Samarkand cooks its history: rice pilaf fired in cast-iron kazans over saxaul wood, obi non bread stamped and slapped onto clay tandyr walls, and bazaar counters piled with Urgut apricots and Zerafshan melons. Three days of eating across the old city.
Central Asia's oldest working market, right beside Bibi-Khanym. Open daily roughly 06:00–19:00, busiest Sunday. Rows of dried Urgut apricots, sun-dried melon strips, halva, kurt salt-cheese balls and cumin-flecked nuts. Dried fruit 25,000–60,000 som/kg.
Samarkand's obi non is a protected local craft: dense discs stamped with a chekich needle-stamp, sprinkled with sesame and nigella, then slapped onto the inner wall of a clay tandyr. Bakers work from 05:00. A large loaf runs 8,000–15,000 som and keeps for weeks.
A long-running family-run canteen popular with Samarkand families for lagman — hand-pulled noodles in a peppery lamb, tomato and capsicum broth — plus manti steamed dumplings and shurpa. Big rooms, live music at weekends. Mains 35,000–70,000 som.
Neighbourhood chaikhanas serve kok choy (green tea) on raised tapchan platforms spread with rugs, drunk from piyala bowls with navat rock sugar. Tea is poured back into the pot three times before serving. A pot with sweets costs 10,000–20,000 som.
Samarkand-style plov is layered, not stirred: rice on top, yellow carrots and lamb beneath, served upside down onto the plate. Cauldrons are fired at dawn and sell out by early afternoon. A portion with kazy horse sausage and quail egg costs 30,000–45,000 som.
Flaky samsa are pressed onto the tandyr wall and baked until the base blisters. Fillings run lamb-and-onion, pumpkin in autumn and greens in spring. Sold hot from window counters for 10,000–18,000 som each, dusted with black sesame.
Founded in 1868 by merchant Dmitry Filatov and later run by winemaker Mikhail Khovrenko, Uzbekistan's oldest winery still produces sweet dessert wines from local grapes. Museum tastings of about ten wines and cognacs run 60,000–100,000 som per person.
Set under old plane trees in the Russian quarter, Platan grills lamb and beef shashlik over charcoal and serves achichuk — sliced tomato, onion and basil salad — alongside. European-Uzbek menu, one of the few kitchens in town serving after 22:00.
Uzbekistan's largest open-air bazaar sits 45 km southeast under 1,000-year-old plane trees, biggest on Wednesday and Sunday. Beyond suzani textiles the food row sells mountain honey, walnuts, kurt and grilled offal. Shared taxi from Samarkand is 25,000–40,000 som.
The covered dairy section sells qatiq (tart drinking yoghurt), suzma strained curd, chakka and hard kurt balls rolled from salted sheep's milk and dried in the sun. Vendors offer tastings on wooden spoons; kurt sells by the handful for a few thousand som.
Samarkand halva is pulled from flour, sugar and sesame in copper pans, cut into slabs and layered with walnuts. Beside it sit crystals of navat — grape-sugar rock candy grown on strings and traditionally taken with tea for colds. Halva 40,000–70,000 som/kg.
The Eternal City (Boqiy Shahar) recreates a Silk Road street with working kitchens, bread ovens and tea terraces beside the Samarkand tourist centre. Craft-beer and wine bars sit alongside chaikhanas serving nokhat sholgom chickpea stew and grilled quail.