I just feel so lucky and blessed to have a real, authentic, honest-to-goodness Uzbek restaurant nearby! I love going there & I love ordering delivery from there, too .... If you go it's so very neat & cool because they have partitions made of hanging fabrics & not the kind of fabrics you'd normally see in this area but that are of course thankfully evocative of the place where they & the food are both from. It's very unusual for people or places such as restaurants to present things in such a way -- normally, there might be some kind of evocation of the place of origin of the food in the form of, say, art on the walls but nothing so all-encompassing as what is offered here! It's very different. Uzbekistan is literally in the air here in the form of scents of food wafting from the kitchen ....I enjoy so many of the foods here! This is a lot to say considering the vegetarianness of my food-ordering & eating habits, & I can let you know with full confidence that if you only order vegetarian food here (or from here!), you will not go hungry. The potato manti (dumplings) alone can fill you up. The punch is very tasty & an incredibly good deal, too! When I have this at home, I drink the liquid & there is some wonderful fruit concoction left over in the bottom that I spoon into wine glasses & eat as a dessert -- but don't worry, they have desserts, too! The mushroom soup might be the best thing I've had from here -- I don't know if that sounds exciting to you, but I love soup! This is a really great one. Mmm .... It's super-hearty, extremely tasty, & ... it's got a good amount of something succulent such as oil that I'm afraid to mention given today's current climate of fear around fats but that's what you need on a cold winter day, in my opinion! It's deeply nourishing physically & emotionally & tastes great, too! It's everything you could want or need in a soup! Second-best in my opinion is the Kachipuri. It's nice & salty and I find that ve-ry appealing; it reminds me of the burekas I grew up making with my mom, & I like that it brings back such wonderful memories plus tasting superb, as well. Oh, & it's flaky & crispy & all those other things you'd want in a pastry, too -- baked to perfection & all of that, yummy! The green onion Kutabi wasn't exactly my favourite thing ever but at the same time, I did appreciate the nutrition I was getting from it & of course I must try it with some of the other fillings next time! One thing I know is there will be a next time, & a next time, & a next time ... because I just love this part of the world (central Asia) -- speaking of which, the name of this place is so perfect! Some places that people might consider remote & think of as 'backwards' or 'inaccessible' have actually long been connectors of places and therefore, also very connected themselves, & the name of the restaurant, the décor, & the food all speak to and show this to be true! Of course, if you go in person & talk to, say, your server, then the person with whom you speak will show this, too -- I mean, this is true, whether or not you see it! I always like to talk to people so for me, this is especially true! The mashed potatoes are nice -- maybe a little lumpy -- but ... not too special, in my view. I mean, I think they were very special when they were first made way back when! I just expected a little more flavour in them since I read that they were perfectly spiced but I didn't really experience them as being spiced at all -- but that can be good when you want something to just add to something else; I did add a bit of the mashed potatoes to my second bowl of soup, & it was a good combination! (I'm trying not to repeat 'Mmm' all the time -- but it really fits!) The Medovik cake was good but ... the truth is, I'm not a big fan of cake for the most part, so I'm probably not the best judge of this. I do believe I need to try -- & report on! -- some of their other desserts .... In case you can't tell, I ordered an awful (well, actually wonderful!) amount of food for one meal & this did last two people at least two if not three meals -- plus fruity snacks and beverages! I really wanted to get some other things, too, such as salads but I could see it would all be way too much & so I got things that I thought would last a bit -- and yes, they did! I mean to say that a salad should be eaten sooner than, say, a soup because it could wilt and go bad & all that, and I didn't want that happening so I had to resign myself to trying some things such as various salads later .... I can't wait for the time I get to do that! This is more than just food. Of course, sure, every food must have some kind of tradition behind it, some kind of history -- even if it was just invented & made for the first time ever! -- but this food, when I say it has tradition, I mean it has a deeply meaningful feeling for me that nourishes not only my body but my soul .... It's the best!
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