- Join for free
- Sign In
Food & Drink : Traditional Tajik meals start with sweet dishes such as halwa and tea and then progress to soups and meat before finishing with plov. Plov is made up of scraps of mutton, shredded yellow turnip and rice, fried in a large wok, and is a staple dish in all the Central Asian republics. The appetising shashlyk (skewered chunks of mutton grilled over charcoal, served with raw sliced onions) and lipioshka (round unleavened bread) are often sold on street corners and served in restaurants: the Vastoychny bar restaurant in Dushanbe (on Prospekt Rudaki near the Hotel Tajikistan) serves particularly good shashlyk. Manty (large noodle sacks of meat), samsa (samosas) and chiburekki (deep-fried dough cakes) are all popular as snacks. Shorpur is a meat and vegetable soup; laghman is similar to shorpur, but comes with noodles. In the summer, Tajikistan is awash with fruit: its grapes and melons were famous throughout the former Soviet Union. The bazaars also sell pomegranates, apricots, plums, figs and persimmons. Little of the food served in hotels indicates its Tajik heritage : borcht is beetroot soup, entrecote are well-done steaks, cutlet are grilled meatballs, and strogan is the local equivalent of beef Stroganoff. Pirmeni, originating in Ukraine, are small boiled noodle sacks of meat and vegetables similar to ravioli, sometimes in a vegetable soup, sometimes not.
Tea or chai is the most widespread drink on offer and can be obtained almost anywhere. Beer, wine, vodka, brandy and sparkling wine (shampanski) are intermittently available in many restaurants. If the restaurant is unable to supply it, it is acceptable to bring your own. Kefir, a thick drinking yoghurt, is often served with breakfast.
Written Dec 4, 2008
Helpfulness
As I was still struggling with my “Bukharian Montezuma”, I don’t remember much about the food I had, except the lovely Delhi Darbar Indian restaurant. This was a suggestion of Anna of VT and it was an excellent choice – ah yummm. It is listed in Lonely Planet as well (which shows to me that it is indeed good, otherwise it would have vanished; LP info is outdated quite often). Anna made the choices, a delicious mixture of several kinds of dishes, marsala and tandoori. I even dared to try the lassie (and didn’t have another Montezuma attack, ahh, good!). Price was approximately 6 USD p.p.
In the meantime (Aug 2007) I found out that one of the very much recommended local guides for Tajikistan, Goulya Petrova, has started to build her own website. It is currently under construction, but she has a good selection of Restaurants in Dushanbe, with notification for menus in English.
Updated Aug 8, 2007
Address: Rudaki 88
For lunches and dinners, this is an excellent place where the food is good and your Tajik partners are comfortable with everything.
The food is Persian-Tajik and basically works out to be an advanced choykana. Good food. Staff somewhat apprehensive to foreigners (language shyness?), works out very well in the end. On one occasion we had a waiter composing our meal from her best imagination and knowledge - excellent!
Favorite Dish: Had several dishes piled up on the table and shared a big meal - all good.
Written Feb 9, 2007
Address: Rudaki Prospekt 84
Phone: 217654
The Eurasia is a bit of a hidden secret, with an obscure entrance and even more small and hidden billboard advertising its exisitence on the western side of Rudaki prospekt.
This is apparently a lunch and dinner favourite among the young and modern professionals and international crowd. Not a big place, the style is European with light wood panelling. Extensive menu but it tends to work out this way: what they do have is considerably less than what's actually on the menu.
The steak items are Tajik style, and not big and juicy. Good place regarding the vegetarian menu, salads etc., good drinks selection, desserts, too. I'll come back here.
Favorite Dish: Vegetarian and fruits, all food safe and sound.
Updated Feb 9, 2007
Address: 81 Rudaki Avenue, Dushanbe
Phone: 2233994
Helpfulness
Delhi Darbar became the most revisited restaurant during my stay. It is still some distance to Delhi in the culinary way, too, but there is some spice and variety here that you will have to look far to find elsewhere.
It's a good place, well worth visiting after days on the Silk Road, still searching for the spices and aroma of the orient...
Favorite Dish: The Thali (veg/non-veg) was a fav among south Asian colleagues, while I liked the special murgh masala. The curries were good. Missed the tandooris from the menu, I guess they are using their stove for breads only.
Updated Feb 9, 2007
Address: Rudaki avenue
By far the best place I ate in Dushanbe;
reason number 1: very well prepared food; 2) wide range of food; 3) food that I liked (incl Tajik food), 4) good selection of drinks.
It is a bit dark and cave-like inside; does very well for the pub-style part. The outdoor seating in the shadowy back side makes sense during the heat of summer, but not so attractive otherwise.
The menu is a reflection of the marriage between an Ecuadorian and a Tajik.... So you have the best of several worlds here and an impressive menu. For meat, this restaurant would be a good and safe choice, and for vegetarians also this place had some good options. It is an expensive place, so if you invite Tajik friends here on a normal pay schedule be prepared to pay.
Favorite Dish: They did indeed have their own brewery and made a good ale.
Now for food, I tried an Ecuadorian chicken dish, cannot even remember the name, but it was very, very good.
Updated Feb 9, 2007
Phone: 248857
Sirius is on a corner of Rudaki, in stately building that deserves a mention, too. But what draws people to this restaurant seems to be is the cool air and fine spray from a big fountain next to the outdoor tables. It's a Rudaki street front place and an ideal place to see and be seen; apparently a cool meeting place for the cafe crowd of professionals and intellectuals after hours, and everybody else inbetween. The chic factor of the staff is high, the food is fairly standard, but the beer in the spray is unbeatable. Quite a wide range of food served, but nothing off the normal. Have a try!
Written Feb 9, 2007
Address: Rudaki Prospekt
Helpfulness
There is a great Iranian restaurant that can make you a vegetarian dish if you ask. They prepared a great meal with Iranian rice and stir-fried mushrooms for us. It was a bit pricy, but when your stomac is happy, who cares?
Updated Apr 19, 2004
Address: Rudaki street (low number..)
Helpfulness
Whenever I go to some place I look for 2 things.. an Indian Restaurant & an Authentic Local Restaurant. In Dushanbe I found both these next to each other!
1. Rokhat: It is situated very near to President Palace. You get authentic Tajik food. Its really tasty. There are different types of dishes available ranging from $2 to $20. One has to be there by 8 pm since it get over crowded after that... and may not get a place!
2. Delhi Darbar: It is situated just nearby Rokhat. It is one of the cheapest & best Indian restaurants from the places I visited outside India. You get entire variety of food. For the pure vegeterians this the only place to get such food. & if u want to taste a real spice of India then while ordering the food you must ask the waitress to make it spicy.
Favorite Dish: 1. Rokhat: Plov, Samsa, Shashlik
2. Delhi Darbar: Anything you order.. it's delicious!
Written Dec 13, 2003
Phone: +992 (0)372 -218 863
Helpfulness
Mixture of Egyptian and local food, beautiful interior decoration. Menu is extensive, but not expensive.
Food is probably the best quality in Dushanbe, as are the waitresses!
Favorite Dish: Pharoan - a beef dish. Make sure you order their fried mushrooms too!
Written Jun 2, 2003
Address: Near the big pillar and statue in the city centre
Sponsored Links
Reviews and photos of Dushanbe attractions posted by real travelers and locals. The best tips for Dushanbe sightseeing.
Mixture of Egyptian and local food, beautiful interior decoration. Menu is extensive, but not expensive.Food is probably the best quality in Dushanbe, as are...
12 members live in Dushanbe
Q: Dear fellow travellers, I am in Dushanbe in July. Is there an ATM I can use? I have a MasterCard. Any other tip about...
A: I returned from a week in Dushanbe on 17 May 08. There are ATM machines in the central part of the city. I used the one next door to the Taj Palace Hotel, 21 Str....
Read 2 Replies
1
Broad and leafy avenues ease the life of the inhabitants of "Monday". Dushanbe must have been a sort of a Monday market place once upon a time, prior to the Tsarists, then Soviets caught an interest...
2
Update, August 9, 2007: I have added a website with more restaurants in Dushanbe, which have English menus. Please make sure you read my travellogue My Dushanbe adventure as well. Only then you......
4
I was on my Business tour to Dushanbe. It was really nice to be there. Tajikistan is just like Kashmir in India. It is full of mountains, very scenic & even people look alike Kashmiri! But it is the...
5
Dushanbe, 'monday' in Farsi, is a city that apparently at one time was run by bandits after dark. Thankfully they went with the end of the civil war and the restoration of government authority....
Build your own Dushanbe page
Sponsored Links
