Uzbekistan for vegetarians/vegans

[steven]

Sunduk in Tashkent. What to tell the taxi driver to get me there? Can someone tell the address or what it is located next to? Thanks.

That's a good question, I would try embassy of Japan or Poliklinika 1 as markers nearby. Don't try Azimova street cos he will have no idea where that is.

[PolyP.]

Great topic! I will post this here and edit later to add some good restaurants we visited during our trip.

Khiva:
I can definitely recommend the restaurant Khiva moon. Very tasty, friendly waiters and some vegetarian options - they can also make dishes vegetarian for you. Prices are reasonable.

Bukhara:
We tried out the Bereddin restaurant due to recommendations and we kind of felt cheated due to the tremendous prices. We already had ordered drinks, so we decided to have the cheapest plates they offered for dinner there anyways. Payed about 15,50€ for a Greek salad, an okroshka and veg manti. Also, they sell cocktails for around 18€???
Don't go there, it's a tourist trap.

[Uztravreller1234]

We still have two more days in Uzbekistan, and haven’t been here super long (one day Tashkent, two Samarkand, two Bukhara) but we ate at Old City in Samarkand last night. It is January so not peak tourist season but we were literally the only people there. Didn’t love the Uzbek vegetarian food tbh, it didn’t have much taste to it seemingly.
We’ve had non from markets a couple of times, and went to cafe Magistrar for lunch today, which was okay-ish (I was wondering what the crunchy thing in my spaghetti pompdoro was then realised it was the onion, my boyfriend’s pizza dough was on the partially cooked side of things) but it was cheap.
We had an expensive lunch in Tashkent at a Georgian restaurant that was nice but probably not worth the money, and a pizza from Stuzzico in the eve. We had proper lunch yesterday at a cafe near bibi khanuym after being advised not to eat food at Siâb bazaar by a local… aside from halva and bread the non fruit/veg/nut options were limited (in terms of hot food).
We’ve just ordered a pizza from Roni pizza as feeling tired and don’t want to go out- it seems new and nice but it hasn’t arrived yet! I think the main thing we’re finding is lonely planet is quite out of date, and caravanistan doesn’t do food reccs
Everyone said the reason to go to Central Asia is not for the food, and I thought it couldn’t be that bad but I can see why they say that. On the plus side we’ve had some very fermented sour cream so that’s probably doing my gut health some good! Having eaten plov once I can’t say I’ll be rushing to do so again. Equally, I feel like as a vegetarian you’re basically missing all the best bits of Uzbek cuisine so I can’t judge too harshly

[Uztravreller1234]

Update: Bukhara is much nicer than Samarkand in my opinion.
Roni’s pizza in Samarkand was really nice would recommend.
In Bukhara today, we had lunch at Joy Chaikhana. It is a bit touristy (right in centre of old city) but had a range of veg options. Particularly liked the grilled vegetables and tomato salad. The country potatoes were also v tasty.
Dinner this eve- went to Zaytoon. It’s a bit out of the centre but you could def walk there still, or a Yandex taxi is only a £1! Oh my god, it was soooo good. I think we’re going to go back there for dinner tomorrow. I would happily eat that food in London and pay London prices for it. Had a range of veggie options, including salads, dips, breads and best of all was the grilled mushrooms. They were insanely good- king oyster mushrooms, super juicy and flavourful. Tomorrow we could definitely order completely different things and have a full meal still. It was a bit more expensive than your standard restaurant but not compared to the touristy ones- we paid £16 equivalent including service and had the three dips (hummus, yoghurt and sort of baba ghanoush but it was called something different), two pittas and a grill bread, two fried cheese pastries, a salad and the mushroom, and a bottle of water (which was glass and more expensive than the mushrooms). I think it’s a bit newer so not in Lonely Planet, and it’s more Middle Eastern food than Uzbek (but I think some central Asian influences) but massively recommend!!

[Aquario]

Eco cafe in Tashkent
Complete Vegetarian restaurant.
https://maps.app.goo.gl/hvHmu53Yp15GmXKt8
They do Vegan option as well

This place is just amazing. I'm so glad finding this place. They do vegetarian version of traditional dishes such as laghman/ plov.

[Aquario]

Now that I am back from my trip, I can provide more feedback

Tashkent:
I pretty much went to Eco cafe near Pushkin metro station almost everyday, the safest (guaranteed no contamination) place to get vegan/ vegetarian food.
Another place that I went there was Afsona restaurant in Taras Shevchenko street, they do fruit plov there.


Samarkand:
Bibi Khanum Teahouse near Bibi Khanum mausoleum and the cafe/restaurant next door Cafe Norgis provides some nice vegetarian options

Bukhara and Khiva is pretty easy imho, almost all restaurant I went in the old city has at least one vegetarian options and definitely give the Shivat Oshi (dill infused laghman) a try


Warning:
If you ordered laghman without meat, some places would just serve you laghman with the meat picked out, so the broth is cooked in meat. It might be OK for some people, but not for me.