At lunchtime in Tashkent, nearly 3,000 people a day eat at a single plov centre, served from cauldrons big enough to bathe in that have been cooking since dawn. Plov, the rice, carrot and lamb pilaf the Tajiks call oshi palav, is so central to life here that both Uzbekistan and Tajikistan have it on UNESCO’s intangible heritage list, and by mid-afternoon most of the day’s batch is gone.
The region’s food splits along an old line. The settled oasis cities of Samarkand, Bukhara, Khiva and the Fergana Valley cook rice, bread from clay tandoors and slow stews. The nomadic north, in Kazakhstan and Kyrgyzstan, eats boiled meat, noodles and dairy: beshbarmak, horse sausage and fermented mare’s milk. Uyghur and Dungan cooks added hand-pulled laghman noodles and spicy cold dishes along the way.
Eating out is cheap, portions are large and meat is everywhere. The best meals are in bazaars, chaikhanas (teahouses) and family homes rather than restaurants.
At a Glance#
- Signature dish: plov, best at lunchtime in the plov centres of Tashkent and in the cafes of Samarkand and the Fergana Valley.
- Nomad food: beshbarmak, kazy horse sausage and kumis in Almaty, Bishkek and in yurt camps in summer.
- Noodles: laghman everywhere, Khiva’s green dill shivit oshi in Khiva, and cold Dungan ashlan-fu in Karakol.
- Bread and pastries: tandoor-baked non (Samarkand’s is famous), and samsa stuffed with lamb, onion or pumpkin.
- Great bazaars: Chorsu in Tashkent, Siyob in Samarkand, the Green Bazaar in Almaty and Osh Bazaar in Bishkek.
- Tajik plate: qurutob, bread soaked in a yoghurt sauce with onions and herbs, in Dushanbe.
- Costs: a plate of plov from about 30,000 som (about 2.50 USD) at a Tashkent plov centre; a full chaikhana meal for two rarely tops 15 USD.
Uzbekistan#
Uzbekistan is the region’s food capital. In Tashkent, the Central Asian Plov Centre (Besh Qozon) near the TV tower cooks plov in huge kazans every morning and serves until it runs out, usually by early afternoon; ask for it with kazy horse sausage and a quail egg on top. Chorsu Bazaar, under its green dome, is the place for spices, dried apricots, nuts, kurt (dried yoghurt balls) and fresh non, with samsa ovens around the edges.
Samarkand has its own plov, cooked in layers and served with the meat on top rather than mixed in, and its own bread: Samarkand non is dense, glossy and stamped with patterns, and people carry it home as a gift. The Siyob Bazaar beside the Bibi-Khanym Mosque, a short walk from the Registan, is the main market. In Bukhara, the cafes and tapchans (raised day-beds) around the Lyab-i Hauz pool serve shashlik, plov and green tea in the shade of old mulberry trees.
Khiva is the place for shivit oshi, bright green dill noodles topped with a meat and vegetable stew, and for tuxum barak, egg-filled dumplings. In the Fergana Valley, towns such as Margilan and Kokand are known for their own plov and for the fruit that fills the bazaars from June to October: melons, grapes, apricots and pomegranates.
Kazakhstan and Kyrgyzstan#
Beshbarmak, meaning “five fingers” because it was eaten by hand, is the national dish of both countries: boiled lamb, beef or horse meat on flat noodle sheets with onion broth. Families serve it at celebrations, and restaurants in Almaty and Astana keep it on the menu. Kazakhs also eat kazy and shuzhuk horse sausages, baursak (fried dough) and drink shubat, fermented camel’s milk. Almaty’s Green Bazaar is the place to see the meat halls, Korean salads, dried fruit and dairy stalls side by side.
In Kyrgyzstan, Bishkek’s Osh Bazaar sells kumis (fermented mare’s milk) in summer, alongside the grain drinks maksym and chalap. Laghman, the hand-pulled noodle dish of the Uyghurs and Dungans, is everywhere, and in Karakol the bazaar’s food stalls serve ashlan-fu, a cold, spicy Dungan noodle soup with jelly and vinegar that locals eat with fried bread. In the south, Osh, below Sulayman Mountain, cooks plov with the red rice of the Uzgen area, closer in style to Fergana than to the north.
Tajikistan and Turkmenistan#
In Tajikistan the national dish is qurutob: torn flatbread soaked in a sauce made from dissolved qurut (dried yoghurt), topped with fried onions, tomatoes and herbs, and eaten by hand from a shared wooden bowl. Teahouses in Dushanbe also serve oshi palav, shashlik and sambusa. In the Pamir, homestays serve simpler food: noodle soups, bread, butter and milk tea, with little fresh produce at altitude.
Turkmenistan is hard to visit, but its dishes overlap with its neighbours: plov, dograma (bread and meat soup), ichlekli (a meat pie baked in the sand or an oven) and gutap, thin pastries filled with meat, spinach or pumpkin. In Ashgabat, the Russian Bazaar and Altyn Asyr market are the places to try them.
Chaikhanas and table manners#
The chaikhana, or teahouse, is the region’s restaurant, social club and lunch canteen. Green tea is standard in Uzbekistan and Tajikistan; Kazakhs and Kyrgyz prefer black tea with milk. Hosts pour only a little into your bowl at a time as a sign of respect and keep topping it up. A full bowl means “drink up and go”.
Bread is close to sacred. Never put non upside down, throw it away or leave it on the floor; break it by hand, not with a knife, and share it with the table. Meals start and end with tea, fruit and sweets, and the main dish often arrives late. In homes, shoes come off at the door, and you may be seated on cushions around a low table, the dastarkhan.
Alcohol is widely drunk in Kazakhstan and Kyrgyzstan, where vodka toasts are part of every feast, and Uzbekistan makes wine around Samarkand. During Ramadan many places stay open, but eat discreetly in conservative areas such as the Fergana Valley.
Eat plov at lunch, not dinner. Plov centres and cafes cook one big batch in the morning, serve it from about 11am and are often sold out by 2pm or 3pm.
Costs and practicalities#
Food is cheap across the region. In Tashkent a plate of plov at a local plov centre costs from about 30,000 som (about 2.50 USD), a few samsa a little less, and a full meal with salads, bread and tea in a chaikhana typically comes to 5 to 10 USD per person. Almaty and Astana are the most expensive cities, with prices closer to those in Eastern Europe. Bazaars sell by weight and bargaining is normal for dried fruit and nuts.
Vegetarians have a hard time: even vegetable dishes are often cooked with lamb fat or meat stock. Ask for salads, non, vegetable samsa (pumpkin samsa appears in autumn), laghman without meat, and dairy dishes. Stick to bottled or boiled water, peel fruit, and let your stomach adjust before trying kumis, which can upset newcomers.
Best cities for food in Central Asia#
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More Things to Do#
Central Asian food FAQs#
What is the national dish of Uzbekistan?
Plov (palov, or osh), a pilaf of rice, carrots, onions and lamb cooked in a cauldron, often with chickpeas, raisins or quail eggs. It is on UNESCO’s intangible heritage list for both Uzbekistan and Tajikistan.
What food is Kazakhstan known for?
Beshbarmak, boiled meat on flat noodles, is the national dish. Kazakhstan is also known for horse-meat sausages such as kazy, fried baursak dough, and fermented milks: kumis from mares and shubat from camels.
Is Central Asian food spicy?
Mostly not. Uzbek, Kazakh and Kyrgyz cooking is rich and meaty rather than hot, flavoured with cumin, coriander and onion. Uyghur and Dungan dishes such as laghman and ashlan-fu are the spicier exceptions.
Is it easy to be vegetarian in Central Asia?
It is hard. Meat and animal fat are in most dishes, including many that look vegetarian. Salads, bread, vegetable samsa, dairy dishes and fruit from the bazaars are the safest options, and saying you eat no meat at all helps.
What time is plov served?
At lunch. Plov centres in Tashkent and elsewhere cook it early in the morning, serve it from about 11am and usually sell out by mid-afternoon.
Is street food safe in Central Asia?
Generally yes, if it is cooked hot in front of you, such as samsa from the tandoor, shashlik and plov. Avoid tap water and unwashed salads, and peel fruit from the bazaar.