From the Kazakh steppe to Uzbek oases, from Tajik mountains to the Karakalpak deserts — Central Asian cuisine is grounded in simple, hearty ingredients: meat, flour, dairy, fresh herbs, and spices. It’s cooked over open fire, in tandyr ovens, and cast-iron kazan pots. Today, chefs and restaurateurs reinterpret the familiar while preserving its essence.
We’ve chosen six spots where traditional cuisine hasn’t been sealed in time—it’s alive, evolving, being reimagined, and yet remains true to itself. And if gastronomy really has become a way to understand culture, it’s places like these that turn it into an art form.
O’ZBEGIM. Flavor as a memory keeper
A restaurant-museum in the heart of Tashkent, where authentic artifacts, antique doors, and carved columns create a deeply cultural space. The house specialty is plov, served in a different regional style each day: Tashkent-style, choykhona-style, Bukhara-style, devzira, or chongora ($6 per serving). The menu also includes shurpa ($6) and kulchatoy (ed. note: a small flatbread) (4 pcs – $9), all prepared using traditional recipes with a delicate contemporary touch.
Art Choyxona Rishton. Art and Plov
In Rishton (Fergana Region) — an Uzbek town famed for its pottery — Art Choyxona Rishton fuses food with decorative craftsmanship. The interiors are adorned with handcrafted ceramics by hereditary artisans, featuring turquoise glaze — a secret passed down through generations. The star dish is a fragrant Rishtan plov ($32 per kg), served with achchik shurpa — a rich broth of lamb bones, chili, and vegetables. Locals call it “voh-voh shurvo” for the delight it inspires.
JINAU. Flavors Gathered from the Earth
The Kazakh restaurant JINAU is built around the idea of gathering: harvest, family, flavors. Its interior draws inspiration from a rural home, where generations have farmed the land, preserved its bounty, and gathered around a shared table. Clay, wood, metal, and weathered glass channel the spirit of southern Central Asia. On chef Ruslan Zakirov’s menu: tandyr-baked samsa ($2–3), flatbread with karyn mai ($1), lagman ($6–7), plov ($7), and chebureks ($4). Drinks include kumys and shubat ($2), and signature teas with pomegranate and currant ($5). Despite the spacious setting, it feels incredibly cozy— like a quiet childhood escape in the countryside.
AUYL. Performance of Taste
Set in the Medeu Gorge, this restaurant is a full-on culinary theater. It’s an immersive space where the kitchen becomes a stage and the guest—a part of the show. The menu is a creative reworking of steppe staples: dishes made from water, flour, and meat cooked over an open flame with herbs grown on-site. Familiar flavors feel newly discovered. Tiki cocktails ($8) tell stories—of Tomyris, the steppe winds, or the meaning of körimdik—and shift with the seasons, just like the steppe itself.
Caravan. Where It All Began
A quarter century ago, Caravan became the first Uzbek restaurant in Tashkent. Today, it remains a symbol of hospitality and cultural care. With the lived-in charm of an old home, traditional elements all around, and ethno-jazz playing softly in the background, this is a place that invites you to slow down and savor. The menu features Bayram Osh plov ($6), crafted from a recipe by the legendary Avaz Zakirov — a name spoken with reverence in Tashkent, manti in the Bukhara tradition ($1 per piece), and Uyghur-style lagman ($5). The cuisine isn’t reimagined — it’s preserved, kept alive through quality and culinary skill.
Sandyq / TARY. Nomadic Flavors Reborn
The Sandyq Group brings together two restaurants — Sandyq and TARY — both reinterpreting Kazakh culinary traditions for a new generation.
Sandyq
This restaurant is on a mission to preserve and retell the story of Kazakh cuisine. Its menu draws from 15 years of ethnographic research across 13 regions, documenting 1,500 original recipes that inspired the restaurant’s signature dishes. The interior is a museum in itself, with trunks, carpets, ceramics, and wooden or clay tableware. A highlight is the Kumysoteca, where kumys is served like fine wine, with detailed notes on its origin, climate, and cultural heritage.
TARY
This ethno-café reintroduces the familiar steppe flavors of childhood into everyday life. Its core ingredient is tary — a gluten-free grain that sustained nomads for centuries. Today, it’s the base for desserts and drinks that honor tradition. Favorites include baursaks with caramelized tary, and sweets made from ayran and irimshik. Simple and satisfying, they reconnect diners with their roots.
Gastro-Glossary
Plov – In every Central Asian country, and even every city, plov is different: from the fluffy Tashkent version to the rich, raisin- and chickpea-studded Bukhara style.
Lagman – Hand-pulled noodles served with a thick meat-and-vegetable sauce – Uyghur, Kazakh, or homemade – each version brings its own twist.
Samsa – Traditionally baked in a tandyr oven and filled with meat or pumpkin. Real samsa is always hot, with a crisp crust and juicy center.
Cheburek – A deep-fried turnover stuffed with finely chopped fatty lamb, onion, and spices, made from thin unleavened dough and pan-fried until golden.
Kurtoba and kulchatoy – Signature dishes of Tajikistan and southern Uzbekistan. Dough, herbs, and tangy dairy sauces – hearty, simple, and satisfying.
Shurpa – A rich, slow-cooked broth made with beef or lamb and plenty of vegetables.
Beshbarmak – Kazakhstan’s national dish of boiled meat and hand-cut noodles, served in broth.
Karyn mai – Rendered fat stored in a cow’s stomach. A Kazakh delicacy with a deep flavor and ancient method of preparation.
Ayran, kumys, shubat – Traditional fermented dairy drinks that quench thirst and add a lively tang to any meal.
Tea, Tashkent- and Kazakh-style – With milk, spices, mint, pomegranate, or currants. Each brew tells a local story.
Sweets – Parvarda, halva, baursaki, and dozens more. Simple, handmade, and full of nostalgic flavor.
