Another common question about visiting Central Asia is what exactly you’ll be eating and drinking. In this email we’ll demystify dishes like lagman, plov, manty, and beshbarmak, and explain what else you’re likely to find on local menus.
Alternatively take a look at our in-depth food and drink guide here.
Bread is a major staple, it’s served to guests and with most meals. You’ll find a variety of bread in stores and cafes, but the most common and popular one is a round shaped flat white bread. Typically, it’s baked in a fire oven known as a tandyr (tandoori). As you travel, you will discover that the taste and shape of this bread will vary slightly from place to place. Lentil soup (Чечевичный суп)
You’ll find lentil soup on offer in many restaurants, especially in large cities, usually served with a spoonful of sour cream and a slice of lemon.
There are around 200 varieties of plov. It’s so important that it is featured on Tajikistan and Uzbekistan’s Representative List of Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity as listed by UNESCO.
The main ingredient is lamb or beef fried in a large kazan (cauldron) with onions and yellow or orange carrots. It can be served additionally with kazy (local sausage), eggs and, occasionally, with lemons. The best places to try plov in Central Asia are Samarkand, Penjikent, Shymkent and Osh, although every city and even family has its own special plov recipe.
Shashlyk is a very popular meal in a region stretching from Central Asia to Eastern Europe and the Mediterranean. It is usually made from mutton or beef; alternating pieces of meat and fat are well spiced and marinated. It is served with pickled onions.
Chinese inspired handmade pulled noodles in a meat or vegetable sauce. The meat is usually beef, while the vegetables include bell peppers, garlic, onion and fresh herbs. It has numerous variations: Plain Lagman is a soup, there’s Gyuro Lagman, or Boso Lagman with fried short noodles. If you find the same sauce served with white rice the dish will be called Gan Fan.
Manty is a dumpling stuffed with minced meat, fat and onions. It is cooked over steam and served with ketchup, vinegar or sour cream. There are also variations with pumpkin or potatoes without meat, though you won’t find these variations in every restaurant.