Urgench

Uzbekistan

Urgench is a city in Khorezm, in Uzbekistan.

Eating out in Urgench can be a challenge. Waiters usually don't speak English and sometimes only Russian. The menus are mostly written in Cyrillic and either in Russian or in Uzbek. As of May 2019 we have not found a restaurant with a menu written in English. (Nearby Xiva is more adapted to foreign tourists in this respect.) More informationon Urgench restaurants can be found here: https://www.facebook.com/theurgenchrestaurants/

Gavhar Milliy Taomlari, The restaurant with the best view of the park, the Shavat Canal and the city, if you can get a place on the terrace. The food is good but their choice of wines is surprisingly limited. The young waiters are not really familiar with the concept of a "dry" wine and you might be served unchilled white and stone cold red wine.

Mangal, A Korean restaurant. Again,most dishes are meat dishes. Urgench is not the ideal place for vegetarians.

Garage Burger Probably the best place for real hamburgers in this city. Hamburgers are often called burgers or just cheeze. Do not confuse them with the ubiquitous "gamburgers" which are pieces of doner kebab in a little pocket of bread, often served with a little bit of greens (cut up spring onions) and tomato sauce.

Urgench is not a place for wine drinkers. The restaurant staff are usually unfamiliar with the concepts of "dry", (quruq) "semi-sweet" (nimshirin) and "sweet" (shirin) wines and will often serve you a semi-sweet wine when you ask for a dry one, although it clearly says on the label that the wine is semi-sweet. The standard wine is about 25.000 soms (May 2019), Not for the connaisseur but certainly drinkable. You are lucky if the white wine is chilled. Otherwise you could ask for ice. Don't be surprised if they serve you a thoroughly chilled red wine. Wine is just not their thing here.

Bavaria, A good place for beer drinkers. They brew three different kinds of draught beer. There is a large hall and a small balcony if you want to sit outside. This is probably the best place for the Western tourist to feel at home.

Leo, The Leo pab has the widest range of beers. Some are on tap but they also have a huge fridge full of different brands.

New York With a wall full of old American (not just New York) photographs and TV screens presenting American concerts (country, blues, and more) the New York pub tries to create a New York atmosphere. A nice change from the often somewhat baroque ineriors of other restaurants.

  • Khiva - the historical city with the UNESCO World Heritage Centre of Itchan Kala