The Kyrgyz traditional food is similar to the kitchen of other Turkic nomadic peoples: they drink tea with milk and koumiss here, bake cakes in a tandoor, respect lamb and horses, but there are also their own characteristics. We tell you where to go in the capital of Kyrgyzstan to try authentic dishes and what to order to fall in love with local cuisine forever.
Bakery
In Kyrgyzstan, they are very fond of various pastries. Of course, as in most Turkic countries, a tandoor is widely used here. Tandicator’s cakes are called Tokoch or Tandar-Nan: They are used as the usual bread. Another type of bread – May-Tokochhe is usually prepared in a cape of fruit. A fatty layered cake is also served to soups and meat dishes Kattamasometimes it happens with a filling from Jusai – a branchy bow.
Popular local treats – Borsokismall buns that are deep -fried and therefore a little reminiscent of the habitual donuts. Serve them often with kaymak – thick fat cream.
In the morning, Kyrgyz often eat Hood – The puff flour product, which is called Kyrgyz flakes. This is a thin fresh pancake that is crumbling into tea, ayran, milk or eat with a kaymak. Also in Kyrgyzstan you can find the Central Asian baking with filling – Sams, Kutaba, Cheburek.
Snacks
Kyrgyz, like representatives of many once nomadic peoples, eat Konin. It is worth noting that not any horse is eaten in food: today special breeds are grown for this. A festive snack is considered Kazi-card – Home sausage. It is prepared from the most delicate horse -drawing and fat from the animal’s peritoneum. No less popular and Chuchukwhich is the most expensive and delicious horseman sausage: only the best ingredients are used for cooking. Chuchuk can be safely bought as an edible souvenir.
Popular appetizer of Central Asia – Salted dry cottage cheese balls Kurut. Often it is taken on the road due to high calorie content and the ability to quickly satisfy hunger. It can be bought in any store. There is even a chocolate with a kurut, but it is rather an exotic sweet for tourists, not an authentic dish. Fried beans and fried peas are also served as a snack.
The main dishes
Many local dishes will seem familiar to experienced travelers. For example, in Kyrgyzstan you can often meet pilaf, Mantoux (large dumplings cooked steamed) or Beshbarmak (Baranin boiled in the cauldron with noodles and broth, which is served separately in the PIAL). Today, Beshbarmak can be found in any restaurant of national cuisine, but initially it was a festive ritual dish, and during the solemn meal, all parts of the Baran’s body, including the head, eaten. Similar dishes are similar to the Beshbarmak Kulchet (meat with pieces of dough and vegetables) and Naryn (finely chilled boiled meat seasoned with sauce Chyk From wild onions, garlic, greens and oily broth, sometimes also served with thin noodles).
Popular Kyrgyz dish OROMO – A roll of dough with a filling of finely chopped meat, fatty fat and vegetables (usually potatoes and pumpkin). It is prepared for a couple in manti cascan (mantovka). Similar rolls, but cooked in the broth, are called Grazykan TEOO.
Delicious and satisfying dishes from the Kyrgyz menu – Dymdam (stewed stew from potatoes, cabbage, bell pepper, onions and other vegetables with meat and fatty fat) and KUURDAK (hot meat, offal and onions, which can be “mothballed” in a specially processed lamb stomach, – shepherds often take with them a shepherd during a herd of the herd from winter pastures to summer).
If you want to try something like soup, we recommend ordering Chuchparu: These are tiny dumplings in a rich broth with a lot of greens.
Drinks
In Kyrgyzstan, dairy products are very popular, especially Koumisswhich is made of mare’s milk. This drink is considered healing – in the 19th century, Kumyolchebniks were even opened, and today it is necessarily served in local health resorts. No less love is enjoyed by the people Ayran – A variety of kefir. If you add spring water and salt to it, you get another Kyrgyz drink – Chalap. It refreshes in the heat and is in demand in the mountains of the shepherds. It is believed that Chalop improves digestion and helps to cleanse the body.
Kyrgyz also has their own kvass – it is called Maxym. It is prepared from barley, less often – from wheat, millet or even corn. Such a drink has a tonic effect and dulls a feeling of hunger. If mixed with maxy and chalap, it turns out AralashHe is also popular on hot days.
In the spring, especially in the days of Navruz’s celebration, the Kyrgyz is preparing Simellek – A drink of chestnuts, remotely resembling jelly.
In Kyrgyzstan, alcoholic beverages are also produced. There are vineyards in the country, but local wines are not popular – even in restaurants they can not always be found in the bar. But the local cognac is widely known – the brands “Osh”, “Enesay” and “Epos”. Balms and tinctures on herbs are also popular.
Where to try local cuisine
In the mountains near Bishkek, in the village of Kok-Jar there is an ethno-complex “Sopara” (Karagul Akmat St., without a room at home) with an excellent restaurant. A visit there will become a real adventure – you can not only have lunch, but also get acquainted with local traditions. In the menu, find almost all the variety of national cuisine: several variations of the Beshbarmak, Palo (pilaf), Dymdam, Kababa, traditional drinks. There are also European cuisine dishes. Also here you can try the sweets of the “Sopara Talkan” from local eco -products – nuts, prunes, pistachios, honey, barley fencing.
One of the favorite places of the Kyrgyz themselves in Bishkek is a cafe “Fayza” (St. Mederova St., 157), the institution, although inexpensive, but with excellent cuisine. Here is a large selection of lagmans soups, you can try a scarecrow, manti (including a vegetarian version with pumpkin), Samsu and Gosh-Nan (a cake with meat filling).
In the restaurant “Bukhara” (Toktogula St., 116/a), decorated in the oriental style, serves excellent pilaf, there are several varieties of Samsa and Kutabov, and in the menu, along with national cuisine there is a European with a local accent-for example, grill peaches and homemade cheese peaches.
You will find modern variation of traditional cuisine in a restaurant “Lamb” (Tokombaeva St., 78). The menu includes lamb soup with wild rice, lamb confei with three pumpkin textures, as well as meat dishes for the company.
Where to stay in Bishkek
In the hostel Freelander Work and Travel (rating 9.6) – from 900 rubles per day*.
In the Apartment Luxury Palace (Assessment 9.9) – from 4,900 rubles per night*.
In the four -star Hotel Hotel Bishkek (estimate 10) – from 6,800 rubles per day*.
*Prices are relevant at the time of publication.
To place an order of the hotel online use the OneTwotrip service.
