Registan Avenue: Comfort Food from Uzbekistan

Written and photographed by Sarah Pittman

I am very excited to introduce this month’s featured restaurant because I have never before had the opportunity to try cuisine from Uzbekistan. Uzbekistan is a country that has had many different cultural influences over the centuries. From Russia to Afghanistan, Mongolia, and China, many different nations have passed through the region, and as a result, their traditional foods are exceptionally colorful and varied.

Registan Avenue is tucked away in a quirky neighborhood behind Chonnam National University. Although the shop appears quite small from the outside, on the inside it is large enough to accommodate 50–60 people, including a room for private parties towards the back of the restaurant.

After I found a table near a window so that I could enjoy the sun on a chilly spring day, I took a look at their menu. Many of the dishes will look familiar to anyone that has tried Middle Eastern food before, although they will have a different name here. The prices for the dishes range from 4,000 to 11,000 won, so it’s perfect for an affordable lunch or a nice dinner out with friends.

First, I ordered an appetizer: I chose their orama shashlik. This dish is very similar to a kebab and was made of minced meatballs of lamb covered with thinly sliced onions and a half of a tomato. The meatballs were seasoned with a tasty spice mix, and at only 4000 won, it was well worth the cost. The two dishes I enjoyed the most though were the chuchvara and the samsa. Chuchvara is a soup filled with stewed lamb, vegetables, and bite-sized dumplings similar in size and texture to wontons. I almost started crying in the restaurant because of how amazing the soup was! It reminded me of the soup I like to eat on cold winters days back in California, and the combination of the sweet vinegar and lamb was nothing short of perfect. Their samsa is a delicious, flaky pastry filled with stewed onions and lamb or beef, and it was an amazing balance of sweet and savory. It had so much mouth-watering, buttery flavor packed into every bite. I enjoyed it so much that I wanted to order a second one, despite being stuffed.

Another wonderful thing about Registan Avenue is that they provide you with a large teapot filled with hot black tea. The black tea was very mild and wasn’t bitter, so I kept my cup filled throughout the meal. It offered a charming balance to some of the fattiness of the samsa and the chuchvara and complimented their rich fare quite nicely. Overall, I thoroughly enjoyed my culinary trip to Uzbekistan, and I can’t wait to go back with some friends.

Registan Avenue 중앙아시아요리
Address: 79 Seoljuk-ro, 202-beon-gil, Buk-gu, Gwangju
광주 북구 설죽로202번길 79 (용봉동)
Phone: 010-2389-7469

The Author
Sarah Pittman is an English teacher with a degree in psychology from California State University, Fullerton. She discovered her love for photography while working at Disneyland and has been honing her craft with practice and YouTube videos every since.