The best restaurants Kazakhstan

The local address of the very popular Kazakh chain, where you can eat without frills, but in a calm setting overlooking the sea. For a Kazakh restaurant, we're delighted to see that a little attention has been paid to the decor: the red brick siding and matching wall lit by subdued lights and decorated with a few Vettriano give the place a very warm ambience. An excellent address for a modest budget and good quality local and international recipes. The address is particularly popular for its steaks, which you can order rare with your eyes closed.

A pleasant restaurant in the beautiful days with terrace overlooking the river. The service is a little slow, but the rates are reasonable and the kitchen, even if it does not come out of soups, salads and chachlyks, is simple and good.

You won't find a mill at the vieux moulin, but a pretty wooden shack with a shady terrace for sunny days. It serves mainly Russian specialties (ravioli, beef Strogonoff, a wide choice of salads and crudités...) and some unmissable Kazakh recipes, such as chachlyks and beshbarmaq. Good value for money and a pleasant location, benefiting from the freshness of the river and trees. In the evening, the atmosphere is mostly masculine and washed down with vodka.

The menu features some fine local specialties combined with a wide variety of recipes, from Thai salad (beef and soy cucumber) to Caesar salad, chicken parmesan, club sandwiches and fried ravioli. In this respect, it's quite a success, and the prices know how to stay low. The pizzas and hamburgers are a little more expensive and less successful. You can enjoy them in a cosy, air-conditioned, young atmosphere. It's the only restaurant of its kind in Semey, and the local youth are bound to flock here.

Semey's top-of-the-range establishment, in a wood-and-glass setting where the evocation of travel is in the spotlight and the atmosphere is often festive. The staff are attentive to your every need, and the kitchens produce well-prepared dishes served in generous portions. Russian and Kazakh cuisine are in the spotlight, but you can also confidently try steak or filet mignon. Far from matching those of Parisian brasseries, they have the merit of not evoking an old leather sole, as is all too often the case in Kazakhstan.

Large spaces and wooden tables, brick walls (as in all fashionable Kazakh pubs), English telephone booth at the entrance... The atmosphere and decor are Western, but the service remains Kazakh! In terms of cuisine, there's a wide choice of burgers, pizzas, pastas, Indian cuisine and sushi, all of which are quite good and served in generous portions at attractive prices, albeit higher than elsewhere. A convivial place where you can come with friends and stay late into the night. Concerts on weekends.

The sign is flashy, with its neon "Chicken Burger" lights: impossible to miss this establishment when passing by at night! The premises are quite nice, with attention paid to decoration and lighting, which is rather rare in Aralsk. The menu features a number of Western-style burgers and pizzas, as well as classic Kazakh specialties such as salads, chachlyks and beshbarmaq, at a lower price. Service is fast and prices are modest: good value for money in the city center.