🇰🇿 Almaty · 5 Days · 10 Meals: Hits and Misses · Skip the Japanese F

Eating out in Almaty isn’t cheap overall, but "bars" offer great value—just go easy on the drinks 🍻. 1.Top recommendation: the Navat chain. It never disappoints and feels authentically local. I ate there for two dinners and one breakfast—think of it as Almaty’s version of Saizeriya, with surprisingly cheap drinks 🍷. Pictures 2️⃣-5️⃣ show one meal: horse sausage pilaf + whiskey + vegetables, totaling around ¥100 (a bit indulgent for one person). Later, I had just the pilaf for dinner, costing about ¥40. It’s not as good as Xinjiang’s pilaf—some grains were still hard (same experience in Uzbekistan later)—but it’s solid, with a 7.5/10 rating. Salty and satisfying enough. Picture 6️⃣ is breakfast, around ¥20. The taste was average, but a heads-up: they serve breakfast until 11 AM and won’t switch to lunch before then! I missed my hotel breakfast and tried to combine it with lunch—total waste of ¥20! 😤 2.Second recommendation: pastries from street-side shops Pictures 7️⃣-🔟: If you have a sweet tooth, don’t miss these! They’re packed with various creams, dried fruits, and soft bread—extremely sweet but delightfully so, and super cheap! Plastic-bagged ones on the counter cost just a few yuan; nicer plastic boxes (Picture 🔟) are pricier but bigger, around ¥20. I ate so many during my trip 🍰. P.S. They have meat-filled bread (Picture 9️⃣)—surprisingly good! It’s savory, so ask before buying—you can’t tell from its oval shape. Avoid if you don’t like meat! 3.Chinese chain: Panda. They serve all kinds of noodles, like an upgraded version of Lanzhou noodles. Decent if you’re craving Chinese food—around ¥40 per bowl. I only tried the noodles; check Picture 11 for the full menu. 4.Street-side bistro (Pictures 12-13): Found this near my hotel in a residential area (not the new district with universities or garden hotels). A fish dish + a whiskey cost just over ¥100—reasonable for the ambiance and drinks 🍹. 5.Picture 14: Tried pancakes at a restaurant on the second floor of Green Bazaar’s central area. Think of them as flatbread topped with meat (beef or pork options), savory. Hard to say if it’s good—it’s just savory flatbread. Don’t go out of your way, but split one with a group to try. 6.Biggest mistake! The most wasted ¥100 of my life: the Japanese food in Picture 15. Over ¥100 for a bowl of instant noodles—literally tasted like seasoning packets, with barely any local beef. It’s near the wealthy district; I stayed at Garden Hotel and walked right about 700-800 meters. Avoid! That area lacks vibe—stick to the more lively parts of the city. #Almaty #Kazakhstan #CentralAsiaTravel