Chorsu gluttony row
Text by: Anna Martusevich
Photos by: Anastasia Ivanova
I’ve heard it said that, to really get to know a place, you have to go straight to the street food.
After five years living in Tashkent, I can confirm that this is the first and foremost thing that a visitor to Uzbekistan – no matter which city – should do. I’m someone who likes to have a good, hearty meal, and over the years here, I’ve scoured countless restaurants and cafes looking for the best eats. But I truly found my zen wandering through Uzbekistan’s deliciously smoky streets, bazaars and flea markets, inhaling the cosmic smells of the best food in the world. Well, apart from my mother's cutlets, of course!
I’ve decided to put all that ‘research’ to good use and leave my mini-legacy: a list of 30 must-try Tashkent street food spots. In this new, regular Visit Uzbekistan column, I’m taking you along as I sample the city’s most delectable snacks, and offer my tips on where to go and what to order.
In this first edition, we’re heading to one of the top spots on my personal hit list: Chorsu Bazaar. The biggest, noisiest, and longest-running bazaar in Tashkent, Chorsu is the one universal place where you can experience all the joys of Central Asia, and be endlessly amazed at the stories of the people who work there. I like to call it ‘Gluttony Row’ because of the endless rows of food stalls selling all manner of delightful Uzbek foods. It's one of my favourite places in town, and the first place I take guests when they visit Tashkent.
Meet husband and wife Murad and Shoira, who have been working at the bazaar for 20 years. Murad is a journalist who used to work for a national radio company and Shoira is a philologist. As students, they worked in the cotton harvest for five years, where Murad discovered his culinary skills, cooking pilau for all his coworkers.
Not much has changed at Chorsu over the last half-century, except that in the 1990s, they cooked only on charcoal. Water and electricity were only installed in the 2000s. Today, meats are still grilled over charcoal, but electric cooking methods have also been added.
Come in the morning and you’ll see a cross-section of Tashkent life – wholesalers, tourists, students and people just arrived to Tashkent by train, bus, or plane – flocking to Chorsu for one reason: breakfast. This is the best time to visit the bazaar. By evening, almost all the food has already sold out. Chorsu’s food-stall rows are open from 6am to 5pm. You can order takeaway or sit and eat at plastic tables and chairs with the scent of cooking food in your nose.
While the food assortment looks similar at all of the stalls, each vendor has their own unique take or speciality. Murad’s is nokhat shurak – a very delicate, slow-cooked dish of marinated lamb and chickpea. Shurpa (lamb and vegetable soup), lagman (noodles), fried catfish, hasip (homemade offal-and-rice sausage), kebabs and chicken tabaka (Caucasian-style pan-fried chicken) are available from almost all the local sellers. There are several outlets offering pilaf and khanum, a steamed dough roll stuffed with potato, onion, seasonings and a lot of tomato. While home cooked khanum often also has meat, at Chorsu, they serve a special vegetarian version. For the best khanum, head to my friend Mashhura’s stall, where they have been making the same recipe in the same place for 52 years.
To find the food stalls, head to the east side of the bazaar, near the fruit. Mashhura and Murad’s stalls are next to each other – say their names to any seller in the bazaar and you’ll quickly be directed to them.
In my opinion, the best hasip, nohat shura and khanum in Tashkent can all be found here. The price list below is approximate – as it’s a bazaar, haggling for the price is customary.
Chorsu Gluttony Row prices
hasip 15,000-20,000 som
naryn 15,000-20,000 som
shashlik 8000-10,000 som
catfish 8000-9000 som
shurpa 15,000 som
pilau 15,000 som
nohat shura 20,000 som
laghman 17,000 som
tea kettle 2000 som
I'm already looking forward to my next trip to the tantalising smells and tastes of Gluttony Row. Who's with me?
