Padishah

TAJIKISTAN 🇹🇯
UZBEKISTAN 🇺🇿

While I rarely (read: never) use Yelp for gathering opinions of positivity, I have come to the conclusion that it does have some use in our society. For the cuisines of former Soviet countries, you can be guaranteed to find a long list of whiney reviewers unhappy with their service in area restaurants. If you take these as a whole, there could be some reverse relationship with how good the food turns out to be. Testing this theory, we headed to Padishah on Avenue U in Sheepshead Bay, which has a growing number of critics.

Our 19:00 start time was on the early side for a Friday, but the restaurant filled up nicely as we progressed through our meal. Two couples sat and ate together, but the rest of the tables were mostly groups of men drinking multiple 1.75L bottles of vodka and Johnny Walker Red, using their water glasses to fill up for constant toasts.

As our first cold dishes began arriving like the Tashkent salad ($9.95, above), a woman took a seat in the front window and began singing along with her karaoke machine. She would be our entertainment for the evening, and sort of faded into the background rather than being too loud.

Eggplant salad $8.50

Along with these salads, the lepeshka bread ($4 each, not pictured) was very strong here, fluffy and served warm from the oven.

Korean carrot $8.50

Achichuk $7.95

The warm courses started with Uzbek lamb plov ($8.95, above, two portions shown), a better than average rendition and then continued with samsa ($2.29 each, below), cheburek ($2.75 each), and kootabi ($2.50 each).

Cheburek.

Kootabi. There were two, the first was grabbed before photo!

The chef and owner here is Tajik but was raised in Uzbekistan. The cuisine tends to focus on the foods that overlap between the two countries, of which there is plenty. An order of the manti ($6.95, below) was appreciated by the whole table.

Also above average was their selection of shish kebabs ($4.50-5.95 each, below), that spanned the range of available offerings. Chicken hearts, veal liver, a couple different lamb and beef preparations were all included in the array.

The grilled vegetable kebabs ($4.95, below) are also worth including in your spread.

In what seemed like a flurry, we were finished, but actually a good chunk of time had passed and the giant bottles of liquor had all been finished on other tables. Or maybe they just drank fast?

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SHEEPSHEAD BAY Brooklyn

1920 Avenue U

Map of Eat the World NYC:

Home Made Cooking Cafe

TAJIKISTAN 🇹🇯

Quick Instagram Dispatch from Brighton Beach, Brooklyn:
If you are privy to a bit of Cyrillic, you can discern that this location is home to a tandoor oven, as a sign exclusively for this fact has been put up. In fact it is even easier than this, if you possess eyeballs and look inside you will see it baking breads and samsas. A window allows customers to order directly from the oven operators, but next door is a full restaurant will all the favorites of Central Asian fare with some Russian plates thrown in for good measure. Our experience found the latter lacking, so stick to the Tajik specials of the house and you will be very satisfied.

Samsa

Lagman

Lepeshki

Pork shoulder with buckwheat

Lula and lamb ribs kebabs

Manti

Brighton Beach Avenue facade

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BRIGHTON BEACH Brooklyn

504 Brighton Beach Avenue

Map of Eat the World NYC:

Tandir Rokhat

TAJIKISTAN 🇹🇯

Central Asian cooking gets much of its character from the round clay oven called tandir, where all of its baked goods are made. The round loaves of non and baked dumplings called samsa all come from the direct heat and fire inside the oven, which is on prominent display in the front window of Sheepshead Bay Tajik restaurant Tandir Rokhat.

At another local Tajik restaurant that used to have the word in its name it was learned that "rokhat" means "enjoy," a general term found in and around the kitchen and dining table during meals.

By name only, we should get a good sense of what Tandir Rokhat is all about. Housed in a tiny space on Coney Island Avenue, there is one table for customers that want to eat immediately or do not live in the area, but most people come to grab food for take away.

A tray of samsa tandori ($3 each, below) sits right by the door, still warm from the oven and ready to be eaten. They are most certainly the star of the show, and are constantly being purchased.

The samsa and some of the other products are displayed right in front of the oven. The loaves of non are bagged and ready for purchase individually and in bulk.

A Tajik meal is incomplete without bread, and the bread has certain ways to be treated properly. Drop it on the ground, and it is wiped off and placed on a high ledge for beggars to eat. Place something besides other non on top of a loaf of non, and you will be cursed with bad luck.

The popular samsa (below) is filled with ground lamb, onions, and spices. The flaky exterior is something of a wonder, perfectly containing the ample meat without breaking, but seeming very fragile and soft.

Also fresh from the tandir are the chicken samsa ($3 each, below), which were just slightly less enjoyable than the lamb but worth the table variety.

On a specials chalkboard, but apparently available daily is lagman ($7, below), a common noodle soup eaten throughout the region. Lagman is always enjoyable in any form, while not mind-blowing here. The homemade noodles are very good, and the soup would pair fantastically with the non bread, available in quarters.

Unlike samsa, the manti ($8, below) are not available individually. A plate of five of these lamb dumplings is a must order here, but be cautious as you cut because they easily slip off the plate.

With so much meat, the fresh salad ($3, below) was needed to balance everything. They also have a Greek salad, eggplant salad, and kimchi, a popular dish in the region brought from Korean immigrants many decades ago.

Traditionally, a Tajik meal ends with plov, but there was absolutely no room left for it. Tandir Rokhat does make it though if your stomachs are large enough.

Before leaving, a glimpse of the backroom (below) offered a view of the samsa making in progress.

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SHEEPSHEAD BAY Brooklyn

2678 Coney Island Avenue

Cafe Dushanbe

TAJIKISTAN

[UPDATE June 2015: The name has changed to Cafe Dushanbe]

Cafe Rokhat is sort of a unicorn, at least in the world of former Soviet establishments in New York City. The place is full of smiles and everyone takes very good care of the customers, even those with a lot of questions. Our main waiter was so friendly I had to comment on it with my dining companions multiple times.

"Rokhat" after all, translates to "enjoy" in Tajik, and they made sure we enjoyed every moment of our experience here. The food followed form exactly and also won us over, dish by dish.

Sometimes dishes are said to float here and there around the city from Tajik cuisine, but these often tend to be only things shared with Uzbekistan, in one of the city's many Uzbek restaurants. Here at Cafe Rokhat, the city's only primarily Tajik eatery, many things seem unfamiliar and turn out magical.

Despite this, first on our list of plates delivered to the table was the Tashkent salad ($8.25, below), a pile of shredded radish and veal tongue in almost equal proportion, as well as crispy fried onion, dill, and a creamy sauce. This dish for me was very new, and very delicious.

Without asking, we were still brought two pieces of bread ($1.75 each, below), but raised no protest as these fluffy discs are necessary for any Central Asian meal. It shows up as "kulcha" on the receipt, but this appears to be traditional Tajik non.

The non was amazing when dipped into the clay pot of piti soup rokhat ($8.95, below), which had very tender chunks of lamb inside its rich warm broth. This word "piti" comes from the glazed crock that is used to cook the dish, which also contains tomatoes, potatoes, chickpeas, and saffron as well.

Lagman ($7.99, below) is always a safe bet at Central Asian restaurants, and was as well here. Thick noodles serve as the base for this rich soup of meat and vegetables, which also affords more opportunities for the use of non.

We initially ordered a plate of samsa gizhda, four round meat pastries, but the restaurant was out this day and brought over a regular samsa ($3, below) and charged for it. This triangle is on par with others in the city, the meat and juices piping hot and falling out when opened up.

Do not schedule any first dates if you plan on ordering the homestyle potatoes with garlic and herbs ($5.95, below), which are very heavy on the garlic. Otherwise, these are tasty and addictive as fried potatoes tend to be.

The highlight of the night, and my most excited reason for being here, was the kurutob ($9.95, below), the Tajik national dish. The name derives from the Tajik word "qurut," which is the process of dissolving dried balls of salty cheese in water. This is poured over strips of flatbread, which make up the bulk of the calories in the dish. Fried onions and fresh cucumbers and tomatoes are poured over this yogurt-like arrangement. Traditionally you would start grabbing things with your fingers from a communal bowl, but we divided up the dish between ourselves timidly.

The national dish of Tajikistan, qurutob

We did not order any traditional kebabs this day, but did ask for the lulya kebab rokhat ($8.95, below), served in a bowl. The chunks of shashlik here are taken off the skewer after cooking and added to a wonderful oily goodness. I thought this was a definite step up from the normal kebab with side of tomato sauce that is usual for Central Asian meals.

Any Tajik meal is supposed to end with plov ($8.95, below), and that is what we did here. The lamb is very good, while the base of rice and vegetables is just so-so. After getting stuffed on so many delicious dishes already, we hardly thought twice about the semi-weak ending and were very happy diners.

It would be a definite step in the right direction if the city started to have more Tajik eateries amongst its vast sea of Uzbek food. The cuisines are similar enough to be indistinguishable with certain orders, but there are a few Tajik outliers that make it a very exciting meal. For now, Sheepshead Bay can offer you the whole experience.

SHEEPSHEAD BAY Brooklyn

1788 Sheepshead Bay Road

Tandoori

TAJIKISTAN 🇹🇯
UZBEKISTAN 🇺🇿

The place is named after a word we usually associate with Indian cuisine, two stars of David grace each side of the name on the awning, and a Russian Orthodox onion dome protrudes from it. What awaits us inside? Kosher Bukharian Uzbek and Tajik food, of course.

It only took one visit, the first of many for sure, for me to know that this was my favorite of the city's Kosher Bukharian. It has a good feel to it, the place is not lit up with fluorescent bulbs like most of its competitors, and the food is just as solid. Even at lunch, groups of Russians are three bottles in at this BYOB restaurant, and the smells from the oven are divine.

Grab a servers attention while an interesting Russian house dance track plays, apparently in homage to a night in Dushanbe, as you will also see the stars of an Tajik sky painted on the ceiling. My starter was the oddball of the meal, the mixed salad ($5, below). The "special dressing" in the description is apparently sugar, as the whole thing is laced with it. Unfortunately you cannot take this dressing on the side.

The manty ($5, below) seem a bit tired, but are very good. The homemade dough is always the best part, and has done a terrific job soaking up the juices of the meat inside.

The soups here are top-notch, try the lagman ($4.50, below) if you are in the mood for noodles. The soup is hearty with meat and vegetables, and has both thick and thin noodles.

It would be a shame not to try something from the tandoori oven, so get a few shish kebabs while you dine, ordered individually. Both the Lola Fergany-style kebab ($2.75, below top) and lamb ($2.75, below bottom) are great, but my favorite would be the Lola, a ground meat that is laced with spices and succulently greasy.

Leave a little extra time to get the server's attention again to get your check prepared, and you might as well think ahead to bring correct change or you will be waiting for quite a long time! Don't let that sour your meal though, the food is worth putting up with this for!

REGO PARK Queens
99-04 63rd Road