Life in Urkadurkastan...

Well....been back in Krgyzstan for about a month or so. Holiday back in NZ was good, but for the weather.

Dining....Mining camp food has only gone down hill in the last year. Sat night steaks are now Sat night Steak Casserole...fish Friday is now fish cake friday and lunch buffet is now a selection of ...1....soup. With the increasing price of gold, and reported mine profits increasing, I must wonder why? I actually know the answer to that...The HR managers performance budget is directly linked to cost reductions in his department which includes the camp mess....Bloddy Saffa!

The Kyrgyz culinary culture varies from Urduck ( a meat and potato Caserole)to manti (greasy mutton in pastry, boiled, with a mint and corriander dressing) Lagman (fried or boiled noodles) and variations of the Turkish plove (which I am quite partial to). A local speciality is Shashlik...marinated meat on metal skewers grilled over usually coal embers. Other dishes include onion a little bit of meat and seasoning wrapped in flakey pastry and baked or the same in batter and deep fried.

Fruit and vegies are readily available, tomatoes, apples, potatoes apricots, strawberries, rasberies, melons and sweet corn all locally grown in season.

But to the point, tonight I took my good lady out for dinner. We chose the Kalina...formerly known as the Vogue Kafe and restaraunt, 3 blocks from our apartment. This is one of the top eateries in the city.

We left home at 7 pm and had a slow walk down through Urkendek Park. It is well dark by 6 pm. Lights lit the path, their luminesce glowing in the mist between the stark winter bare oaks. The temp was around freezing and there will be a good frost in the morning. Dispite the low temps, couples were still sitting on the park benches making romance...clouds of fog hovering around pairs of fur lined hoods.

15 minutes walking and we reach the restaraunt and push the door open. The first glance is quizical...who is coming in the door. This quickly turns to welcoming smiles when the commercial reality of paying custom dawns. We are shown a couple of tables and allowed to chose.

There may have been 10 others in the establishment when we arrived and maybe 20 when we left 2 1/2 hour later.

We ordered our meal and a bottle of imported Chianti...The alternitive is a moldavian wine which never fails to dissapoint.

The meal was fine although what you get is nothing like the same name on a NZ menu.

She had a tounge salad entre, a Salmon and cavair main and a tiramisu desert.

I had a chicken cesear..(with Quail eggs) a steak with mushroon sauce. (Think a few thin strips of beef) and a gateau. (The best steaks here are horse, marinated, tender and a good size.) Rare does not feature in Kyrgyz cooking styles.

There were several smokers in the room, including a large sweet smelling hooka that did the round of the clientele, but the ventilation was good enough that we never noticed the smoke at all.

Total cost, was USD 90 plus 10 tip. Not best value by Kyrgyz standards, but is was near the top shelf in the country and we think the value would have been compareable with average to good dining in NZ.

And thats it from this central asian galloping gastronomic restaraunt critic.....