Kashmir Restaurant



"This is an emergency message from Ryan Industries, there has been an incident at the Kashmir Restaurant…"

- Emergency Announcement signifying the start of the Civil War.

The Kashmir Restaurant was a well known, high class establishment located at the Welcome Center, where the rich and famous could go to enjoy fine dining in a relaxing environment. The restaurant was the first of the target locations of murderous attacks led by Atlas to take control of Rapture on New Year's Eve of 1958.

History
The Kashmir Restaurant was a popular spot in Rapture known for its diverse menu, live music, luxurious decor, and for hosting various parties, galas, and events. It also served as a location to showcase Rapture's extraordinary atmosphere to new arrivals to the city. It was run by a woman named Brenda.

1958 New Year's Eve Masquerade
In celebration of the new year and the end of the troubles brought by Fontaine, a masquerade party was held in the Kashmir on December 31, 1958. The masquerade theme was adopted throughout Rapture and everyone with a "name" or money was sure to show at the party. Andrew Ryan was supposed to accompany his mistress, Diane McClintock, but he stood her up to continue working in Hephaestus. From there, he broadcast his annual New Year's speech to the city, toasting the upcoming year. Moments later, followers of Atlas initiated attacks throughout Rapture. In the Kashmir, a bomb went off in the large Atlas statue in the center of the restaurant, and Splicers armed with guns and Plasmids burst into the dining room screaming slurs against Ryan as they killed or injured many of the party guests. Diane McClintock survived, but her face was disfigured in the attack. The riots marked the start of Rapture's Civil War.

The Civil War
After the attack, the restaurant stayed relatively untouched, with the decoration from the dreadful New Year's Eve party still in place. Deterioration of its interior began with flooding of the lower level around the establishment's centerpiece, the Atlas statue. Steve Barker, from an adjacent business, had complained to Brenda about a hole in one of the bathroom walls, which was never fixed. By 1960, the only people left wandering the restaurant were deranged Splicers looking for food or ADAM, including Brenda herself.

BioShock
Seen when Jack arrives at Rapture, the Kashmir Restaurant was torn apart by Atlas's riots. Brenda can still be found at the restaurant, Spliced and insane. Diane McClintock's Audio Diary New Year's Eve Alone was recorded there at the exact moment the New Year's Eve Riots started. Jack, now spliced himself, sees a ghost suffering from the side-effects caused by splicing, in the Bathroom near Steve Barker's Audio Diary Hole in the Bathroom Wall.

Audio Diaries

 * Diane McClintock - New Year's Eve Alone
 * Steve Barker - Hole in the Bathroom Wall

BioShock 2
The Kashmir Restaurant does not appear in BioShock 2, but posters for the business appear throughout the city. Grace Holloway mentions the attack on the establishment in her Audio Diary Closing the Limbo Room.

BioShock 2 Multiplayer
During the players introduction to Sinclair Solutions Home Defense Program and their new apartment, an emergency announcement will play informing citizens of an "incident" at the Kashmir and asking them to return home. At rank 3, a message from Sinclair Solutions reminds its customers of the tragic accident at the restaurant, using it as an excuse to make people more desperate for defensive Plasmids and Gene Tonics.

A different area of the restaurant becomes a battleground for players during matches, but the original restaurant from BioShock, where flames still surround the Atlas statue, can be seen from the window of the Silk Lounge.

BioShock Infinite


When Booker DeWitt and Elizabeth enter the Welcome Center through a tear into an alternate version of Rapture, multiple signs for the restaurant are seen throughout the city.

Burial at Sea - Episode 1
The restaurant is seen in it's prime through the windows of Market Street, and a large banner in the area invites citizens to celebrate New Year's at the Kashmir. Herschel Weiss, mentions in one of his Audio Diaries, that an ice sculpture made using the Plasmid Old Man Winter had been commissioned for a gala that took place there a few months previously. Since it was made of dry ice, and not standard ice, the 2,500-pound sculpture still stood where it had been, a month later.

In the Bridal shop in Fontaine's Housewares Department, there is a female Splicer dancing among mannequins, hallucinating about her first dance at her wedding with a man she fell in love with at first sight at the Kashmir despite the latter being with another woman.

Burial at Sea - Episode 2
As it is New Year's Eve, the Kashmir is mentioned several times during this episode. An audio diary by Felix Molloy can be found in Test-Drive, revealing that the Kashmir was one of the many places planned to be attacked, depending on when Atlas and his men escaped the Department Store. Elizabeth manages to help them escape just in time for the Kashmir's masquerade ball; thus sealing the restaurant's fate. Some time later, Elizabeth regains consciousness for a brief moment and hears Atlas informing Lonnie that "The Kashmir's all blown to Hell."

Two weeks after the attack, the bombing of the restaurant is mentioned again in a radio announcement covering the ongoing civil war.

Bugs/Glitches

 * A couple of Thuggish Splicers that demonstrate the effectiveness of electrocuting enemies in water will spawn whenever someone walks back towards the freezers in the kitchen. This means that if Brenda backs up to the spot, the pair will appear out of thin air in plain sight.

Behind the Scenes

 * Rubiyat.jpg advertisement for the Kashmir Restaurant seen in BioShock 2 is largely copied from a fruit crate label  "Rubaiyat Brand".
 * In a 2007 interview, creative director Ken Levine cited the 1994 Coen Brothers film, The Hudsucker Proxy, as an inspiration for the BioShock's style and design. The opening and final scenes of the film take place on New Year's Eve 1958.
 * In BioShock's demo for Xbox 360 and PC, the player will find Incinerate! in the women's bathroom.
 * Storyboards from Deco Devolution: The Art of BioShock 2 reveal that Subject Delta would have walked by the restaurant's windows at the very moment the bombs exploded and Atlas' bandits attacked the revelers. This later evolved to the level The Prelude which would have shown the Welcome Center in pristine condition. This concept was ultimately scrapped in favor of the Adonis Luxury Resort as a tutorial level. Moreover, the first public demo level of the game, titled "Hunting the Big Sister," featured the player walking underwater and passing by the windows of the large room with the blown-up statue of Atlas.
 * The Kashmir Restaurant seen in Burial at Sea - Episode 1 from the windows of Market Street is different from the one seen in BioShock; it is atop a building far above the ocean floor, while in BioShock you can see the seabed right outside the window and another building in front of the main window (the one of Atlas with the World on his shoulders). This Kashmir also appears to be a lot larger, but is in fact the same restaurant.
 * The Atlas statue is featured on the "Welcome to Rapture" Achievement/Trophy for BioShock 2 Multiplayer.
 * According to a removed audio diary from BioShock 2, forty-seven bystanders were killed in the restaurant, during the attack on new year's eve.