Platan

Platan has been feeding Samarkand for more than two decades from a 19th-century building on Pushkin Street in the city centre. According to the restaurant, the building is protected by the state as an architectural monument. Inside, natural stone and wood set a calm, understated tone, and musicians play in the evenings.

The kitchen bills itself as European and Asian. Signature dishes include chicken raised on the restaurant's own farm, a marbled-beef steak and steak with blue-cheese sauce, while reviewers regularly single out the aubergine salads, mushroom soup and tiramisu. Wine, draught beer and house lemonades round out the drinks list.

Equally popular with visitors and locals, Platan fills up at dinnertime; tables can be booked through the form on its website, by phone or via WhatsApp. Alongside the main menu, the chef adds a seasonal one from time to time.