Restaurants in Kurdistan

A long story told short: Kurdistan is not the best of places when it comes to restaurants. You will not be spoilt for choice.

But please read this carefully: I am making a differentiation between restaurants, snack bars and fast food.

You will have trouble as of 2010 to find a decent restaurant serving local food. Even big cities such as Dohuk have far less than 10 restaurants according to a western definition. Fast food, snack bars and coffee shops are the way to go if you don't have friends where you can have a good Kurdish style dinner. Quite sad I have to say. But if you travel within Kurdistan for a week or so, you will sooner or later be craving for good and solid food - after all, 'Kentucky' isn't the best of things in the long run, and the fat salads served at the fast foods aren't the most healthy either.

Again, it is a totally different thing if you are staying with a family. People simply don't go out to have 'proper' food in Kurdistan.

What you can rely on are the expensive hotels where you will get a variety of local, Arab and western cuisine. However, it comes at a price.