Uzbek food is treated as a form of welcome rather than a transaction. A guest is fed first and asked questions later, and the table is laid before anyone has decided how long they are staying.
What to eat
- Plov — the national dish, rice with lamb, carrot and cumin, cooked in a kazan. Every region claims the best version and Samarkand, Bukhara and the Fergana Valley all cook it differently.
- Shashlik — skewered meat over charcoal, ordered by the stick.
- Samsa — baked in a tandoor until the pastry blisters.
- Non — round bread stamped with a chekich, pulled hot from the oven walls.
- Lagman — hand-pulled noodles, soup or fried.
- Manti and chuchvara — steamed dumplings, large and small.
- Green tea — poured back into the pot three times before it is served to you.
Where to eat it
Explore the bazaars, the traditional tea houses and the family kitchens where old recipes are still cooked daily. Chorsu in Tashkent and Siab in Samarkand are the two great markets. In Bukhara, eat beside the pool at Lyabi-Hauz and allow the afternoon to disappear.
For Pakistani travellers
All meat is halal as a matter of course. The spicing is gentler than at home — bring your own chilli if you cannot manage without it, as many of our guests do. Vegetarians will find plenty in the salads, breads, dairy and dumplings, though it is worth telling us in advance so we can brief the hotels.
Our office has published a full Food Tourism newsletter if you would like to read further before you travel.