Bavaria House — Restaurant in Dushanbe

In general, I like the cooking. I was pleased to find куринный суп с лапшой (chicken noodle soup) -- a simple but satisfying starter that I was craving instead of the ubiquitous шорпа available in every oшхона in Dushanbe. I then went for the chicken schnitzel but it was small about 40% of the size I would have gotten in Germany (doubtless where the bigger portion-size would have come with a higher price-tag) but the item appeared more like Japanese/Korean tonkatsu/donkatsu but without the piquant sauce. I did enjoy the fries. It took me less than three minutes to consume. It would have been admirable on a kiddies' menu)) Still hungry, I ordered the spaghetti carbonara. The chef certainly has a good recipe (though I added fresh grated black pepper and chili flakes, spices I regularly take with me, to enliven it). I would say that I was served about 120 grams of pasta. Another kiddie portion. I really liked it and may return but I shall have to order a triple or quadruple portion. With the service charge, a triple portion would cost 198 somoni and the quadruple 264 somoni or about $25 for a plate of spaghetti! Seems a bit high but the price apparently for satiation in Dushanbe when one has the craving for pasta. A couple of other criticisms: (1) Not much by way of German dishes on the menu and, if I am not mistaken, all the bottled beer is not German (depending on how one characterizes place of origin of certain brands). I ordered Kronenbourg (French - case in point). Sole German dish (that I recall) was chicken schnitzel. At least there could be 2-3 varieties of schitzel. (As mentioned above, moreover, the chicken schnitzel was not particularly impressive.) (2) Uninspiring dessert choices. Just cheesecake covered with chocolate sauce and ice cream. What happened to the apfel strudel? Not possible to serve a plain cheese cake minus the chocolate sauce? Great atmosphere and excellent service. Pleasant and competent wait-staff -- among the best I have observed in Dushanbe. Note that I patronized Bavaria on a Tuesday night at about 8pm when there were not many customers. Next time I have a craving for pasta, carbonara at least, I shall consider Bavaria as my first choice in Dushanbe. I also might be persuaded to try some other dishes e.g. the stroganoff (but would not sure how many portions to order). [Postscript: İ dined here a second time at around 615pm on a Saturday night. I ordered four portions of carbonara in one plate followed by one order, to be explained shortly, of beef stroganoff. Carbonara tasted as good as it had the first although I received no whole egg with the yoke intact - a minor faux pas. However, my issue is with the quantity ordered versus the quantity actually served. İ have photographed both the first and second carbonara: does the second appear four times larger than the first? It certainly wasn't four times larger in terms of the amount of pasta; my conclusion is that I was taken advantage of being charged for four portions but actually getting between 2-3. Accordingly, I was still hungry and so decided to sample the beef stroganoff even though it is served with mashed potato instead of noodle. In short, too much runny potato, too little meat and too little stroganoff gravy. I am glad I only ordered a single portion (again one serving is akin to a child's portion). So I spent 420 somoni including one classic non-alcoholic mohito, which was, I might add, very good and thirst-quenching. Just I won't repeat this dining experience...

My wife and I visited this place on Saturday evening. We ordered beer platter for 2 (amazing), battered eggplant salad (no sauce, needs work), Greek salad(very tasty and fresh). We also ordered a ribeye and t-bone steaks, unfortunately the t-bone was extremely dry and had a distinct smell to it. Ribeye was good. We also ordered their house beers but again unfortunately every single time they were warm even though we asked the waiter if they had cold ones, he said that they didn’t! I mean, come on! You can’t serve warm beer on June… We also tried their hookah’s which were really nice, they have many flavors. Cocktails were also OK. Service was generally good, very attentive personnel. All in all they have an amazing ambiance, great staff, but they need to work on their food and beers. We will definitely go again. Hopefully this time they will serve...

This bar is a bit far from the center of town, but I think it is the most comfortable local bar. The bar staff are all friendly. And as I don't speak much Russian or Tajikistan, I was nice to have one staff who spoke English. The vodka recommended by staff was also delicious. I am grateful to have spent a short but pleasant time in this bar. If I visit Tajikistan again, I would like to stop...