Kashmir Restaurant

The Kashmir Restaurant was a well known, high class establishment located at the Welcome Center, where Rapture's wealthy upper class 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.Diane McClintock's Audio Diary: New Year's Eve Alone 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.Diane McClintock's Audio Diary: Released Today 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, the owner of an adjacent business, had complained about a hole in one of the bathroom walls,Steve Barker's Audio Diary: Hole in the Bathroom Wall which only got worse as time went by. By 1960, the only people left wandering the restaurant were deranged Splicers looking for food or ADAM, including Brenda herself.
==BioShock==
Jack finds himself at the top of the Atrium with a mission and few options. Over the radio, Atlas has implored the 
crash survivor to head to Neptune's Bounty, rescue his family, and escape the underwater city. With the Le Marquis D'Epoque sealed, the only path forward is through the Kashmir Restaurant.
===Upper Floor===
As Jack enters the restaurant, he finds the place to be a time capsule of life in Rapture, albeit a severely damaged one. The upper floor of the Kashmir was the site of restaurant's reception desk, several dining tables, the restrooms, and a bank of Pay-phones. Two glowing eyes will hastily appear in the dark vent near the restrooms and will just as quickly disappear again. A balcony provided a view of the statue and dining area downstairs. Decorations still hang perfectly still on the walls, but the crumbling balcony, and torn up floorboards don't really provide a festive mood. Bottles, party hats and masks have been left on the tables, untouched for a year. Despite this, the place is clearly not abandoned; on the floor below, Charley can be heard arguing with Brenda.
====Restrooms====
In Rapture's heyday, the Kashmir's restrooms would've been spotless and overseen by an attendant ready to offer patrons a spritz of cologne. Now, the restrooms are left in a dark and horrendous state with Splicers having torn some of the fixtures straight off of the floor. Jack, now spliced himself, sees a ghost suffering from the side-effects caused by splicing, in the women's room. He finds Steve Barker's Audio Diary Hole in the Bathroom Wall and deals with a Splicer hiding in one of the stalls. In the men's lavatory, he comes across the infamous hole, which leads to the neighboring Footlight Theater.
===Lower Floor===
The lower floor was where most of the partying took place. This area featured the restaurant's kitchen, the main dining area, a Cocktail Lounge, a small stage, and of course the restaurants iconic Atlas statue. The Kashmir's second entrance is blocked by the corpses of citizens who trampled each other trying to escape during the riots.BioShock with designer JP LeBreton Part 1 video playthrough hosted by Idle Thumbs The dining area around the Atlas statue has flooded, and several of the tables have been smashed by pieces blown off the statue during the explosion. Diane McClintock's Audio Diary New Year's Eve Alone was recorded at the exact moment the New Year's Eve Riots started. 
====Kitchen====
Brenda has locked herself in the kitchen in order to indulge in some "hard earned" ADAM. Should the player decide to deal with Charley, she'll unlock the door and run out. The lack of proper attendance has left the cooking space in a sickening state. Grime covers almost every surface, the lights have all gone out, rotten food covers the countertops, and dishes have been left smashed all over the floor. The body of an unfortunate man can be found slumped over a Cash Register at the back, and a strange green glow emanates from one of the refrigerators.
As Jack explores the area by the refrigerators, two new Splicers enter the Kashmir. When he returns to the dining room, he finds them searching through the water. Atlas offers some instruction and Jack witnesses what a powerful combination water and Electro Bolt can be.
==New Discoveries==
===Audio Diaries===
#Diane McClintock - New Year's Eve Alone - Lower Floor, on a table under the "Happy New Year 1959" sign.
#Steve Barker - Hole in the Bathroom Wall - Restrooms, on a pile of rubble in the "Dames" room.
==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 player's 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.
==The Protector Trials==
Much like the original version of the Adonis Luxury Resort level in the main game, a Kashmir Restaurant poster can also be found in The Adonis Baths map of The Protector Trials, which is based on the said level. The poster is found above a bench by the Adonis' entrance.
==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 its 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. Sometime 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.
==Video==
thumb|center|300px|left|BioShock 2's viral audio broadcast of the New Year's Eve riots at the Kashmir Restaurant, hosted by Rapture Radio.
==Gallery==
===Concept Art, Models and Pre-Launch Images===
Kashmir Restaurant Concept Art.jpg|Early Concept Art for the Kashmir Restaurant.
IMG 0165.jpg|Story board for the attack on the Kashmir for BioShock 2.
B2Mconcept.jpg|Concept art for BioShock 2 Multiplayer, featuring the Kashmir.
Atlasmoodpiece.jpg|Concept Art by Scott Duquette for the mood of pre-fall Rapture in Burial at Sea, using the Kashmir Restaurant as an example.
Preefallrapture.jpg|Concept art for Burial at Sea's pre-fall Rapture, featuring the Kashmir's exterior.
Bio Loading Screen Welcome to Rapture Pre-Launch Kashmir Restaurant Entrance.png|An early version of the Kashmir entrance, seen during the level's loading screen.
EarlyKash2.jpg
EarlyKash1.jpg
EarlyKash3.jpg
EarlyKash4.jpg
EarlyKash5.jpg
Bioshock rew 003-large (1).jpg
Pre-Launch Rosie In Kashmir.jpg|A Rosie Big Daddy in an early version of the restaurant.
EarlyAtlasKashmir.png|Early Model for the damaged Atlas statue.
UnusedJasmineAtKashmirPoster.jpg|Unused advertisement for a limited time show by Jasmine Jolene at the restaurant, designed by Joshua Viers.
Loading Prelude 1.jpg|Loading screen for the cut Prelude level.
Loading Prelude 2.jpg|Cut loading screen of the first floor stage area.
Loading Prelude 4.jpg|Cut loading screen of the second floor balcony.
===In-Game Images===
Welcome-Atrium08.jpg|Nearing the restaurant.
Kashmir Restaurant Inside.png|The restaurant hasn't been in business for some time.
Kashmir Atlas downstairs.png|The Kashmir's lower floor.
KashmirIOS.jpg|The restaurant as seen in BioShock iOS.
Kashmir-Resturant-Outside.jpg|The Kashmir as seen from the outside in Burial at Sea - Episode 1.
==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==
*The Kashmir Restaurant takes its name from the region in South-central Asia with the same name.Kashmir on Wikipedia
*During early development, Ken Levine insisted that the team had to design a room that "felt like BioShock", to use as a base for the game, before making anything else. That room ended up being the Kashmir Restaurant."Keep Calm and Carry On: Making BioShock" at GDC Paris June 2008 on YouTube
*The advertisement for the Kashmir Restaurant seen in BioShock 2 is largely copied from a fruit crate label "Rubaiyat Brand".
*The Atlas statue has been the symbol for Objectivism ever since it was featured on Ayn Rand's novel Atlas Shrugged, specifically the bronze Atlas statue outside the Rockefeller Center in New York City.Atlas (statue) on Wikipedia The philosophy Andrew Ryan and the city of Rapture cherishes is that of Objectivism.
**The Atlas statue is featured on the "Welcome to Rapture" Achievement/Trophy for BioShock 2 Multiplayer.
*In BioShock's demo, the player will find Incinerate! in the women's bathroom.Bioshock Xbox 360 Demo - Part 2 on YouTube
*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.Tobias Riefers' Removed Audio Diary: Clinic Code is 0047
*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.
*BioShock 2's viral audio broadcast of the New Year's Eve riots at the Kashmir (video above) has some minor contradictions:
**The host mentions that Professor Julie Langford, Dr. Steinman, Dr. Tenenbaum and Dr. Suchong shared a table at the restaurant, even though Brigid Tenenbaum had evidently gone into hiding prior to the New Year's Eve celebration.
**Diane McClintock can be heard recording her audio diary New Year's Eve Alone in the broadcast. When listening to the diary in BioShock, the song "And All the While I'm Loving You" can be heard in the background, while in the broadcast the song played is "Bei Mir Bistu Shein".
**Though not an actual contradiction, some of the female screams heard during the attack is a sound effect, named Scream B.wav, created by user FreqMan on Freesound.Scream B.wav on Freesound
*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).
**The window uses the same image as the other large windows seen in Burial at Sea, giving it a different interior than that seen in BioShock, though it is not meant to be seen up close.
**This restaurant also appears to be a lot larger.
**The labeled Pneumo Lines in the Pneumo Stations, seen on Market and High Street indicates that the restaurant has a Pneumo Tube, but the Kashmir Restaurant in BioShock doesn't have one.
**The interior greatly resembles the Manta Ray Lounge. Incidentally, the model folder and textures for the scalloped central column in the final Manta Ray Lounge are labeled Kashmir_CenterPillar.
==References==
de:Kashmir Restaurant
es:Restaurante Kashmir
fr:Restaurant Kashmir
it:Ristorante Kashmir
ru:Ресторан Кашмир
tr:Kaşmir Restoran
Category:Welcome to Rapture
Category:Rapture Businesses