easiest ways to understand the place.
Chapshuro is a bread filled with spiced minced meat and onion, baked or pan-fried until crisp. It is a Hunza favourite and one of the most popular dishes to try across the region.
There is no single dish, but chapshuro, mamtu dumplings and harissa are among the best known savoury foods, while the region's apricots are its most famous produce of all.
Apricots above all, eaten fresh, dried, pressed into oil and cracked for their kernels. The valleys also produce cherries, mulberries, apples and walnuts, much of it grown organically in small orchards.
Balti cuisine, found around Skardu, centres on hearty meat dishes and locally baked breads, plus salty butter tea. It is filling, simple food suited to a cold, high-altitude landscape.
Butter tea, or salt tea, is a traditional Balti drink made with butter and salt rather than sugar. It is drunk to warm up against the cold and is common in the Skardu region.
Many signature dishes are meat-based, but the region's abundant fruit, nuts, breads and dairy mean vegetarians can eat well. Fresh and dried fruit and walnuts are available almost everywhere.