Dining In Sharn

In Sharn, the saying goes, even the poor eat like kings, and good food is usually readily available. With the exception of purely residential districts, nearly every district in Sharn includes some number of dining establishments, usually at least one in a given tower. Nearly a thousand restaurants in all, not counting street vendors and inns that also serve food, offer an almost endless variety of dining options to natives and visitors alike. Among these many locations, Sharn offers a few unique dining experiences.

Striking views enhance a meal, and for that purpose no restaurant can compete with the dozen or so establishments in Skyway. Of those, perhaps the best known is the Celestial Vista Restaurant, a tourist attraction. In-the-know locals celebrate special occasions at the Cloud Dragon or the Azure Gateway, both of which have views as stunning as the Celestial Vista's, food no less impressive, and generally smaller crowds. All three restaurants in Skyway serve all of their food purified by House Ghallanda.

A very different, but no less striking, view can be had at the Lava Pit, an up-and-coming restaurant in — of all places — Tavick's Cogs, in the heart of one of the city's industrial districts. True to its name, the Lava Pit overlooks a gigantic forge powered by molten rock, suffusing the place with lurid red light. The restaurant began as little more than a hole in the wall with an interesting location, serving a variety of barbecued meats in a Shadow Marches style. Its popularity has grown tremendously, allowing the restaurant to improve its facility and expand its menu (though spicy Marches barbecue remains its specialty), making it by far the most upscale establishment of any kind in the Cogs.

For variety of cuisine, no region of the city can match the Menthis Plateau, with its diverse population. Culinary purists argue that the only place to sample halfling cuisine is in Little Plains, and likewise for the other racial neighborhoods in Menthis, but most people agree that the University district in Upper Menthis is the best place to sample the wide variety of cuisines Sharn has to offer. Halfling specialties, gnome delights, elf cuisine, Karr-nathi fare, and even exotic Riedran food are all available in the University district. University students and faculty are fond of dining at the Commons, a large open-air plaza near the top of one of the Morgrave University towers where food vendors bring carts and wagons daily to serve up a smorgasbord of ethnic offerings.

Of course, sometimes the need for quality overshadows spectacular views and culinary variety. A few of the generally acknowledged best restaurants in Sharn include Sannid's in the Platinum Heights district of Upper Central, known for its extensive wine collection; Galdin's Garden in the Seventh Tower district of Upper Menthis, surrounded by a towertop garden featuring roses and orchids; The Oaks in the Shae Lias district of Upper Northedge, serving elf and Brelish cuisine in an elaborate open-air pavilion surrounded by oak trees; and Olladra's Arms in the Hope's Peak district of Upper Dura, notable for its banquet-style seating and generous portions.

Finally, as in many cities across Khorvaire, House Ghallanda offers heroes' feasts in the city as often as demand allows. Ghallanda does not have a major presence in the city. Unlike in some eastern cities where such feasts occur weekly, in Sharn they usually occur no more than once a month, in rotating locations — in the House enclave in Dragon Towers (in Middle Central), in the huge Ghallanda Hall Inn in the Underlook district of Middle Dura, and in the open-air market in Little Plains (in Middle Menthis).

See also the discussion of dining clubs under Companionship, on page 14.

Dining Prices

Dinner Quality (Example) Cost per Person
Outstanding (Celestial Vista) 75 sp; includes fine wine
Excellent (Sannid's) 40 sp; includes good wine
Good (Besimir's Folly) 35 cp; includes common wine or ale
Common (The Commons) 19 cp; includes ale
Poor (street vendor) 12 cp; includes watered ale
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