The best restaurants Uzbekistan

It is not cheap, but it is worth it. The food is of a good level, but what will leave you the best memory is certainly the view on the old city of Khiva. The restaurant is actually installed on an open air roof, and the view is lost between the Islam Khodja minaret, the dome of the nearby Mausoleum or the Kalta Minor. The chef makes a great effort to make the traditional recipes more delicate and spicy, and the emphasis is also put on the presentation of the dishes. In short, this new address in town is faultless.

It is more a teahouse than a restaurant, but if you are cooking a tasty plov at lunch time, you might as well come and enjoy it. The interior of the restaurant is splendid: the traditional wooden architecture has been entirely decorated by local craftsmen, whose many products are displayed everywhere and for sale. Throughout the day: pastries, spiced tea and Turkish coffee. For lunch, traditional salads and plov (it is best to order in the morning to ensure a table). A good plan !

This restaurant offers a warm and spacious oriental style, decorated with paintings and crafts from Uzbek artists. Every evening, dance shows and musicians. the atmosphere. The map is rich in many well-selected national specialities and a few more European-oriented dishes. Despite the quality of the service and the beauty of the decor, a soup, a chicken dish or a few grills and a dessert should not cost you too much. The map also offers a good choice of beers, vodkas and some Italian wines.

On the left side of the Navoi opera, when you face it. The New World is Tashkent's "historic" pizzeria, taken over by families before or after the opera performance. Of course, this is not Italy and the pizzas are not particularly memorable, but the whole thing is more than okay and allows you to eat safely for a modest budget. On the spot or to take away, good variety of recipes and also some pasta dishes. The setting is simple but the bay windows overlook the Opera House.

Considered as the best table in Nukus because it offers an international cuisine, at least more varied than in the chaikhanas. There are no surprises on the menu, but the dishes are composed with good products and the bar offers a good choice of drinks. This is undoubtedly the best you will find in Karakalpakstan, unfortunately the staff does not speak English and you will need patience to clearly define the object of your order. The building is modern and the premises a little impersonal but the whole is rather efficient.

Here we mainly welcome groups, but there is enough room to set up a few extra tables if you give advance notice of your visit. Home and family cooking in the courtyard of a beautiful traditional Uzbek house, under the vineyard. Very friendly atmosphere and gargantuan meals on the program, with a nice choice of salads and main dishes, depending on the day, in mantys or plov. Food for thought after an excursion into the Kyzyl Kum desert or an exploration of the ruins around Nurata.

It's a little away from the city centre, but if you want to make a good restaurant, here is an address you can recommend. Almost chic, you can sit outside, on the pleasant terrace, or in the interior room on comfortable sofas and benches. We eat excellent Uzbek cuisine, in a working decor made of small niches in the oriental, crafts and evocative by murals of the large monuments timourids. The rooms are generous, the service is impeccable and the warm welcome. Good value for money.

You will find many chaikhanas open all day long. No menu of course, and certainly no multilingual staff of course, but the kitchens being accessible and displaying the daily specials on a table, you will only have to point out what you are interested in. You will always find excellent chachlyks, soups, laghmans, ravioli, eggs... More than gastronomy, these chaikhanas are an attraction for those who want to taste an authentic atmosphere and get to know the Uzbeks.

One of the oldest fast food restaurants in Tashkent. Various hamburger and pizza recipes, to eat in or take away. The kebabs are not the best in the world, of course, but they are much safer than those sold by the small fast food outlets which are increasingly numerous in the city centre and which we strongly advise against. It is also, despite the lack of charm of the place, a place where you can settle down during the day, for a coffee or an ice cream. The company has become a student hangout thanks to its cheap prices.

A decor resolutely evocative of Italy, with its frescoes, photos of mafiosi or Rome... A rather successful atmosphere. Most of the products are imported from Italy, where the chef studied, with the exception, unfortunately, of the wine, which is produced locally. As in all the Caravan group's brands, you will find here the same quality of service and the same care taken in the preparation of the dishes. Numerous pasta formulas, antipasti in profusion, and excellent fish recipes. The meat is also of very good quality.

Rakhmon and his small family work at making suzanis and open their house to tourists to show them their work (see "Shopping"). It would be a shame to deprive ourselves of this contact, especially as it is possible to reserve a table to dine and taste excellent Uzbek specialities. Good traditional cuisine and a warm welcome around a meal of hearty starters, soup, plov and desserts. All this in a beautifully decorated room! Careful, now. Reservations must be made in advance.

This restaurant offers Uzbekistan classics, without much scope and a bit expensive. But the place is well located, facing the Registan, and the decoration is rather attractive, with tablecloths made of Khan Atlas and a big mural evoking the caravan routes at the back of the room. It's very touristy but the quality is good and the prices are not too high. As for the location, it is perfect to have a break during the day between two visits.

The many tourist coaches lined up in front of this great restaurant are both frightening and reassuring. We are a little afraid of the factory, but we quickly understand that if many groups come to have their meals here, it's worth it. We savour a large choice of Uzbek, Russian and European recipes, well concocted and generously served. The owner, Azamat, is adamant about the quality and freshness of his products, and the result is as beautiful to look at as it is good to eat. Live music some evenings, non-smoking room.

This restaurant is an institutional address in Samarkand: a gigantic tchaikhana with a traditional menu that stretches over several floors, with crowded takhtans and balconies smoked by the cooking of the chachlyks. You will play there at double or nothing as you can either find the atmosphere very bland and touristy, or authentic, festive and warm. Everything will depend on the day's reservations: a tourist bus or an Uzbek wedding. In any case, always check your bill, because everything goes in a merry mess!

A very pleasant restaurant in the Yakkasaray district that showcases Georgian cuisine. You can taste khinkali, big ravioli stuffed and cooked in broth, eggplant dishes or... chachlyk! The khatchapouri are also very successful and are an excellent snack at a modest price. A nice address, with a Georgian decor, necessarily a little kitsch but that we like. Unfortunately the Georgian wine offered as an accompaniment is of poor quality. Just the beer..

This Brezhnev-era institution is a local institution, a canteen where lunchtime employees, families and friends meet. They all sit in a row of onions in a horizon that seems almost infinite. Here, all sorts of plovs are concocted in huge kazan on a wood fire. We hurry there every noon (we don't usually eat the plov in the evening) for a copious, tasty and very cheap meal. A tasty slice of local life.

This kitschy restaurant in Babur Park is a small island surrounded by water, as its name suggests. Open for sunny days, we come here to sip a (Russian) beer while tasting beef, chicken or mutton chachlyki and other standards of the local cuisine. You will also find some Russian or European dishes. Of course, it is not the most popular gastronomic event in the country, but the food is good and very cheap. The whole is worth it especially for the old-fashioned but still popular atmosphere that reigns there, with live music on some evenings.

B&B doesn't mean Bed and Breakfast in this nice cafe, it means Brews and Beans. Understandably, the emphasis is on coffee, a pearl in Tashkent that is gradually becoming fashionable in Starbucks. So we come here to enjoy cappuccino and espresso but also to eat if we are a little hungry. Breakfasts are western-style, with pancakes and omelettes, while the rest of the time you break the crust with good toasted sandwiches or soup of the day. Opt for the fresh fruit juices that are delicious here.

This canteen doesn't really have an address, but everyone knows it. On Gafur Gulyam Street, near the circus, look for the queue that gets longer at noon and you will easily find it. Otherwise ask and you will be told without any problem. Here you will have access to a truly traditional and local cuisine, including the naryn, a cold dish of noodles and various meats, or the hasip, a homemade sheep tripe sausage. Most of the time, these dishes are prepared in kurduk, the traditional sheep tail fat

This very chic establishment is one of the best restaurants in the capital. Offering the best of international cuisine (i.e. Japanese, Italian and national gastronomy), April is a renowned address. We really like the décor, which gives pride of place to green plants and which, for once, is neither flashy nor tasteless. The terrace is very pleasant, perhaps a little more relaxed than the main room, which is more sophisticated. This is one of the few addresses in Tashkent where you can order a glass of French champagne!

Once you pass the Kamchik Pass, as the road descends into the Ferghana Valley, towards Kokand, you will notice an abundance of no or bread stands. Kokand bread, like all round breads in Uzbekistan, is the most famous bread in the country, along with Samarkand bread, and we can only advise you to taste it. It is called here the kokand patir: it is bigger than average, flatter too and very largely decorated. A whole work of art that melts in your mouth while it's still warm

We come here to taste pieces of sheep that are rarely found in more touristic places. To do this, you have to have a strong stomach early in the morning: head cheese, giblets, legs, mutton fat... you choose your piece at the entrance at the vendors. The later we arrive, the less choice there is obviously. The less adventurous among you will enjoy a chickpea soup. Under magnificent awnings, the men find themselves in the coolness and it is for us the occasion to live an authentic moment.

At the entrance of the city, before joining the circular road that delimits the center, the tchaikhana Kokand is an institution and it is usually where all taxi drivers stop for lunch. It has been around for a long time and is particularly famous for its plov. As it has to be booked in advance, it is best to come early enough, before you starve to death, and then spend the 45 minutes necessary for preparation in the pleasant garden at the back. It's cool and green and it's a good way to work up an appetite

The Jipek Joli Hotel has opened this lovely restaurant where you can taste the karakalpak specialties including the beshbarmak le jugara gurtuk which are noodle and beef dishes that cook for a long time in a broth. They are usually served with shorpa, the cooking stock. It is a unique opportunity to discover an aspect of Karakalpake culture. Also the great classics of Uzbek cuisine for lunch: chachlyks and plov in the lead! Like the hotel, the restaurant enjoys a not unpleasant touch of decoration.

In a "suburb" of Noukous, Shadli aul, this fish restaurant is appreciated by the locals. You can eat there either on the terrace, under the awning in summer, or indoors, the must is to reserve a small dark cube where you can meet with friends. You will eat traditional karakalpak fish dishes such as karma, a noodle and fish dish that cooks for 3-4 hours. You can also taste the famous local Qarataw vodka, famous even in Russia! But don't overuse the fish anyway, which grows in pesticides..

For the mildest days, you can sit outside on pleasant takhtans, while in winter or when it is very hot, you will prefer the room upstairs. Groups of friends like to meet under the yurts upstairs, which cost a little more. And in the evening, the small dance floor starts spitting out Uzbek and Russian hits and the disco ball spins tirelessly. In gastronomic terms, you will find all the classics of Uzbek and karakalpake cuisine, including some very good chachlyks.

An address loved by the people of Samarkand who come here to enjoy good local cuisine, prepared with care. We particularly recommend the Uyghur lagman which is very good here. Accompanied by a chachlik for those with big appetites. The dishes are simple but the quality is there, far from the tourist addresses. Very friendly, even family atmosphere, where everyone seems to have known each other for years. No map in English, but feel free to point to the tables around what interests you.

On the street along the Poy Kalon mosque, near the gold market, you will find a whole series of small bouis-bouis serving daily specials. It all depends on what's cooking in the big pots on the day of your visit, but you can expect soups, in all their forms, golubtsy (cabbage or sometimes stuffed peppers), Tatarstan-filled rolls or fritters called tcheboureki, chachliks of course, and meatballs.

This restaurant will satisfy you, especially if you did not have time to visit Khiva during your tour. It is the gastronomy of Khorezm that this establishment effectively honors, reviewing all the great classics of the country and their regional variations: salads, plov and of course the most popular dish of Khorezm: the touroum Berek (an egg cooked in a paste with spices, whose yolk remains runny). The restaurant is nicely decorated with woodwork and stucco, in a traditional spirit and has a nice terrace.

In a colorful setting with a surprisingly pop and colorful decor, you can order the great Italian classics (Caesar salad, lasagna or, why not, a rib of beef...) as well as simple pizzas. Some products are imported and of excellent quality, other specialties are concocted with local products but carefully selected. In the end, we spend a pleasant moment and we eat very correctly without ruining ourselves. To point out, but this will make the bill rise: some good Italian and French wines are referenced on the menu.

The restaurant lives up to its name: you lunch or dine under a beautiful iwan supported by its wooden columns, with its niches and stucco carvings and its wooden ceiling. It is nicely restored, and the volume offers an appreciable freshness during the hot summer days. As for the rest, you can taste a home cooking of excellent quality, the plov being the star of course, but there are many other nuggets to discover. Save a little room for the desserts, which are rather well done and are not drowned in cream as too often.

Reserved for a rather well-to-do section of the population, this restaurant nonetheless retains a friendly, family and relaxed atmosphere. The setting highlights Asian decor (wooden tables, numerous green plants) as does the menu, which is intended to be a fusion but leans resolutely towards the Far East, with many spicy meat and seafood recipes. You can order sushi or a T-Bone with your eyes closed, the result on the plate is always up to expectations. Live music some evenings at the weekend

The new appointment of the Tashkent bourgeoisie. The framework of the former restaurant Omar Khayyam, with its small maze of rooms has been preserved, as well as the spirit of the two main dining rooms each offering a type of kitchen: national or Japanese. The decorations go hand in hand with the menu, and the whole has been completely redone, with discreet lighting ensuring a warm or minimalist turn. Side rates, they stay affordable if you choose local specialities (from 10 to 15 000 hospitals for a kebab kazan or a lavash), but climb very fast if you choose European or Japanese dishes (from 20 to 400 000 hospitals for beef or tuna, from 7 to 15 000 hospitals for sushi). In the Egyptian lounge you can enjoy a few oriental pastries while smoking the supplied. The bar is open until the early hours of dawn, but it is possible to order in-house menus (burgers, club sandwiches…) for 10 to 20 000 hospitals. Drinks are not given: count 10 000 hospitals for whiskey and 18 000 hospitals for cocktails. DJ-animated evenings, retransmission of sports meetings.

The setting is one of the most pleasant in Tashkent: outside, under straw awnings or in an intimate room, you can enjoy traditional cuisine such as spinach soup with feta, mantys, plov or some good specialties such as kazan kebab (40 minutes wait) or baracha. In addition to the inner courtyard, the restaurant has retained two rooms: in one of them musicians perform every evening, the other allows you to enjoy a calmer atmosphere. Adjacent to the restaurant, a small art gallery sells handicrafts.

A top-of-the-range restaurant in the capital, this is an excellent address for tasting all the subtleties of national cuisine in a slightly kitsch decor, all in gold, as announced by the two sparkling lions flanking the entrance. Above all, it is an opportunity to dine while attending the traditional dance and music shows scheduled almost every night. Be careful, the large hall is sometimes privatized for weddings, and there is a good chance that you will be invited to join the party!

Facing the Friday mosque, this former chaikhana converted into a hostel has kept a tea room where you can relax and enjoy the freshness of the old stones. Order your tea or coffee and ask to taste some pastries, just to have a break on the tour of the inner city. The restaurant business stopped after the pandemic but could resume with the return of tourists, so don't hesitate to book your table in that case as the cuisine is also very recommendable.

Close to the bazaar, a pretty open-air tchaikhana, with tables arranged in the courtyard or high up on the mezzanine. The Turkish music resounds at full volume, but the atmosphere is generally good-natured and the reception very friendly. Most of the tables are set up in the shade, so there is a little coolness even in the hottest hours. On the menu are the classic tomato, cucumber and onion salads, chachlyks and plov for lunch. Nothing extraordinary, but very well concocted classics.

Convenient for lunch, on the way to or from the old town tour. We eat the great classics: plov, chachliks, laghman... The interior of this classic chaikhana is the fruit of its owner's passion. Aquariums and cages line the walls in a din of chirps, hisses and croaks. An immense green cage shelters serins, inseparable, parrots and some deplumated species that are difficult to identify. A whole squeaky-clean gentleman who earned the restaurant its nickname of "Green Parrot".

Here is a typical example of the wedding halls and restaurants that have sprung up all over the new town, and more widely in the valley. Uzbek and Russian specialties are served in the huge, charmless hall, which is just designed to accommodate hundreds of guests and an orchestra during the celebrations. The terrace is slightly set back from the street and is almost pleasant in hot weather. The food that is served is quite good and it is an opportunity to see the new face of reconstruction up close.

The only pizzeria in Bukhara, in the district of Chor Minor. Perfect if you are in need of pizzas or Italian food... And for the vegetarians or those in lack of vegetables, it is the occasion to do without the traditional mutton. This is the only address of its kind in Bukhara and it is very popular with the locals. And even if the products do not come from the Italian peninsula, they are perfectly sorted and selected by the chef. The wine list is not very impressive, but here again it will be a nice change from the vodka..

The restaurant is located in an old house in the Jewish quarter, and to sit in the courtyard, under the iwan supported by its venerable wooden columns, or to let your gaze be lost in the stucco decorations of the walls and niches is a moment of happiness... We let ourselves be interrupted with pleasure by the waiters circulating with their hands full of dishes each as appetizing as the other: the Bukhari specialties are here declined to perfection. It's fresh, local and homemade. Book in advance, the courtyard is quickly full.

The entrance of the restaurant is cosy: lights and marble, and the room is just like it, a bit busy, but comfortable. Sit on the deep sofas or on the chairs according to your taste and let yourself be inspired by the menu with the good specialties of the country. Very good mantys with different fillings, spicy kebabs or Russian style salads with lots of filling. The specialties are rather cheap compared to the quality, even if some of the more elaborate dishes can make the bill rise quickly.

Between the Sabir Arkonchi Hotel and the walls of Ichan kala, a rotunda overlooks a pool that is pleasantly cool in summer. You can eat European or traditional dishes (we recommend the excellent mantys!). In spring and summer, Uzbeks come here to celebrate weddings or birthdays, not hesitating to invite tourists to join in the festivities. At the end of the season, the interior room offers a little more warmth, but the decoration is non-existent.

Above his cutlery, Ikromov opened this charming restaurant in 2019, which is a little higher up and has large windows offering beautiful views of the old stones of Bukhara. The setting is impeccable: well-arranged tables and neat traditional decoration, with a space that can accommodate a group but is more suited to individuals. Cooking is flawless: Bukhari and Uzbek specialties are very well made and served in generous portions, it's fast, tasty and cheap. Excellent address.

Two hundred meters east of the liab-i-khaouz, this three-storey tchaikhana, the last one offering beautiful views of the city, offers a simple and varied home cooking, including the main Uzbek specialties such as plov, chachlyks, mantys and raw vegetable salads, but also the specialty of Bukhara: the djiz in particular (on order) is very successful. In terms of atmosphere, tourists and locals mix in a good-natured atmosphere. It's a bit noisy but if you can find a place on the terrace it will be perfect.

Carnivores, this is your new go-to place. This Turkish restaurant offers grilled recipes ranging from simple lamb chops to rare T-bone! The beef ribs can be selected according to your taste in the refrigerated cellar where they are brought to different stages of maturation. Of course it is not cheap, but restaurants offering good meat are still rare in Uzbekistan. The pieces are well cooked and spiced like in Turkey, accompanied by rice and vegetables. To conclude: Turkish coffee of course!