Traditional Tajik meals start with sweet dishes such as
halwa and tea and then progress to soups and meat before finishing with
plov.
National specialties:•
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.
•
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.
• 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.
National drinks:
• 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 yogurt, is often served with breakfast.
NightlifeThere are no restaurants operating in the evenings except for the one in the Hotel Oktyabrskaya which shuts at 2200. There is a dollar bar in the basement of the Hotel Tajikistan which is open some evenings. The Ayni opera and ballet theater on Prospekt Rudaki is still operating, albeit with a reduced program of matinees. The streets of Dushanbe are usually deserted by 2000.
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