The best restaurants Semeï

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.