A Day of Uzbek Food in Samarkand
By Learmara Team
In brief
Bread, plov, samsa, tea — a small, honest tour of what to eat and where.
Morning: non and tea
The day starts with Samarkand non — round, stamped, blistered flatbread pulled hot from a tandoor. It is heavier and sweeter than Tashkent bread and, tradition says, cannot be baked with the same result anywhere else in Uzbekistan. Eat it with butter, honey, jam or thick sour cream, and drink green tea.
Late morning: samsa
Fold-corner pastries stuffed with lamb, onion and cumin, baked against the wall of a tandoor. The pastry is flaky, the filling is generous, and one is rarely enough.
Lunch: plov
Samarkand's version of plov — rice cooked slowly with lamb, carrots, chickpeas, quinces and cumin — is the dish the city argues about. It is served in a shallow mound, sometimes with a boiled egg on top, always with sliced tomato and raw onion on the side. Eat it before 2pm; the good places run out.
Ask us and we'll send you to the plov centre we actually eat at.
Afternoon: tea, dried fruit, and shade
Retreat to a chaikhana — a tea house, usually with a raised wooden platform under a mulberry tree. Order green tea, a bowl of walnuts and apricots, and let the heat pass.
Dinner: shashlik in a courtyard
Skewers of lamb, beef, chicken and, if you're lucky, minced lamb spiced with cumin — grilled over charcoal in front of you and eaten with raw onion, fresh dill and more bread. Stay for a second pot of tea.
A note on drinking
Uzbek wine and cognac are worth trying. Local beer is light and cheap. Ask for choy if you want tea and suv if you want water.