The MOST UNIQUE Street Food in Asia – SILK ROAD Street Food Tour of Tashkent, UZBEKISTAN!!!

– All right, check it out, guys, it's Trevor James.

We are with Bekruz inTashkent, Uzbekistan.

Just got in and todayBekruz is bringin' us for a full-on food adventure.

– Yeah, we're gonna have so much fun, man.

We'll learn about areally cool item today.

We're gonna have so muchincredible, extreme, the biggest, spiciest, craziest food for you.

– Best Uzbekian food.

– Absolutely, everything for you, bro.

– [Trevor] Let's check it out.

(upbeat music) This is it, Uzbekistan, home to some of the most unique foodin the whole world.

And today, with our local buddy Bekruz, Instagram in the description below, we're goin' in deep for sixinsanely delicious meals.

Starting out at a super local market and having some horse meatnoodles, local lasagna, before moving on for five more meals.

Like Uyghur-style Lagman noodles, trying the best fried chickenin the entire country, visiting a local family restaurantto try manti and kabobs, getting a lesson on howto make green Lagman.

And finishing up with aluxury Uzbekistan meal with beautiful, local dance.

Let's eat.

We're in the local market now.

– [Bekruz] Yeah, man.

– Local food bazaar.

(speaking foreign language) – (speaking foreign language) – [Trevor] Wow, so what do we have here? – [Bekruz] So this is kinda lasagna.

– Oh, and what aboutthis here, what's this? – [Bekruz] Oh, that's aunique dish called naryn.

Basically, it's noodles with horse meat.

– [Trevor] Oh, and thisis the horse meat here, look at this.

Going right on thenoodle, the cold noodle.

Oh, look at that, that's beautiful.

And then we can try this lasagna.

They're like dumplings almost.

(speaking foreign language) – (speaking foreign language) – (speaking foreign language) Okay, so we got the horse meatnoodle and the Uzbek lasagna.

– Lasagna, yeah.

(crowd chattering) This is, it's a sausage stuffed, it's intestine stuffedwith rice and organs.

– [Trevor] It looks so fatty.

So it's rice and intestine.

And what's she covering it with here? – [Bekruz] Onion, man, again.

– Onion.

(speaking foreign language) So we got the sausage.

– Hasib, so it's organ and rice stuffed in intestine of the animal.

It's noodle with horsemeat, it's called naryn.

It is very specific for Tashkent, they cook it only in Tashkent.

– [Trevor] Wow, with a world noodle tour.

– Yeah, man.

And here, the name of this dish is honim.

– Honim.

Let's go for the sausage.

– Okay, let's do this.

– [Trevor] Sheep intestinestuffed with rice and organs.

And peppery goodness, it's fatty.

– Let's go for it.

– Oh, it's heavy.

– Dense.

– Just like chewing on fat.

And then these horse meat noodles.

Horse meat is a specialty in Uzbekistan.

(crowd chattering) There it is, first horsemeat noodles ever.

(laughs) (crowd chattering) Oh, wow, oh that's nice chewiness.

Wow, oh yeah, and you can see the little potato slivers in there.

Oh, and you can smell the tomato.

– Let's go for it.

– Let's go.

(crowd chattering) Oh, yeah, that's heartwarming.

Wow, what a mixture of flavors there.

I love the noodles the most, the cold, chewy, horse noodles.

– [Bekruz] They usuallyserved cold with a hot soup.

But people tend to eat itlike a cold finger food.

– Horse noodle bros today.

(laughs) – Yeah, man, cheers, man.

– Cheers.

– Cheers.

– And this is the local bread street.

– Yeah, bread street, it'sa closed bread market.

You can find a very differenttype of bread and sweets.

(excited sighing) It's all made in tandoor, andtandoor is around the corner.

– [Trevor] Oh, goin'into the tandoor area.

– [Bekruz] Look, there'slike around 20 tandoors.

People are baking reallydifferent types of bread.

They use a brush, Ithink some sort of cream.

Then he is seasoning.

– [Trevor] Sesame.

– [Bekruz] Yeah, sesameseed, he puts on top.

– [Trevor] Oh, yeah, sesame.

And it just gets slapped in.

And then he smacks it in.

– [Bekruz] Boom.

– [Trevor] This smells so delicious.

And here we go, right offthe wall, look at that, boom.

Just like scooping, it's like fishing.

Look at those, there we go.

Oh yeah, look at those.

– It's very hot, you can.

– Oh, it's right outof the oven, it's hot.

And you can just eat it, what's the way? – [Bekruz] We break like that, yeah.

– Oh yeah, Uzbek bread, what's the name of this? – Naan, naan.

– Just naan? – Yeah, we call it naan.

– Pure naan.

– Yeah.

(crunching) – Mm, oh yeah, mm, ohit's just pure bread.

– Crunch is crazy.

– Crunch, almost gooey on the inside.

(speaking foreign language) Buh-bye.

And we are just continuing on.

Bekruz is bringing us for more food.

Next up, we're going for Lagman.

– Yeah, man, Lagman, yeah.

– Lagman, classic Uzbek noodle dish.

– This is my, one of myfavorite restaurants.

One of the highlights here is the Lagman.

– Wow, oh, here we are, goin' in to see the Lagman, classic Uzbek noodle.

And we get the chef coats.

– Yeah, you gonna be chef for today.

(gentle upbeat music) – Professor Lagman.

– Professor Lagman, (laughs) let's go.

– Let's go.

(speaking foreign language) This is it here, hand-pulled noodle, wow.

This is amazing to see.

He's pulling out theseindividual noodle strips.

Oh, and here comes the pull, oh wow.

– [Bekruz] He saying that sohe's doing it Uyghur-style.

– Uyghur-style?- Uyghur-style, yeah.

– He's aligning them all up.

And they're gonna go in the pot that way.

(slapping) Oh, nice noodle slap.

(slapping) Wow, and then they goright in the pot, boom.

Beautiful, look at those.

And this is an iconicdish of the Silk Road, the Lagman that I've been reallylooking forward to trying.

Oh, yeah, right out of the pot.

Wow, and then right on the table here.

Oh, and here we go, we'restarting the fried noodle.

(sizzling) Oh, there we go.

And here's the secret.

(sizzling)(cheering) Tomato, chili, boom.

Oh, and here's the noodles, Lagman noodle, al dente.

Wow, and there they are, oh wow.

That's it, the Uzbek fried Lagman.

Right out of the pot, it's fresh, oh.

– Fried eggs.

– Fried egg, some green onion.

– [Bekruz] Green onions, wow, looks amazing.

(cheering) – And next up is the boiled Lagman.

– Yeah, like sy.

– Sy.

– Sy Lagman, yeah.

– [Trevor] So this is theLagman sauce he's making, right? – [Bekruz] Yes, yes.

(sizzling) – [Trevor] Boom, beef in wok.

And you can see there'sgonna be a lot of ingredients that go into this wok.

Here we go.

Oh, if you don't watchit, you might miss it.

(laughing)It's fast.

– [Bekruz] Yeah, he's quick.

(sizzling)(cheering) – Lagman sauce and there it is.

We've got the wok, juston high heat right now.

(sizzling) And he is adding in so manynice vegetables over high heat.

Look at that, oh, tomato sauce going in.

Boom, tomato, bell pepper, cabbage, high heat.

(speaking foreign language) Yeah, that is beautiful.

And there it is, the final Lagman, wow.

It smells fantastic, it's sizzling.

You can hear the sizzle.

(speaking foreign language) – (speaking foreign language) So here is like a fried, like Tashkent fried noodles.

Here we have like a sy, whichis more of like Uyghur-style.

– More Uyghur-style?- Yeah, yeah, yeah.

– So this is theUzbek-style, Tashkent-style.

And I love how they boil themin that massive cauldron.

And they're a short noodle.

– Let's go for it.

– Let's try it out.

(crowd chattering) – Mm, oh yeah, oh, so smoky.

Wow, and really nice and chewy.

Al dente, smoky, little bit spicy, mm.

This is it, I've been lookingforward to this day for years.

Tasting Uzbek Lagman, Central Asian noodle.

– Cheers.

(slurping) – Mm, that is what it'sall about, right there.

The sauce gives it the soul.

And the noodles give it the texture.

Wow, you can just drink it, it's so flavorful.

(laughs) Amazing, and you have to cometo Uzbekistan, Central Asia to try these dishes.

– Absolutely.

– Thank you.

(speaking foreign language) Thank you.

And here we are.

– Here we are, my man, TFC.

– Downtown, TFC.

– TFC, Tashkent Fried Chicken.

This place is very remarkable, they've been frying chicken for last four years.

– Really? – Yeah, yeah, yeah.

– Look at this.

– Yeah, look at this.

Like, people hanging out.

– Love it, a chicken joint, yeah.

(speaking foreign language) – So, he's the manager here.

– Nice to meet you.

– So, he was gracious enough to let us in to see how the secret goin' on.

– Thank you, thank you.

And we're goin' into the chicken hotspot.

We're the chicken doctors.

– Chicken doc, (laughs) chicken hospital.

– Chicken doctors comin' up.

(excited sighing) Look at this.

– It's all sizzling.

– [Trevor] The chicken station.

– So basically he's saying, there is no secret ingredient.

They just put salt on it.

It's just the chicken theysource local and very fresh.

Yes, and what they add is, just they add the salt here.

– [Trevor] Just a little salt.

– [Bekruz] And you can see thebig chunks of the sea salt.

Then they are saying they have a cream.

'Cause it gives a good, vibrant color.

Oh, look at this color, wow.

(sizzling) That's what I'm talking about.

– [Trevor] Crispy.

– [Bekruz] The reddish, crispy.

– (speaking foreign language) (laughing) Look at that chicken.

It's a chicken jacuzzi.

You can see they're just getting grilled.

And they're so crispy looking.

Wow, and there it is, look at all that chicken.

– [Bekruz] Yeah, watch out.

– [Trevor] And it goes rightin the pot, look at that.

– [Bekruz] So they have a sauce, basically that sauce isthe chicken oil itself and the water and some herbs, local herbs.

So what they do is they fry it and they boil it so itbecomes really juicy.

– Really juicy?- Yeah.

– And there it is.

– There it is, my man.

– It's full.

– Yeah, once it closes, boom.

– Closed.

And we're just layingthem down more over here.

– [Bekruz] Yeah, yeah, it'sa constant process, my man, it's going, infinite chicken loop.

– There it is, look at that.

– It's so buttery.

– That's one of the chickenof the world right there.

– [Bekruz] Yeah, yeah, man.

– [Trevor] Pure butter, natural, farm-raised chicken.

We're the chicken doctors.

(laughing) Thank you.

Oh, and this is where it all starts.

– [Bekruz] He's just makingsure to get the hottest one.

– [Trevor] The hottest one.

– [Bekruz] Boom, easy, boom.

– [Trevor] Look at that, oh, and then that's it there.

So one plate, one serving.

So this is their secret tomato juice.

– [Bekruz] Their secret tomato sauce.

And probably people liketomato sauce more than chicken.

– [Trevor] Oh, and thisis the bread station.

– [Bekruz] Yeah, look athim, how professional.

(laughing) – [Trevor] Boom, boom, boom, oh he's just, each one is a slice.

– [Bekruz] Yeah, yeah, he's slicing it up.

– [Trevor] And then theseare the final product here.

– [Bekruz] The final product almost ready to be served to hungry people.

– (speaking foreign language) We're gonna go try it out.

– (speaking foreign language) – 375 grams.

– 375?- Yeah.

– Oh, thank you.

– This is 500 grams.

– 500 grams?- Yeah.

– Oh, it's a bigger one.

– Thank you.

– Thank you very much.

– You're welcome.

– [Trevor] Wow, that looks incredible.

So we got four bigchickens, crispy side up.

You can smell the butter.

It's saturated, it'scoming out of the skin.

– Let's do it.

(laughing) – [Trevor] Oh, and there it is.

(laughing) Look at the skin.

And it's just pure butter fried chicken.

Let's try it out.

– Good? (gentle upbeat music) Oh, wow.

– Mm, wow, it is so juicy with butter.

It's perfectly plump, juicy.

– You can feel the butter.

– Butter fried chickenwith a little herbal, salty broth goodness.

– You've gotta try this, man.

– And then you wash itdown with this tomato.

– Cheers, brother.

– Cheers.

(gentle upbeat music) – Nice.

– Whoa.

– Refreshing.

– Just like a salsa.

You can just dip your chicken in.

Mm, good, juicy chicken.

– It's the best duo.

– [Trevor] (speaking foreign language) Thank you.

And we're gonna keep goin'.

– Yeah, man, what a lunch.

– [Trevor] Just keep goin'.

Whoa, right on the street.

And you can already feelthat classic Uzbek culture.

Now we're goin' for alocal kabob joint to start.

– Yeah, it's a localkabob joint known for ages that guy makes the kabobfor a very long time.

He's the owner, he's beendoing it for like, ages.

– Nice to meet you.

– And he has like, franchise, he have the bigger restaurant.

But his is his home, henever wants to leave it.

– This is the core.

– So we want to do it, yeah.

So this is a liver kabob.

This is mincemeat kabob.

As you see, liver and then sheep fat.

– [Trevor] Wow.

– [Bekruz] So, he makes around 500 a day.

– [Trevor] And here it is, the lamb liver and minced beef kabob.

Oh, and he's just puttingsome salt right on there.

(speaking foreign language) – (speaking foreign language) – [Trevor] (speaking foreign language) That looks juicy, should be good.

– [Bekruz] Yeah, yeah, man, look how delicious that.

– Oh, and here they are, kabobs are ready.

And they're ready.

– (speaking foreign language)(cheering) – Wow.

– Uzbek kabobs.

(laughing) – Uzbek kabobs, look, sizzling.

– Thank you.

– This right on top, he's serving (speakingforeign language), yeah.

– [Trevor] Uzbek (speakingforeign language) Ooh, look at this, minced lamb dumplings.

It's gonna be my first taste of Uzbek (speaking foreign language).

And they're putting the bone marrow soup.

– [Bekruz] Bone marrow soup on the top.

– [Trevor] On the dumpling.

That is one of the dumplingsof the world, right there.

(laughing) Oh, and you can smell thisdill, that is a beautiful smell.

Oh, the bone marrow soup.

Oh, and then a little dill.

– [Bekruz] Yeah, dill goes everywhere.

– [Trevor] Dill on the soup.

– And he has pickled chili.

– Pickled chili.

– [Bekruz] Chili, yeah.

– [Trevor] Oh, and thisis the bone marrow.

Oh, wow, look at that.

So we got big lamb shanks, and the bone marrow soup.

(laughing) – (speaking foreign language) – (speaking foreign language) So, we got the (speakingforeign language), we got the bread, we got the(speaking foreign language).

Pickled cabbage, lamb shank.

You're saying this is onions.

– Onion, yeah, yeah, yeah.

It's onion with the vinegar.

– With the vinegar.

The lamb marrow soup.

Let's go right in, this iswhat I really wanna try.

The (speaking foreign language).

And look at those.

(speaking foreign language) with dill.

Try 'em out.

Mm, oh wow, oh that is delicious.

That is a complex, deeplamb flavor with the dill and the sour cream, wow.

What would you recommendfor the first kabob? – Bro, let's start with the liver.

– The liver?- Yeah.

– Full on, let's do it.

– Let's do it, man.

– Mm, oh yeah, oh yeah.

I love how it goes liver andthen fat, liver and then fat.

So you got lean and then juicy.

– For the great adventure.

(laughing) – The bone marrow soup.

– Bone marrow soup, bro.

(slurping) – Mm, oh wow.

And then you go for the pickled chili.

– You gotta go.

– Take it down.

– Ooh, it's hot, bro.

– Ooh, it is.

– [Bekruz] So as you cansee, different layers.

It's a lamb shank.

– [Trevor] Oh, and next up we can take the bone marrow out, right? – [Bekruz] So easily becauseit was boiling for like, hours.

And I think we have a marrow here.

I'd prefer to pound it.

(clattering) – [Trevor] Oh, you got it.

– [Bekruz] Yeah, man, I get it.

– Oh, and I got one, too.

– You got it, too, yeah.

– [Trevor] Oh, there it is.

– [Bekruz] I think Fromhere, we can just– – Just slurp it out, the bone marrow bros.

(slurping) (speaking foreign language) (laughing) We're gonna keep goin'.

Ah, beautiful.

It's been a wonderful day.

– Oh, yeah, tell me about it.

– And we're gonna wrap it up.

– Wrap, wrap with amazingUzbek Lagman, green, you gonna love it.

– Noodles.

– And bunch of other goodies.

– In a yurt.

– In a yurt tent, yeah.

(cheering) – (speaking foreign language) – (speaking foreign language) – (speaking foreign language) And this is it, the yurt section.

But we are going into the kitchen.

And here we are.

– Here we are.

– (speaking foreign language)- (speaking foreign language) – [Trevor] Lagman.

– [Bekruz] They add thedill and that what makes that color so vibrant.

– [Trevor] Dill in the dough.

So it's a Uzbek noodle dish.

And it's covered in a, what's the sauce? – [Bekruz] It's a gravy, comes with a beef, potato, and carrot.

– [Trevor] I've been looking forward to trying real UzbekLagman for a long time now.

Oh, she's rolling it.

– [Bekruz] Yeah, she'srolling it in a way so, I think she can make really nice slices.

– Oh, this is incredible, there they are.

– [Bekruz] So she's nowstraightening them out.

– [Trevor] Oh, wow, andlook at the texture.

They look like they've got good texture.

– And it goes to water, yeah.

– Right in.

Wow, this is unique, dill Lagman.

– [Bekruz] And now we cansee really the green color.

Isn't it?- Oh, yeah, dark green.

This is so cool, we're gettinga homemade pasta sauce.

Green Lagman pasta sauce here in Tashkent.

We've got beef, pepper, onion, dill.

It's all gonna be maderight after our order.

So it's super fresh.

And here's the noodles, look at those.

Look at the color there.

– [Bekruz] This dish is like, you know, hundred years old.

– [Trevor] Oh, and there they are.

– [Bekruz] It's very, very ancient.

– [Trevor] Look at the steam there, wow.

(speaking foreign language) (sizzling) Wow, and we just put thatbeef down for the sauce and (speaking foreign language) looks very good.

Onions and beef are in.

Lagman.

– Lagman.

– (speaking foreign language)(laughing) – [Trevor] They're so friendly.

Wow, and those greennoodles just look delicious.

This is gonna be good.

Oh, wow, and look at that, it's coming together right now.

The peppers and theonions and the beef, wow.

It looks good.

(laughing) And there they are, the green Lagman.

– It looks very delicious.

Oh, look in there.

– There it is.

Look at the sauce.

(laughs) Oh, the beef.

– The aroma's crazy.

– The aroma.

– You can feel all the, theygotta put some herbs in.

– Onion, herbs.

And we've got the ravioli station here.

And this is the gumma.

– Gumma.

– Gumma.

Wow, look at that, dough sheets and then minced lamb rightdown, it's a lamb patty.

And then she's hand-pinching them.

So we've got these giant ravioli, filled with lamb and going onto the pan.

And they're first justbrowning the bottom here.

And then they're gonna goin this oil, look at that.

Look at this, guys, we've got the gumma.

– (speaking foreign language) – Like an Uzbek samosa.

And they're pan-fried andthen one in the oil as well.

– [Bekruz] Gravy's ready, man.

– Oh, and here it is.

– Look at that beauty.

– That's the Lagman.

(excited sighing)- Nice, nice.

– All over the green dill noodles.

(speaking foreign language) – (speaking foreign language) – And there it is.

– Oh, look at that.

– The green Lagman.

– How steamy.

– Look at the color there.

– I can't wait to try, man.

– You can smell the dill.

This is a magic kitchen.

– (speaking foreign language)- (speaking foreign language) – [Trevor] Oh, and these are our yurts.

We're gonna have a fishright outta this little pond.

And keep warm in this little yurt here.

(laughing)- Welcome, my man, yes.

– Here we are.

– Yes, yes.

(cheering) Oh, nice, and here they are.

– (speaking foreign language)- (speaking foreign language) – Yeah, I think our table is full.

– It's full.

Well, look at this.

– There's so much options.

– We got the Lagman, we got the gumma with lamb and pumpkin.

– Pumpkin, we got the egg ravioli.

– [Trevor] Egg ravioli, so it's just egg inside.

– [Bekruz] Just an egg, nothing else, yeah.

– And then fried carp fish.

– Outta the river.

– [Trevor] And then the winner.

– [Bekruz] And the winner is our Lagman, the green beef Lagman.

– The green Lagman.

With dill, which you can smell.

And then one thing that I'm really loving is this orange-looking naan.

– [Bekruz] Yeah, theyjust put paprika in it, so it gives a flavor as well as a color.

– And there it is, the green Lagman.

Oh, and it's a homemade tomato sauce.

This is for the world noodle tour.

We came to try authentic Uzbek Lagman.

Let's try it out.

– Cheers.

(slurping) – Mm, oh the dill, thatis insanely delicious.

The dill is much stronger than I thought.

It is so enjoyable with the lamb fat, the tomato, the onions, seasoned well.

Just wow, so colorful.

And do you just take it?- Yeah, take one, bro.

– [Trevor] And then dipit in the yogurt here? – [Bekruz] Yeah, you candip it in the yogurt, you can eat it like that.

– [Trevor] Oh, wow, Uzbek cuisine.

– I'll eat like that.

– Okay.

– Good? – Mm, wow, it's likethere's a scrambled egg inside of a ravioli.

Mm, it's a little sour yogurt.

(gentle upbeat music) Wow, and then we've got these gumma.

– [Bekruz] They're called gumma.

And those ones we eatwith the bare hand, bro.

– Can just take it?- Yeah, take one.

And I'll take another one.

– [Trevor] You can seeit's orange on the inside.

– I think this one wouldbe with the pumpkin.

– With the pumpkin.

– Yeah.

– And you can just take it like that.

– Yeah, take it like that, exactly.

And I think it's with the green.

I wanna go with the one with meat.

– Oh, with the meat.

– I believe it's a meat.

Cheers, bro.

– Try it out.

Mm, oh wow, that is delicious.

– And we are not exaggerating, it's really delicious.

– It is really delicious.

And we've tried most of the dishes now.

But this Lagman is the star.

This is the intermediarynoodle dish of Central Asia.

As noodles traveled across the continents from China to Italy.

We've got the Lagman and thesehere are upgraded with dill.

It's incredible to come hereto the source to try them.

And feel and taste the flavor.

To finish up the night, Bekruz brought us to a really nice, local restaurant to have even more classic Uzbek food with traditional dancing.

(upbeat music) Wow, and what a meal! (laughs) Look at this.

(upbeat music) Uzbekistan.

– At its best.

– Wow.

Gotta give a big thanks to Bekruz for having us here in Tashkent.

Wonderful day, beautiful.

– It was amazing.

– Amazing food, yeah.

– Thank you very much for joining us.

We say, we are as good as our guests are.

So our hospitality onlyreflects to the level of the friendship andthe level of receiving from the other end.

– Wow.

– So you made thisnight even more special.

– Thank you.

– Thank you very much, my man.

– Thank you, awesome.

.