Samarkand food: dishes, bread, sweets and where to eat

Plov (osh in Uzbek) is the national dish of Uzbekistan, and every region claims its version is the best. In Samarkand it is cooked in a distinctive way. Meat, usually lamb or beef, is browned in a large cast-iron cauldron (kazan), then yellow and orange carrots cut into long matchsticks are added, followed by rice. Instead of stirring everything together, as in Tashkent, the cook keeps the layers apart: the rice steams on top of the carrots, and when the plov is served, the meat is cut and placed on top of the rice. The result is lighter and less oily than some other styles.

Plov is a midday dish. Traditional oshkhonas (plov houses) cook huge cauldrons in the morning and serve from late morning until it runs out, usually by early afternoon. It is served with a salad of tomato and onion (achichuk), bread and green tea. Do not expect to find good plov for dinner.

Samarkand non is a source of local pride. It is a thick, round loaf with a shiny brown crust and a pressed, patterned centre, heavier and denser than other Uzbek breads, and it keeps for days. A popular story says that a ruler once took Samarkand bakers, flour and water to another city, but the bread never tasted the same, because the secret was the air of Samarkand.

Bread is treated with respect in Uzbekistan: it is never thrown away or placed upside down, and it is broken by hand rather than cut. At a meal the host tears the loaf and shares it out. Buy it fresh in the morning at Siab Bazaar or from neighbourhood bakeries, where you can watch it being slapped onto the inside walls of the clay tandir oven.

• Samsa: pastry parcels filled with minced or chopped lamb and onion, baked on the walls of a tandir. Pumpkin samsa appears in autumn.
• Shashlik: skewers of grilled lamb, beef, liver or minced meat, served with onions and bread; a dinner favourite.
• Dimlama: meat, potatoes, cabbage, carrots and herbs slow-steamed in their own juices, especially good in autumn.
• Manti: large steamed dumplings filled with meat and onion, sometimes pumpkin, served with yoghurt.
• Lagman: hand-pulled noodles in a rich broth or stir-fried with meat and vegetables.
• Shurpa: a clear soup with large pieces of meat, potatoes and carrots.
• Tandir gosht: lamb slow-cooked in a sealed tandir oven, tender and smoky.

Samarkand’s sweets are sold by weight in bazaars: halva of many kinds, crystallised sugar (navat) eaten with tea, pulled-sugar parvarda, nut brittles and sugar-coated almonds. Dried apricots, raisins and roasted apricot kernels are everyday snacks.

In season the fruit is outstanding: cherries and strawberries in late May and June, apricots and peaches in summer, then grapes, melons, figs and pomegranates in autumn. Melons, in particular, are a source of national pride.

Green tea accompanies almost every meal. It is poured into small bowls (piala), often only half full as a sign of hospitality: a full cup can mean the host wants you to leave.

Chaikhanas (teahouses) serve simple, inexpensive food, often on raised platforms (tapchan) covered with carpets where you sit cross-legged around a low table. Oshkhonas specialise in plov at lunchtime. Restaurants in the New Town and around the Registan offer a wider menu, including European dishes, and many have summer terraces. In the evening, grill restaurants are busy with families eating shashlik.

Portions are generous, and dishes are often shared. Bread and tea are usually ordered for the table. Many places add a service charge of around 10–15% to the bill; check before tipping extra.

Uzbek cuisine is centred on meat, but vegetarians can eat well with some planning. Ask for vegetable salads, bread, yoghurt, soups without meat, pumpkin samsa, vegetable manti, eggs, and the abundant fruit and nuts. In restaurants, explain that you do not eat meat or meat broth (go’shtsiz, “without meat”); many dishes are cooked with meat stock even when no meat is visible. Halal food is the norm. Alcohol is available in restaurants in the New Town and tourist areas, but not in many traditional teahouses.

For a deeper taste of Samarkand, join a plov cooking session with a local family, take a bazaar tour with tastings at Siab, visit a bakery to watch bread being made, or book a wine tasting at the historic Khovrenko winery. Ask us if you would like these included in your trip. For a broader introduction see the food of Central Asia.