Joni Osh

Joni Osh is in the north of the city, about 340 m from Samarqand Osh Markazi No. 1. This Lochin Street outlet is branch No. 1 of a small local chain, with another branch out towards Konigil. The kitchen makes only Samarkand plov. Plenty of guides and taxi drivers recommend it, and at lunchtime locals fill most of the tables.

As you sit down, a waiter brings a tray of starters and drinks — achichuk tomato salad, yoghurt, pickles, ayran — and whatever you take goes on the bill. The plov is served from a kazan about a metre across, right in front of you; sometimes you collect your plate from the serving hatch yourself. Portions are large: one or one-and-a-half portions feed two, and there are platters for two.

The first plov is usually ready around 11:30, and at the height of lunch a queue builds up by the kazan. The centre closes at 15:30, though the plov can run out sooner.