You’ve been travelling through Kazakhstan, and you’ve thoroughly enjoyed trying the local cuisine. You’ve had Beshbarmak, Plov, Pelmeni, Shorpa, Kuurdak, Lagman, and Manty, but after a few weeks, or even a few days, you’re craving a different cuisine.
Almaty, the most populous city in Kazakhstan and the former capital, is the best place to assuage a craving of Thai, Chinese, German, Italian, Swedish or even a properly amazing burger. You might be thinking that foreign restaurants are going to be a bit on the expensive side, but we’ve got you covered with amazing food at affordable prices.
Bangkok Thai Restaurant – 57 Luganskiy Street
Located not far from the Kazakhstan hotel, Bangkok Thai restaurant is as authentic as being in Thailand itself. Although it’s on somewhat of a backroad, it is worth leaving the centre of town for. With classics like Tom Yum soup for $2, Green Curry for $4.50, Pad Thai for $2.50, it’s a great stop for any budget. The chef is from Thailand, and rather than going for a tacky fake Thai look, the inside is modern and very comfortable. The service matches the food in its excellence and there are English speaking staff.
Lanzhou Noodles – Multiple locations
This amazing noodle restaurant started off with one restaurant on the Arbat and soon expanded to 7 locations. Although they now serve Chinese classics such as Sweet and Sour, and have recently added Lagman, Pelmeni and Pizza to the menu, the original and best dish they serve are the Lanzhou Noodles. Traditional hand pulled noodles swimming in a broth that is full of flavour with some vegetables, chilli and meat. The classic noodles are $2.50 and most other dishes range from $2-$5. The only disappointment is the dumplings which in no way resemble Chinese dumplings, but are essentially local Manty and Pelmeni.
Harissa Middle Eastern Restaurant – 68 Kabanbai Batyr Street
Opened by the team that previously ran the very popular restaurant Bkitzer, Harissa serves authentic Middle Eastern cuisine. Open for breakfast, lunch and dinner, and located in the heart of Almaty. Dips such as hummus and babaganoush starting at $3. Amazing Turkish Pide around the $4 mark. Beef, lamb or chicken kebabs for $5. A favourite for locals is the Israeli Shakshuka, a traditional breakfast dish consisting of eggs cooked in a spicy tomato sauce. Harissa also does amazing Shawarma and Falafels that will make you think you’re sitting in Beirut or Tel Aviv.
Luckee Yu Asian Restaurant - 71 Dostyk Street (Lenin Street)
Until only a few years ago, the Chinese options in Almaty weren’t the best. Very oily with not much flavour. However, there are now a huge number of modern Chinese restaurants serving food straight from the hutongs. Luckee Yu does amazing modern Chinese dishes including the increasingly popular bao, a Chinese take on a burger with a traditional bun filled with ingredients such as prawns, katsu curry or marinated chicken, all for roughly $4. Luckee Yu also does great dumplings ($3.50) and Sushi/Sashimi ($5) and noodle dishes ($3-$4.50).
Smug Burger Bar – 15 Gogol Street
Some of the best burgers in Almaty. The burgers here are creative and indulgent. They are the type of burgers you think of at a modern American diner, juicy homemade patties, onion rings, amazing sauces, fresh salad, layers of cheese, and most importantly, huge. They also do some of the more fancy hipster styles such as a blue cheese burger, a curry burger, a cherry burger, a burger called the cheese and cheese, which is a beef patty as well as a large deep fried camembert topped with a classic cheddar. You can also get horsemeat burgers here. The burgers themselves are around $6. The great thing is they also do steaks, with a T-bone and ribeye for only $7. They even have a horsemeat fillet mignon!
Barstol & Kok – 126 Zheltoksan Street
Barstol & Kok is a Swedish gastropub which has been an Almaty institution for many years. It’s cool and hip but does some of the best food in town. It’s also a great place to spend a Friday or Saturday night enjoying a few drinks and listening to a live band.
Amazing steaks ($6-$8), burgers ($4), but their specialty must be their trio of homemade pates for entre and their salmon dishes ($7). They also do medallions of horsemeat in a traditional Swedish berry sauce ($8). If these prices are too rich for your taste, chicken wings ($3) or traditional Swedish sausages ($4) are hard to beat. The beers here are also amazing with a locally made red ale being our personal choice at only $2 for a pint.
Frau Irma German Restaurant – 33 Kurmangazy Street
This one is the little bit more expensive than the rest, but the servings are huge and the beers on offer, well it’s German beer, so they’re really good. Everything is here that you would expect from a German Restaurant. Sausages, Schnitzels, Pork Knuckle. Mains here range from $8 to $15, while the beer selection including worldwide favourites such as Paulaner and Warsteiner, as well as their own house brews including the Frau Irma Lager, Dark Beer as well as a Dense Beer and Velvet beer range from $2-$4.
