Al Bukhara Russian And Uzbek Restaurant South Pattaya

[Jingthing]

Al Bukhara Russian And Uzbek Restaurant South Pattaya

A very attractive new restaurant! But you probably can't eat there

(title was cut off)

OK, first off, I will admit Al Bukhara is an odd name for a Russian/Uzbek restaurant.

That said Al Bukhara is a VERY charming looking, quite new place, directly across the street from the Beverly Plaza Hotel in South Pattaya (in what most locals know as the Arabic/Iranian/Indian area).

I can't tell you how good the food is. I wish I could. I can tell you they have some very good looking pie type things in a deli case, I am guessing they are Russian meat pies. I can also tell you based on years of experience, I have a good vibe that they probably DO have good food there. My instincts about such things are quite good, though not perfect.

So what's the rub?

No menu menu. No picture menu. No marked prices. Nobody willing to speak to you in English to even TRY to describe the dishes on offer and the prices.

I had dropped by some weeks ago when they had just opened and talk to a Thai staff who said a menu was coming later. So I said OK I will try later. It's often a good idea to give a new restaurant some time anyway before trying it.

So tonight I dropped by and asked for a menu. I opened the menu. It didn't seem as if they even had a Russian/Arabic/Uzbeki menu as I turned the pages and saw a big nothing.

OK, now what? Well there was a lady who I guess was the Uzbeki owner and she was able to speak to me in quite decent English, although not long enough for me to judge if she is fluent. So I asked about an English menu, would they be getting one? After a couple back and forths she made it clear she has no intention to EVER offer an English menu. I tried to be friendly and persuasive explaining that there were people (like me) who would like to eat there but without a menu, we couldn't. Given my strong feeling that the place probably has good food, I then asked her if she could tell me in English about a few dishes. She made it clear either she couldn't or wouldn't. She wasn't rude about this, but I couldn't help but to feel disappointed. While it is true I could call out a few famous Russian dishes like borscht and pelmeni, I really wanted to hear about the Uzbeki dishes as I am pretty sure that is their specialty there.

I am not posting this to diss this restaurant. Au contraire, actually, if I had been able to eat there, I am pretty sure I would be writing now about what a great find it is. But face it, at this place, unless you speak Russian or Uzbek (probably also Arabic?), you aren't really welcome. That's really a shame.

Just a thought, suggestion if you are so inclined, if YOU feel you would like to eat at such an attractive charming place which probably has good food, perhaps you want to drop by and do exactly what I did. Ask for an English menu. Then when the answer is no, make it clear you would love to see a menu so that you can eat and spend money there. Would that make a difference? Well, probably not unless lots of people do that. So it's just a thought, but be sure to be polite about it. The owner won't be persuaded with anger, that's for sure.

Edited January 21, 2011 by Jingthing

[Boater]

they are a funny breed the uzbeks and russians, like to keep thier place to themselve and their own kind, i think the hint given is they dont want Yanks or brits eating in thier restuarant... but saying that they quiet happily let us have there women ... if you know what i mean..

stick the arab restuarants jingting, they serve the best food, and i have always been welcome when i enter these restaurants ( also i went into one arab restuarant i hadnt been to in 6 months, not even a regular, and they remembered my order from last time !, no that is service )

[Jingthing]

I don't stick to any one kind of food. The menu translation issue is not unique to Thailand. Also, consider how few non-Thai food menus are translated into Thai, in Thailand. I wouldn't say all or most Russian or Uzbek places don't have English menus either. This place, Al Bukhara, however, does not, and apparently will not. It's their call, it's not illegal, but anyway ...

[Jingthing]

Found this link about the dishes of Uzebekistan; quite interesting except the horsemeat part of it.

http://www.uzbekcuisine.com/index.html

[PattayaParent]

You're OK with eating camel though?

[Jingthing]

You're OK with eating camel though?

As long as it tastes like chicken, I'm down with it.

[PattayaParent]

It tastes like horse actually

[Jingthing]

Even more reason why they should get an English menu there! Wouldn't want to order camel's balls stew by accident, now would we?

[Naam]

But face it, at this place, unless you speak Russian or Uzbek (probably also Arabic?), you aren't really welcome. That's really a shame.

could it be that you forgot to take off your Yarmulke before you entered the restaurant JT?

[Richie1971]

What is Russian food anyway? Not exactly world renowned and probably the type of slop only people who are used to it can stomach on a regular basis - might be worth a try for the novelty factor I suppose - but if they don't want you in there stuff em - Your money is as good as anyone's.

Authentic Russian food from the old days would probably involve waiting for 6 hours in the freezing cold in order to swap a pair of ladies tights for a bowl of cabbage soup.

[Jingthing]

There are plenty of places to go for Russian with English menus and even a few Uzbek with English menus. But like I said in the OP I think this new place probably has good Uzbek food, and as something I know little about, I am interested to sample what they have.

[Jingthing]

could it be that you forgot to take off your Yarmulke before you entered the restaurant JT?

Not clever.

[JWJ]

I have not tried Russian food but am curious.

Where is a good place for a novice to begin?

[manarak]

I don't get why Al Bukhara is a strange name for an Uzbek restaurant.

Boukhara is a city in Uzbekistan, quite renowned for its fully intact medieval city walls and for the crafts, like silk carpets.

And no, they don't speak Arabic there. Only Uzbek, which is a language closely resembling Turkish. Some may speak Turkmen or Kirgiz.

Russian food is not a big deal in my opinion. Borscht is not even Russian, it's Ukrainian. There is no real "Russian cuisine", since there are just a few dishes, most of the food consists of prepared foodproducts, such as smoked fish. 50% of their dishes are soups and the other half are meatpies (also the smaller pelimenie), or pot-au-feu type dishes. They imported quite a lot of food from their cultural expanse, like Shashlik, Borscht, Lapsha...

Uzbek Food is even less varied than the russian food: a couple of soups, Shashlik of course, and also Plof and Oshitoki (which reminds of the Libanese stuffed leaves), Noodle salads (Narin), and tomato salads (with onions and pepper - talk about cuisine...), and monti (big pelimenie with oriental spices).

Edited January 26, 2011 by manarak

[Jingthing]

Thank you for the explanation of the restaurant's name. You are obviously correct; it is clearly not a strange name at all for Uzbek restaurant. As I gleaned, the specialty there is definitely Uzbek food rather than Russian food. I am obviously not very informed on all things Uzbek, but you can't blame me for wanting to learn (taste) more about it. I thought they may be catering to Arabic speakers as well based on the location of the place, and the Al prefix fooled me a bit.

Edited January 26, 2011 by Jingthing

[Jingthing]

I have not tried Russian food but am curious.

Where is a good place for a novice to begin?

Borscht (beet soup)

Pelmeni (like ravioli)

Pancakes with caviar or salmon

Borscht may be Ukranian in origin but it's clearly a Russian staple, so who cares?

Edited January 26, 2011 by Jingthing

[JimmyTheMook]

Go in dressed like Borat

[Jingthing]

I see people here don't take freedom of access to all kinds of available food as seriously as me. The idea of this thread was to suggest other people might want to ask that place to consider offering an English menu. But I guess not.

Next ...

[Naam]

could it be that you forgot to take off your Yarmulke before you entered the restaurant JT?

Not clever.

you were not clever and wore it? well... that explains the situation.

[sharecropper]

Boukhara is a city in Uzbekistan, quite renowned for its fully intact medieval city walls and for the crafts, like silk carpets.

Slightly off topic, I went to Uzbekistan about 15 years ago and nothing about its food stands out for me. The stunning, enormous mosques and monuments in Samarkand, Bukhara and Khiva were well worth the trip though.

[JimmyTheMook]

Were you refused service ?

or just denied an English menu ?

[JWJ]

I think the food court at Central festival has a Russian food vendor.

Maybe I'll give it a shot there.

[Thailaw]

I see people here don't take freedom of access to all kinds of available food as seriously as me. The idea of this thread was to suggest other people might want to ask that place to consider offering an English menu. But I guess not.

Next ...

I am not sure why you think that an ethnic, non-English speaking restaurant needs to go through the time, effort and expense of preparing menus in English just so that a few westerners can come into the restaurant and place an order. They have obviously targeted their customer base, and it does not include the few western "wanderers" that might want to give the place a try on rare occasions. There are many restaurants that deny you "freedom of access" -- most do it by price, some do it by location, some do it by language. Put this one in that category or put out a bit of effort to gain access.....

I can order in almost any Thai restaurant, even when the menu is only in Thai with no pictures (and my Thai is not especially good) -- I just ask for what I know most Thai restaurants offer. I expect that you can put together a number of Uzbek dishes that sound appealing and that you would like to try and write down their names. Go to the Uzbek restaurant and ask for these specific dishes (any Uzbek restaurant will, I think, offer palov, kabobs, salad, yogurt, etc.). Order those for a start, the worst you can get is a "don't have" and/or a bill that may be a bit higher then you expected -- a small price to pay for the "freedom of access" that you cherish. I expect that they will welcome your effort, and if you choose to return they will be very happy to see you. Thailand is a land of "self help", which works much better than whining.

[manarak]

Boukhara is a city in Uzbekistan, quite renowned for its fully intact medieval city walls and for the crafts, like silk carpets.

Slightly off topic, I went to Uzbekistan about 15 years ago and nothing about its food stands out for me. The stunning, enormous mosques and monuments in Samarkand, Bukhara and Khiva were well worth the trip though.

I hold the same opinion (in case that wasn't clear already)

Edited January 27, 2011 by manarak

[Jingthing]

I think the food court at Central festival has a Russian food vendor.

Maybe I'll give it a shot there.

I wouldn't suggest that place. Better idea, the Horseshoe restaurant on Thappraya Road.

[Jingthing]

I see people here don't take freedom of access to all kinds of available food as seriously as me. The idea of this thread was to suggest other people might want to ask that place to consider offering an English menu. But I guess not.

Next ...

I am not sure why you think that an ethnic, non-English speaking restaurant needs to go through the time, effort and expense of preparing menus in English just so that a few westerners can come into the restaurant and place an order. They have obviously targeted their customer base, and it does not include the few western "wanderers" that might want to give the place a try on rare occasions. There are many restaurants that deny you "freedom of access" -- most do it by price, some do it by location, some do it by language. Put this one in that category or put out a bit of effort to gain access.....

I can order in almost any Thai restaurant, even when the menu is only in Thai with no pictures (and my Thai is not especially good) -- I just ask for what I know most Thai restaurants offer. I expect that you can put together a number of Uzbek dishes that sound appealing and that you would like to try and write down their names. Go to the Uzbek restaurant and ask for these specific dishes (any Uzbek restaurant will, I think, offer palov, kabobs, salad, yogurt, etc.). Order those for a start, the worst you can get is a "don't have" and/or a bill that may be a bit higher then you expected -- a small price to pay for the "freedom of access" that you cherish. I expect that they will welcome your effort, and if you choose to return they will be very happy to see you. Thailand is a land of "self help", which works much better than whining.

Thanks for the lecture. They don't need to take the effort. They may find they can make more money though if they do take the effort as this is an international city and agree or not, English is the current most widely accepted international language. They, btw, are the outliers here. Generally, Russian and Uzbek places in town do have an English menu. The Horseshoe place is even on the call-it-out for delivery services. I already thought about trying your idea before your preach-a-thon (and have a lot of experience with that in Asian places in the US), but the truth is I would still prefer to see all of the choices written out. Not a demand, a desire.

Your comparison to Thai doesn't compute either. Any long term expat is probably going to learn to order off the menu in a Thai restaurant. It sinks in. Uzbek/Russian language, not so much ...

Edited January 27, 2011 by Jingthing

[Jingthing]

Were you refused service ?

or just denied an English menu ?

Not exactly either. That is because I politely asked if the person who I assume is the owner and was speaking OK English to me could at least talk to me about some dishes they have on offer verbally. She refused. I admit it's a grey area and the idea of coming in there with typical dishes to ask if they have would probably work.

People assuming you won't be interested in a specific kind of food because of your nationality is kind of a pet peeve with me. I think if I was Thai and only spoke Thai, I would be livid at the menu situation in Thailand. I am not big on xenophobic laws, but I would like to see international food restaurants in Thailand offer more Thai language menus, at least as a courtesy to their hosts. They might be surprised over time to see more Thais get more adventurous.

Compare this to international film festivals in Thailand. For a long time, generally the films were shown without Thai subtitles. Then there were voices saying that isn't right, this is Thailand, there should be Thai subtitles. So over time, more international films with more Thai subtitles, and now a bigger audience for those films among Thais. Duh.

Back to this Uzbek joint. Don't tell me that if they posted a small sign in their window saying ENGLISH MENU AVAILABLE that they wouldn't get business they are not getting now. The same difference with many of the international places in town scrambling to get Russian menus, as well they should.

Edited January 27, 2011 by Jingthing

[Tokay]

I miss the old days where you could find bars with signs in them that said, "NO ARAB TO SIT HERE!"

At least back then, everyone was open about it. Now, they try to hide it and it's frustrating. Just put the signs back up and tell everyone who can and who can not come in.

"ENGLISH SPEAKERS NOT WELCOME HERE" would be awesome. I can at least respect that, as twisted as it is.

[Tokay]

"RUSSIANS ONLY"

"JAPANESE ONLY"

"NO FALANG"

"NO ARABS OR INDIANS"

Get those signs back up!

[Jingthing]

I have some very good news to report about this restaurant!

It is now MUCH MORE accessible to ALL.

Now I am not saying you will get an especially friendly welcome, but its unlikely you will be discouraged from eating there. That's good enough for me.

The change?

They now have a PICTURE menu with prices shown. There are no English names or descriptions of the dishes though. If you aren't familiar with Uzbek cuisine it's best to learn something about it before going there, but even if you don't, you are likely to be able to find something you will like looking at the pictures.

I can't say if the staff really speaks English so well, because I used mostly pointing, etc.

Your fellow customers may include some Central Asian ladies of the night, etc. added to the texture of the experience.

My impression of the food so far, based on very limited experience of Uzbek food, is that it is probably quite authentic. But that's a guess, they serve good food, it's tasty, and it's something different.

Had the Manti dumplings which were definitely made with al dente homemade pasta dough. (Ample portion, 185, good value.) The meat (not pork, Muslim influence, beef I guess (but possibly mutton; hope it's not horsemeat, oh well) filling was peppered with pieces of fat which in my experience is very authentic but not so thrilling to me. The small amount of tomato sauce topping (the small amount being authentic) was delicious. Probably should have ordered a side of yogurt, it needed that.

I suggest many of you try this place! It's good and it would be fun to see their reaction when their place becomes more integrated. They might even get someone to write ENGLISH descriptions of the food on their picture menu, one can hope.

This link will help you learn about typical Uzbek dishes. The pelmemi type dish (Chuchvara) is typically made with horsemeat in their country. Don't know if this place uses horsemeat for that. I think they are mostly using beef as a meat there based on the pictures, but I am not sure.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Uzbekistan

Seriously, check out this place! Good food and enjoy freaking them out (in a good way I hope, ca-ching) as their customer profile changes ...

Edited July 6, 2011 by Jingthing