Panjakent Restaurants

The chances are if, as we did, you come to Panjakent on an organised tour, lunch will be included. Restaurants as we know them in the west being thin on the ground here, that probably means you will, as we did, find yourself in a private house. Be prepared for a feast!!

We arrived to find a long cloth laid out on a low table, padded mats and cushions all around to sit on in a room hung with suzanis, one long wall lined with a cabinet displaying the family china and glassware . The table was laden with food - several bowls of different salads ( cabbage, beets, carrot, finely sliced onion and chopped herbs, tomatoes, chickpeas), plates and bowls of fruit (melon, apples, grapes) and loaves of glossy, golden non -bread. And that was just for starters. A side table was groaning with pastries, cake, bowls of sweets,kishmesh - raisins, and almonds.

Soup (shorpur) followed the salads and just as we were feeling we might, just might, be able to squeeze in some of the sweetmeats from the side table and a slice of melon, in came a steaming platter of plov - rice with meat and carrot, a Central Asian staple. Small servings all round, please!

Lunch is the main meal of the day in this part of the world and our western habit of grabbing a snack and moving on to the afternoon's activity just wasn't going to happen here in Panjakent. We had been invited into someone's home and they were going to show us true Tajik hospitality - a meal to be lingered over and savoured. Truth to tell, we were feeling somewhat embarassed by the generosity of the lunch that was served to us and the amount we left untouched but our guide told us we shouldn't worry - none of it would be wasted. The decade-long civil war had left everyone with memories of terrible food shortages and, as a result, all food was to be valued and there was always someone to whom any extra food could be given but it was a matter of pride for our hostess that we should enjoy her cooking and hospitality. So, in true Tajik style, we had another cup of tea and enjoyed the company as we finished our meal.