Cuisine of Baku for gourmets. Places for dinner - best restaurants

Originality and distinctive character are the main peculiarities of the national Baku cuisine. Many traditional dishes are cooked in strict accordance with old recipes. All rules and traditions of cooking are cherished, and one generation carefully passes all secrets to another. To some travelers, local food is much like Persian, Georgian, or Arabian. Indeed, these cuisines have affected the modern Baku cuisine significantly. The menu of each national restaurant contains a number of meat dishes. Don’t forget to try lamb that is cooked in a number of ways in the country. It can be boiled together with fragrant herbs, stewed in milk, or used in a goulash. Fresh or stewed vegetables are a typical garnish to such dish. Visitors of local restaurants usually order stewed eggplants, green beans, and boiled rice as a garnish.

Vegetarian tourists will be pleased to find a great selection of vegetable salads, many of which are true local delicacies. Local chefs often use fermented dairy products as a salad dressing, and fragrant goat cheese has become the basis of some salads. Vegetarians are recommended to try kükü – a combination of greens and various vegetables baked with whipped eggs. Kebab remains one of the most popular local dishes, but in Baku it is possible to try not only meat kebab but also a potato or a vegetable one. As an addition to kebab, visitors are welcome to order marinated vegetables and various pickled products that smell simply irresistible.

Local soups deserve a separate mention as many of them are very hearty and can substitute a whole meal. Don’t forget to try turşu sıyık soup (green vegetable soup) and cold ovduh soup. Hingal soup is the first and second-course dish at the same time. This soup is cooked from meat broth, vegetables, and green peas, and is served in bowls together with large chunks of boiled meat. Both locals and tourists love dolmasi – stuffed eggplants, pepper or cabbage leaves with a number of fillings. The fillings can be different – meat, boiled rice, vegetables, and even fruits. Apart from cabbage leaves, locals can use grape leaves or sorrel. Fans of seafood will be also pleased to visit local restaurants where they will be able to enjoy a number of interesting dishes, such as kutum fish. Fans of exotic food are recommended to try hazar salad with salmon, caviar, sturgeon, and fresh vegetables. Copyright www.orangesmile.com

Baku has many interesting cafes and restaurants that will please even most discerning guests. Tourists, who prefer to dine in the most eccentric places, simply cannot fail to visit Mayak 13. The design of this café was developed by Altay Sadikhzade. A lunch or dinner among abstract shapes, bare stone walls, and imitations of ripped sails promises to be an unusual one. The menu is no less creative and offers Azer-Euro fusion cuisine.

Fans of more traditional dining will be pleased with their visit to Mugam Club. This restaurant is open in a historic two-storey building of caravanserai. The incredibly photogenic restaurant serves finest Azerbaijani food that is, however, quite pricey. Mugam Club is a great place for a romantic dinner. Şirvanşah Muzey-Restoran is one more historical restaurant in Baku that is open in a former 19th-century bathhouse. The restaurant has an adjacent museum that exhibits handicrafts of different eras. There are over a dozen rooms that belong to different historical periods, from ancient times to the Soviet era. The place looks so spectacular that is sometimes used as a film set. Şirvanşah offers traditional Azerbaijani food in its classy form.

If you suddenly crave for some French cuisine in the middle of Azerbaijan, Paris Bistro is a place to go. The perfectly made design of this restaurant makes it hard to believe that you are far away from the Champs-Elysees. Waiters in white aprons offer iconic French meals, such as scallops, garlic escargots, and, of course, delicious crème brulee.

Travelers will find attractive restaurants in virtually any district of Baku. For example, the famous Nar & Sharab restaurant is open at the waterfront. This restaurant has large panoramic windows, through which visitors can admire the spectacular sea looks. This luxurious restaurant specializes in cooking finest national cuisine. In summer, a part of the restaurant’s tables is installed on an open-air terrace. Despite its location in one of the noisiest tourist districts of Baku, this restaurant still offers quality food at a very affordable price.

Art Garden restaurant has long become one of the most prestigious and original restaurants in Baku. It is open in a unique building that dates back to the 12th century. In this restaurant, visitors can try the most popular dishes of the national cuisine. This is the place where travelers will be able to try several types of rice pilaf, Kebab, and Qutab, as well as other meat dishes that are cooked in accordance with historic recipes. Quite an interesting fact – there are artisan workshops in the same building with the restaurant. They offer interesting souvenirs and other items.

Make your vacation even more interesting by visiting Movida restaurant that offers the traditional cuisine of Northern African countries. At this restaurant, visitors will be able to try the best Hummus and Ghanoush in the city or order the authentic Falafel cooked in accordance with the classic recipe. Many culinary delicacies and spices used in the cooking process are delivered from African countries. Various oriental sweets, which are also present in the menu, deserve a separate mention.

Chinar restaurant offers a broad range of Pan-Asian dishes. Its history is also very interesting. Many years ago, a popular tea house was located on the site of the modern restaurant. The owner of the tea house set up a beautiful garden around the building. Even nowadays century-old sycamores protect the restaurant’s building from the hot sun. The restaurant is quite big. In addition to a classic hall, an old tea house was reconstructed on the site. Besides that, there are special halls for various events and celebrations. The menu of this restaurant is very diverse. Chinar offers many popular dishes of Japanese, Chinese, Korean, Malaysian, and Thai cuisines.