If you’ve not yet read it, you may want to look up my review ‘Ashgabat: maybe the most bizarre capital in the world’ which will hopefully provide some context.
During our two-night stay in Turkmenistan’s capital, our itinerary included all meals. Usually this is a good sign as you don’t have to think about where to eat, however we ended up feeling somewhat controlled and stuffed to the gills.
Lunches and dinners followed the same pattern: soup and a salad, generally served at the same time leaving you with the quandary about which to eat first; then regardless of whether you’d finished, the main course was presented; and this was followed relatively swiftly by dessert. The concept of courses and breaks in between did not exist and having said we had no dietary requirements, there were no choices. All meals were automatically served with green tea, although we added the odd beer at our own expense.
However, all the places and dishes chosen were distinctive and delicious, and we could see lots of thought had gone into their selection.
Our first lunch was at Üzüm Café, with a delightfully modern, trendy interior, it was definitely the sort of place I would have chosen – I later discovered it is rated 2 out of 87 Ashgabat restaurants. Here we had a delicious salad with Feta cheese, tomato soup served with crisp croutons and grated parmesan, followed by what was somewhat mysteriously called ‘Toronto chicken’ – a chicken breast stuffed with potato and mushroom and covered in a cream sauce, accompanied by rice. Dessert was a traditional honey cake and having decided to share one portion, the other was taken away for our driver. Whilst Üzüm translates as wine, we had large draught beers, a reasonable 5 Manat, or £2.30 each.
Later that evening, we ate at Paytagt, located on the top floor of a shopping centre, Sowda Merkezi. We whizzed up in the lift and were shown to a table with panoramic views over the city. We began with what was called a ‘Man’s Salad’ as it contained walnuts, and a huge bowl of pumpkin soup with sunflower seeds. The main was beef cooked in tomato and onions with French fries, followed by chocolate ice cream and raspberry sauce. Here the glass tea pot with inbuilt strainer for the ubiquitous leaves, was kept warm on a circle of upturned shot glasses with a tea light in the centre. Because of the views, Paytagt is noted for romance and is a favourite choice for proposals and in the adjacent room, there was a single table, with huge candelabra and rose petals scattered on the floor around the couple who only had eyes for each other. As the night wore on, we were fascinated to see Ashgabat’s white buildings lit up by garish flashing lights.
Knowing we liked a beer, we were delighted with lunch in the Berk Garden Pub: as this is where the local Berk beer is brewed, it’s said to be the cheapest in the city at around 70p a pint. We had a choice of five: dark, wheat, light, unfiltered and filtered, and we opted for the latter which was served in frosted glasses. It was perfect for a day when it was too hot to sit in the garden. Once again, the food was delicious: a mushroom and chicken salad, lentil soup with bread, followed by a ‘farmer’s pie’ – a huge circular thin pastry pie with minced meat, onions and tomato slices. We could only manage a slice each, and once again our driver benefited. Knowing what was to come in the evening, we declined pudding and felt a little guilty as our guide, who had a very sweet tooth, also politely said ‘No’.
For our final dinner we ate in a yurt in the garden of Merdem. Whilst eating traditional food in a traditional yurt sounds like an interesting concept, in reality it meant taking off our shoes and sitting on the floor around a semi-circular low table. This was not easy for a Silver Traveller who has broken his leg twice, but he persevered plumped up with a back rest of cushions. The yurt had air conditioning and a TV which we asked to be switched off. We began with dograma soup which means ‘cut’ as the meat, bread and onions are all cut, followed by beef kebabs on lavash (a thin flatbread), with chopped herbs and onion, and a shepherds’ salad. Although we were presented with a large plate of Viennese-whirl style biscuits for pudding, they were taken away for the driver and our journey the following day. Beer was not available here, and although our guide offered to have some sent in, we stuck with tea and water, to avoid prolonging what was a slightly painful experience.
The variety of restaurants was excellent, and we would have been happy with the soup and salad for lunch and then the main and dessert in the evening. Unfortunately, British politeness meant we ended up eating far too much, although at least our driver enjoyed a few tasty treats.
