Places to eat in Kyrgyzstan

Lunch at 2400m looking up at the peaks above Barskoon Gorge was a soul restoration experience. That day's lunch was bought from street vendors beforehand: fresh tomatoes, peppers, spring onions, cucumber, slaami, cheese and delicious breads. Our watermelon ("arbus") was given to our Kyrgyz horse riding guide as a thanks for tea. We certainly did not starve.

Our horse-rising guide invited us into the home that his grandfather had lived in, and had been inhabited by the family ever since. This as our first exposure to Kyrgyz hospitality: an invitation can not be refused!
Our guide played some music on the kamuz (guitar) that his grandfather had made from apricot wood - too short a recital. He was self taught. He also showed us a contraption that he strapped to his horse to allow him to go "foc hunting" with an eagle. The device supported his arm with the weight of the eagle on it. We sat on the floor, on carpets, around a plastic table cloth covered in food.

Favorite Dish: Dishes similar to doughnuts, and koeksisters...
Nan bread.
Everything was fattening! Everything was delicious! I am addicted to the tea, and had far too much for my health. The addiction was both to the taste and the social aspect of talking and laughing around a cup of chai.

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Kirghiz food is really delicious, one of the typical dishes is a soup called "laghman" made of very thick noodles, red pepper, green pepper, onions and chuncks of mutton meat, see the pic below where I illustrated a typical kirghiz meal made of Laghman, fresh bread and cucumber salad which is quite ubiquitous in Central Asia...
Kyrghizstan is not really the place for Vegans or vegetarians, anyway look for street food, potato piroshka, kind of potato pie fried or baked.
In the Southern part of the country Chaikanas, means "tea rooms" have a more oriental feel, you can lounge on confortable "diwan" sofas, eat on low tables and watch the cook prepare the noodles in a very acrobatic way. In the summer the tables are put under the veranda and I can tell you that it is really nice to sit there idly, drink strong good tea green or black, kirghiz people more more green tes though) and watch the people go by...

Welcome to the yurt, the traditional dwelling of the Kyrgyz people. Here you can feel like a genuine nomad. You can taste variety of traditional food. And don't forget to taste kymyz- fermented mares milk, but donot take too much as it is not good for digestive system.

Favorite Dish: Traditional bread, fried fish, milk products.

Kyrgyz people are very much fond of meat. In fact we were fed up eating meat from breakfast till dinner. Anyhow shashlik and pilav are really fine dishes. If you really fed up with meat, try fish, it is very nicely cooked.

Favorite Dish: Shashlik, pilav, fish.

Any mountian field, preferably near a stream, are perfect for a picnic. I highly recomend picking up a watermelon, and other mellons along the way. Put them in the stream, put a rock on it to keep them from floating away . . . Chilled Mellon.

Along the Road from Bishkek to Osh, about halfway to the Talas turnoff is a cluster of little roadside stores and resturants.
Stop for a snack.

Favorite Dish: I recomend having a bowl of Kumis, Fermented mares milk, a definate aquired taste but no trip to Kyrgyzstan is complete without trying the sour, almost bluecheese flavor of this slightly alcoholic drink.
To eat, have Shorpo, a potato and meet stew. This reminds me of an Irish pot roast. The meet is boiled untill it is rediculiously flacky and tender.

A German Beer house in Oak Park, but really the best thing is the atmosphere and the Pizza. Besides this they have pretty varried menue, with Kyrgyz, European, and American options. They have a large patio for outdoor dining right on the edge of Oak Park near the Art museam. Sit back, Have a Siberskia Karona, a pizza annd find some good conversation. Makes for a good night.