Fun and entertainment Tashkent

Very recommendable for its restaurant part, the Irish pub is no less recommendable for its pub side, especially on concert nights. Beer is pretty cheap, half the price of the new lounge. Unfortunately, we will have to make do with local or Russian beers, unless the situation improves in terms of import permits, and the same goes for whiskies. In short, an Irish pub which has only the name but a great potential. Very popular with Tashkent expats and lively on match nights.

This building, built during the Second World War by prisoners of war, remains the benchmark for cultural events in Tashkent. The programme is varied, with performances every day alternating between ballets and operas. Regularly, some of the great names of European music perform for the pleasure of the Uzbek intelligentsia. The fares are then multiplied by 10, but in normal times the ticket price remains quite popular. The cash desk is open from 10am to 2pm and from 3pm to 7pm every day except Monday.

This chain appeared in 2019 and had some setbacks before finally opening in a brand new location near Amur Timur Square. A good place to stop during a visit of the city in front of a good coffee or a nice pastry. There is a good choice, the products are good and the service is warm and we appreciate the comfortable sofas and the space. We find all the quality of service and welcome that characterized the first Black Bear shops: a rarity in Uzbekistan. A second address has opened at 46 Shota Roustavéli street.

A pretty establishment with softened lights where you come to dine with your family or have a drink with friends in the first part of the evening. Cuisine with a fusion food spirit with a strong Central Asian and Middle Eastern inspiration, cocktails, large choice of alcohol. Also some vegetarian dishes. The atmosphere is calm, lulled by jazz or sou beats, but sometimes the atmosphere comes alive with the more frenetic rhythms of techno music on some nights. If you're not in the mood for dancing, then you can migrate to the pleasant terrace.

In an atmosphere of mud bricks and old Hollywood movie posters, wealthy young Tashkentois come here to eat or drink a drink while listening to Russian music or attending major sporting events. Unlike the after-hours addresses open in Tashkent, here you will find reasonable rates and a more calm and good-natured atmosphere, resolutely student-friendly and relaxed. Cocktails are well catered for, as are the European dishes on offer in the evening. A good downtown drop-off point.

It is in this young and trendy café that you can taste delicious cappuccinos and other lattes, while chatting on the terrace or surfing the web. The golden youth of Tashkent likes to meet here with friends. We also recommend fresh fruit juices. It's rather quiet and it's perfect for an early evening, even if the atmosphere is a little pinchy. Lovers of more popular atmosphere will pass by, but this kind of address is still rare enough in Tashkent to be presented.

This bookstore-café is a pioneer of its kind in Tashkent. During the day, you can come and enjoy this beautiful, well-lit room to drink an espresso or a cappuccino, sip a fruit juice or a lemonade, while biting into a piece of cake accompanied by its fetish novel. It's all the trendy and cultural student intelligentsia that comes here, on the terrace or among the books. Regular events, concerts and debates are organized in the evenings. The menu also offers some good club sandwiches and other snacks for salty food lovers.

The theatre of the Russian avant-garde has been emulated all over the world. In Tashkent, Mark Weil founded this independent theatre in the 1970s with a group of young acting students. It was one of the first theatres of its kind to appear in the Soviet bloc and it is almost a miracle that this scene has continued to exist until today. Some plays are subtitled in English, so don't miss the opportunity to see a unique show in the Uzbek cultural landscape.

Three concert halls dedicated to classical music and commissioned by the late President Islam Karimov in the early 2000s, when Tashkent began to change its face and fill up with prestigious buildings. The imposing building is in neo-classical style, supported by colonnades. You will be able to hear all the best Uzbekistan has to offer in terms of classical concerts. It was here, in particular, that an 8-year-old Uzbek boy, Edward Yudenich, a minor classical music prodigy, created the buzz by conducting the Uzbek State Orchestra.

Uzbekistan has a long tradition of circus and entertainment. In the gigantic circus of Tashkent, the atmosphere is good-natured and the show justifies its price. The architecture of the building itself is worth a look. If you are accompanied by children, they will enjoy the show as much as the festive atmosphere that animates the circus square before and after the performances. It is just unfortunate to endorse the rather deplorable keeping conditions for circus animals that appear to be in rather poor health.

For lovers of musicals, the Mukhimi Theatre in the Chilanzar district specializes in this field. Inaugurated in November 1939, the first performances staged the war against Nazi Germany through plays that were more akin to propaganda. After the war, the operas moved to the new Navoi Opera House, while the Mukimi kept the musical pieces. The shows are in Uzbek, so you have to be really passionate or just love to mingle with the entertainment of the people of Tashkent.

A real English pub atmosphere for a business clientele. But it's a good address to drink a beer or a glass of alcohol that will change vodka. To eat, count at least $ 20, not always justified. Service is a bit brodersingers, rates out of proportion, but if you like luxury…

The places for going out are not yet very developed in Tashkent, at least not yet popularized. The CMI is a reflection of what has been going on in the country for decades, and it will be interesting to go there for an unvarnished observation of the golden youth where big cars, evening dresses and high heels parade all night long. The bar is not too much character, and the slate rises quickly. A few good DJs perform regularly. Dress code at the entrance. The same principle applies to the neighbouring Silk 96 restaurant, which belongs to the same band.

You have to like this kind of atmosphere, rather reserved to Uzbek apparatchiks, to go to this club (the entrance is paying and you have to do with the dress code), but it is there that the very golden youth of Tashkent meets to eat, dance and drink alcohols imported from the West. It's very expensive and overrated, but also very much in the image of what the young Central Asian wealth likes: exuberance, ostentation and big expenses. But you won't come out impoverished if you settle for one or two beers.