Best Uzbek Food & Where to Eat
Uzbek cuisine is one of Central Asia's richest — smoky grilled meats, hand-pulled noodles, buttery rice pilaf, and puffy tandoor bread.
Must-try dishes
- Plov (osh) — rice pilaf with lamb, carrots and cumin, the national dish
- Shashlik — charcoal-grilled skewers of lamb, beef or chicken
- Lagman — hand-pulled noodles in tomato-lamb broth
- Manti — large steamed dumplings with lamb and onion
- Samsa — flaky pastry with meat or pumpkin, baked in a tandoor
- Non — round tandoor bread, different in every city
Where to eat in Tashkent
Central Asian Plov Center for lunchtime plov, Besh Qozon, Afsona for modern Uzbek, and Chorsu Bazaar for street samsa.
Prices
A full meal at a mid-range restaurant costs $6–12 per person. Bazaar lunch: $2–4.