The best restaurants Boukhara

The traditional recipes are generous and refined, and for once the menu goes far beyond the simple framework of the plovs and other chachlyks. For those who have an overdose of grilled meat, Minzifa coffee is all the more recommendable as there are plenty of vegetarian dishes. The setting is magnificent, we love the roof terrace with one of the most beautiful views of the city, directly above the moneychangers' door. Professional, warm and efficient service. We recommend that you book in advance.

The inevitable and very popular chaikhanas that border the Liab-i-Khaouz are the unmissable meeting place for groups of tourists, especially at nightfall. There is a tasty plov at noon, chachliks, laghmans and mantys in the evening. The pool lights up, the fountains spout water jets, all between the facades of the madrasah and the khanaka Nadir Divanbeg: impossible to resist. With the increase in tourist numbers, the staff has largely converted to English, and the menu also offers European cuisine.

On the margins of the embroidery demonstration, you can book your lunch or dinner in this beautiful house in the Jewish quarter. Good traditional cuisine and warm welcome.

We don't hide the fact that it hurts us a little bit to indicate Old Bukhara in these pages because the address is so touristy and overestimated in relation to the quality of the cuisine served. Yet it is a practical address because it is in the heart of the old town, right next to the Liab-i-Khaouz basin. If you manage to find a place, opt for the rooftop in the evening and the inner courtyard during the day: you'll be entitled to a refreshing lunch while you enjoy the clear view of the illuminated city in the evening.

The Budreddin is located right next to the Liab-i-Khaouz basin. The address is touristic but pleasant. We eat good local cuisine, with specialities that are a little different from the ordinary. In particular, there is the possibility of eating vegetarian food. Try pumpkin manty (if it's in season) or the many salads, such as Gulistan with cooked vegetables. Meat lovers needn't worry: of course there is all the mutton you want on the menu. One of the things we recommend is jiz.

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 !

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.