Dinner at Navat

Tonight I went to dinner at a tea house and restaurant called Navat.  It was quite lovely.  In the upper picture was my first course, which is Russian/Ukranian in origin.  It is a beet and vegetable soup called Borsch. On the left side of the picture is the sour cream and dill you add to the soup.  This particular borscht also had pieces of lamb; it's a very Kyrgyz addition that you would never find in your Moscow borscht.   The shot glass is filled with a yogurt drink and you see I have a cup of clear ginger tea, with a giant teapot under the camel-shaped felt cosy.  Felt handicrafts are a central feature of Kyrgyz culture.

The second picture was my main course called Shashlyk.   It is meat, in this case chicken, cooked over hot coals.  It is one of the national dishes of Kyrgyzstan.  The waiter brings it to your table on a giant sword and then takes the meat off the skewer and and puts it onto a plate next to a portion of slivered onions.

The final picture is an overview of the dining room, with the sofas that guests sit on while eating.  Additionally, the room is decorated with all sort of handicrafts including hand-painted plates hung on the center column.  All this for less than the price of a Big Mac Meal in the U.S.