Budget restaurants in Almaty?

[Rebecca]

Hi,

I’m having trouble finding places to eat in Almaty on a budget (around $3-4 is ideal!). It seems that most restaurants and cafes here are over-the-top fancy. I’d love to find a solid local place that isn’t so posh. Does anyone have any experience with this?

Thanks so much!
Rebecca

[Milad]

Look for self-service restaurants (stolovaya). Although I was surprised by a number of fancy, modern (expensive by local standards) stolovayas in Almaty, most are still Soviet-style and cheap. The one in Sairan bus station was surprisingly good for example. Here, you won't pay more than 1000 KZT for a meal and a drink.

[steven]

Download the 2GIS app. Also, get out of the center.

Most restaurants are very cheap, like what you find at the bazaar. This does not hold for the centre, though, where rich people live.

[Rebecca]

Thanks so much! Steven, the 2GIS app has been a life saver!

If anyone is interested, I have two recommendations for inexpensive restaurants in the center: a Georgian place called Patzatzina that's also great for drinking wine (just off Dostyk Street on Kabanbai Batyr Street, name is in cyrillic) and a plov place called Palau.

Thanks again!

[Julia]

Also there is a budget plov and lagman restaurant near Panfilov park. Called Saebiz and located on Tole bi street corner Dostyk street. A portion of plov or lagman is up to 900 tenge. And tastes good. They have other local cuisine dishes too.

[steven]

Kaganat and Fakir are 2 cheap options near Green Bazaar

[Gone For A Drive.]

There is an Asian food stall called Hawker Chan in the top floor of Dostyk Plaza Shopping Mall. The original Hawker Chan is from Singapore and - believe it or not - is one of the few food stalls in the world, which received a Michelin Star for his excellent dishes. The one in Almaty is a subsidiary.

Their "signature dish" is Soy Sauce Chicken but we can also recommend the fried bean curd with peanuts, granny smith apple slices and and sweet and hot sauce. The price of the dishes is around 1.000 Tenge.

On our blog there are some photos of the mentioned dishes:
https://www.goneforadrive.com/hawker-ch ... lin-stern/

[Rufio]

Thanks for recommendations, coming to Almaty from Bishkek and Tashkent, Almaty is crazy expensive.. breakfast is my favorite meal to eat out and so far I have had breakfast at a couple of places equivalent to 3200-4200 Tenge.

I can eat cheaper in my home country of the UK

[Karribaldi]

When I was in Almaty, I ate exclusively in Soviet canteens. The food there is the most delicious and inexpensive, so it's the best choice for a low-cost trip. I recently met some guys from Kazakhstan who came to Florida to study. I found out there was a Kava Bar near my house and decided to go there https://bestkavabar.com/is/oahu-kava-bar/ . By the way, I liked the Kava. In this bar I met Kazakhs and they asked me what Kazakh dish I liked best. I could not answer this question because I have not tried any of the Kazakh dishes. I think this equates to a crime, so I have to go back to Kazakhstan again.

[Rufio]

I've been in Kazakhzstan for two months, lived in Almaty for one month.

Qaganat and Basilic are the cheapest restaurants there is. Qaganat is a canteen, point at the stuff you want, pay at the end. Basilic you can scan a QR code on your phone which will bring up the menu, you can order and pay via this so no need to interact with staff at all and you can use the default translate option embedded into Google to translate the Russian menu.

Both places you can eat until you will burst your tummy for £2~3 or in dollars $2.5O to $4

Reference:

https://qaganat24.kz/

https://basilic.kz/

They're both 24/7 restaurants too.