Pig Out at Obzhorka
Last week I posted an entry about the Alabama Steak House in Bishkek and although I said that I might post some more postcards in the future about places to dine out, I wasn’t expecting to write another one featuring a different eatery quite so soon.
This postcard, however, was prompted by an article on Eurasianet, (Kyrgyzstan: Banking on Turkish Trade). This was not a post about “eating out” but rather about a tendency in Kyrgyzstan today to look to Turkey as one of the potential sources of international assistance in developing the Kyrgyz economy.
The current Prime Minister, Almazbek Atanbaev, is one of a number of local politicians whose eyes turn to Turkey as an example of successful development. A former civil servant who works in tourism, for example, refers back to a conference when Turkey was just beginning to emerge as a destination. “Who would have thought that they would be one of the major tourist destinations of the world, serving millions of tourists each year? We laughed when they outlined their plans. Now look at them!”
The Kyrgyz, and many of the other Central Asian nationalities, are a Turkic people. This is a broad ethnic-linguistic group, and includes the modern day Turks of Turkey, who were not the indigenous inhabitants of Anatolia. Perhaps that is one reason why the Turks feel a strong affinity with their cousins in Central Asia, and have offered considerable assistance to them since the collapse of the Soviet Union.
The article cited a number of Turkish businesses here in Kyrgyzstan, such as the Beta Stores supermarkets, and focused in particular on a couple of entrepreneurs. One of these was Orhan Eker who owns and runs a small restaurant/café in downtown Bishkek – Obzhorka. As it happens, Obzhorka is our neighbour – literally, our next door neighbour.
I remember when Obzhorka opened, under the previous owners, we all smiled at the name. Obzhorka is Russian for “glutton” and their hoarding showed a sort of troll sitting at a table and tucking in to a huge dish set before him. “What a good name for a café,” one of our staff commented. I quite like Justin Vela’s version of the translation in the article on Eurasianet, however, when he said: “Obzhorka roughly translates as ‘Pig Out’, without, of course, any reference to pork.”
We often used to go and sit on the patio and have tea, lunch or supper. Our office was so crowded that two or three of us would sometimes retire to the café to sit around a table and hold an informal meeting. We would also, sometimes, take clients there to discuss their plans for their tour itineraries. We joked that it was our “second office”.
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Eker came to Kyrgyzstan after his telecommunications business back in Turkey closed, a victim of the financial crisis. He looked around and thought that he had discovered a niche in the market that was not catered for, (no pun intended!).
Back in his native Istanbul there are plenty of small cafés, (that are often an extension of someone’s apartment), but despite the existence of several Turkish Restaurants and “kebab joints”, there was no equivalent here in Bishkek – until, that is, he took over Obzhorka. Like many of the stolovayas, (canteens, refectories, cafeterias and dining rooms), in the Soviet period, Obzhorka was located in the basement of a building, (in this case an apartment building), set just off one of Bishkek’s main roads, (Kievskaya). Outside was space for a patio, with plenty of trees to provide shade which provides a cool calm atmosphere. In the winter, when the patio is not a practical alternative, it is quieter as the rectangular dining room, set in the basement, can seem a bit off-putting, but the diners are rewarded with authentic homemade Turkish dishes.
The café is popular, particularly with fellow Turks, serving home-cooked favorites: spinach and rice dishes, salads, and chicken cooked in herbs that they import from Turkey. The menu changes from time to time, but there are some standard dishes such as different types of kebabs, stuffed vine leaves, and Tzatziki.
As well as the authentic, no-nonsense, Turkish cuisine, amongst the other reasons for its popularity might well be the location – in the heart of the city centre but set off the main road providing a nice setting for simply sitting outside and relaxing, sipping chai and playing backgammon; the friendly, almost homely, atmosphere provided by mine host and his wife and, not forgetting, the prices, (it’s not, by any means, an expensive café).
For me, of course, there’s another attraction: it’s close the office … and home. Although, today, there are lots of Turkish restaurants and cafés in Bishkek, Obzhorka remains one of my favourites.
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Bishkek