Baghdad eats early and late: kahi with geymar at dawn, tashreeb at noon, masgouf split open over tamarisk embers at dusk. Between them sit Shorja's spice alleys, Karrada's juice stalls and qahwa poured thick, bitter and heavy with cardamom.
Baghdad's wholesale bazaar since Abbasid times, trading from 08:00 to sunset. Sacks of baharat, dried limes (noomi basra), sumac and Iranian saffron fill the covered lanes; sellers weigh by the quarter-kilo and grind blends to order.
Working-class lunch counters where lamb broth is ladled over torn samoon bread. Order tashreeb ghanam or bagila bil-dihin — broad beans and rice under sheep fat — served on tin trays with raw onion, amba and pickled turnip.
The lanes ringing the Imam Kadhim shrine are lined with confectioners selling kleicha stuffed with date paste and cardamom, mann al-sama (Iraqi manna nougat), halqoum and dense trays of baklawa cut to order by weight.
Baghdad's busiest eating strip after dark: charcoal kebab grills, shawarma spits, fresh pomegranate and orange juice presses, and carts selling lablabi (hot chickpeas in cumin broth) that run until well past midnight.
Around the Abdul Qadir Gilani shrine, bakers pull paper-thin kahi pastry over hot plates, drench it in syrup and top it with geymar — clotted water-buffalo cream. Eaten standing, with sweet black tea in an istikan glass.
Tigris carp is butterflied, staked upright around a tamarisk-wood fire for an hour, then finished on embers with tomato and tamarind. Fish are picked live from tanks and priced by weight; two people share one 2kg fish.
The roastery that turned Baghdad onto specialty coffee, roasting on site since the 1980s and now a Karrada institution. Beans are ground at the counter; the sweet cardamom-heavy Iraqi blend sits beside espresso and cold brew.
Baghdad's smartest dining street, where quzi arrives as a whole slow-roasted lamb shoulder over spiced rice with almonds and raisins, alongside dolma — vine leaves, onion and courgette rolled around rice and lamb.
The dawn ritual of old Baghdad: sheep's head, trotters and stuffed stomach simmered overnight, then served with garlic broth poured over bread. Counters open around 05:00 and shut once the pots empty, usually before noon.
A residential district that grills all day: minced lamb kebab pressed onto flat skewers over charcoal, tikka cubes, and grilled tomato and onion, served on samoon with sumac onions, amba and thin flatbread from the tannour next door.
The Baghdadi ice cream chain famous for stretchy mastic-and-rosewater dolma flavour and pistachio, scooped from steel drums. Queues run down the pavement on summer afternoons when the city passes 45C.
Riverside tea garden where waiters carry trays of istikan glasses between plastic chairs facing the Tigris. Tea is boiled dark with sugar in the glass, shisha is coal-fired, and families stay until the call to prayer.