Tajik Menu

Now, what follows has nothing at all to do with Afghanistan, but I am offering it to the world here because I did not have a blog when I lived in Tajikistan and first came across, and because Ed has just found the original transcription among his papers.

In downtown Dushanbe, on the main tree lined avenue, there is a grand teahouse and café, the Chaikhona Rohat, built in the monumental Soviet-Central Asian hybrid style. This means that, while it is built of no-nonsense reinforced concrete, as opposed to the more traditional wood and mud brick, and though it occupies an entire city block instead of being a modest bungalow, it is organised around a series of courtyards, and the ceilings are decorated with floral designs and abstract patterns in bright colours. Concrete pilasters clumsily echo the shapes of Central Asian wooden columns, which can be very beautiful.

On a visit, then, to the renowned Chaikhona Rohat (= Rohat Teahouse), we faithfully transcribed the menu (with a few omissions of less interesting dishes), which I reproduce here:

Choikhona “Rohat” Salads Meat allsorts Custom-made salad (under a furcoat) The cooked meat The first dishes Lag man (portion) Lagman (floor of a portion) The hen broth
The second dishes Cutlets on Kiev The forse meat shish kebab The furnase pies	Garnish Potato free Rise
Drinks and juices Drink from a dogrose Doug	Spirits drink Vodka “Orion” Ligueur “Merri Giyoh”

The food is actually rather good, for Dushanbe.