What is this place called?
What is this place called?
I it some time since I wrote about places to eat in Bishkek, and this time, I have a problem as I am not sure how to refer to this particular café. Is it Vis-a-vis?, the Queen’s Head?, the Ozzie Butcher?, the Aussie Butcher?, The British Butcher?, the British café?, or simply David’s place?
This is not a problem unique to this particular café; there’s a certain amount of confusion about the name of the country itself. A lot of people have trouble saying or spelling Kyrgyzstan. One problem is that there it has two names: The Kyrgyz Republic and Kyrgyzstan, but this gets even more confused when you consider the different variations that have existed over time, (consider Khirgizstan – it used to be the Khirghiz SSR), or language, (in French it is Kirgizstan and in German, Khirghizistan). Many of the Russians still refer to it as Kirgizia. And so on.
If that’s not enough of a problem, many names of many places and streets have changed. The main street in Bishkek is now called Prospect Chui, but in the past it has been called Kupecheskoi or Merchant Street; Grazhdanskaya or Civil Street – which seems to give the English phrase “Civvie Street” a whole new meaning; Joseph Stalin Street; XXII Partciyezda, to commemorate the XXII Communist Party congress in 1961; Lenin Prospect; and, in 1997, part of it was also was renamed, in honour of the friendly relations with China, after the Chinese leader: Deng Xiaoping.
Bishkek has known three different names in the modern period, Pishpek, Frunze and Bishkek. Nowadays there is a lot of discussion about renaming the city Manas, after the legendary hero of the national epic.
However … back to David’s place …
David is a “larger than life”, (literally!), British ex-pat who has been here about the same amount of time that I have. I have no idea what actually brought him here but he has done a number of things including teaching, translating, editing and proof reading English language texts for official bodies and businesses.
I am not sure that he ever wanted to or intended to open a café. At one time he was bemoaning the fact that it was not possible to find “good” cuts of meat here in Bishkek. There’s plenty of meat … the Kyrgyz love meat and would probably eat nothing but meat given the chance. The trouble is that the meat is cut up differently, often needs special treatment.
Steak, for example, is a mainstay of mainstay of many cuisines; European and American. For example, Richard Stillgoe, a British musician and songwriter famous for satirical witty wordplays, once did a skit on how to write a successful Eurovision entry … and pointed out that one word which is common to most European languages is: “Beefsteak”, so he suggested writing a “fairground” jinggly tune to which the word Beefsteak could be repeated over and over again: “Beefsteak, beefsteak, la la la la“.
Unfortunately, however, a fried or grilled steak is not really one of the mainstays of local cuisine. Although many places in Bishkek offer steaks then Western diners are often surprised by what is served up. Once, for example, I was sitting with an American in one restaurant, who looked at the “Steak De Luxe” that he had ordered being placed before him, and he turned and asked the waiter, “What is this?” It was a thin slice of meat, duly grilled, but it not exactly the thick succulent piece of meat that he had in mind when he placed his order.
Another problem comes when trying to do a typical English Roast, just as my mother used to prepare every for Sunday lunch. Back in the UK we tend to buy special cuts of meat duly trussed up in as a Joint, ready for placing in the oven. Here the meat that you buy from the market or shops is often just a slab, and “fresh” at that … it is not hung to cure.
Personally, it has never bothered me that much … I take the piece of meat and place around it onions, potatiews and other vegetables to roast and put it into the oven on a low heat … and, so far, I have been happy with the results, but many gastronomes agreed with David that they missed the more traditional cuts that they were used to.
Where I do have a problem, however, is that the diced meat which is available here, (goulash), tends to contain pieces of fat and gristle, and that it is not easy to find bacon and traditional sausages. It would be nice, also, to find traditional Pork Pies … but that’s a bit of a speciality.
Well, David decided to start a butcher’s shop. He arranged to bring a properly trained butcher from Australia, (hence the Aussie/Ozzie Butcher variations for the name). As it happens, his current butcher is from Britain, (hence the British Butcher variation of the name). He has arrange contracts with local farmers and set about setting up a butchery, getting all the necessary permissions and certificates. He started looking around for customers and signed contracts with a few companies, and he also started looking for export possibilities. However, he needed a shop, and was offered a shop next to a café – the Vis-a-vis. He thought that, although he only needed a shop, it would be good also to have a place to showcase his produce and so took it.
Hence the café. At one point, apparently, he thought of renaming it The Queen’s Head, but the hoarding outside still announced, Vis-a-vis.
Inside, the café is bright, clean and cheerful.
Inside the café, the space is bright, clean and cheerful. The fayre on offer is predominantly based on meat provided by the butchery side of the business, which you would expect, ranging from all day, full English and American Breakfasts, Cottage Pie, Steaks and Roast Beef.
It’s not pretentious in any way, which is immediately a “plus” as far as I am concerned. There’s a small bar with a few bar stools, and two large screen television sets which are often tuned to music programmes, but he will try to show sports programmes, for example, when there is a big game of Rugby on at Twickenham.
The patio operates in the warmer weather
In the winter, the café is warm and cozy, but for the warm summer evenings there is a patio outside, where tables are placed underneath a large metal canopy. It’s possible to sit and eat, pass the time of day and watch the world go by – including soldiers from guarding the nearby White House as they make their way back to barracks.
David’s jovial, no-nonsense, plain speaking style, (he is prepared to “call a spade a spade”, as the saying goes), has made him very much a fixture amongst the ex-pat community here in Bishkek. Having said that, he is a good example of a congenial “mine host”; he always has time to pass the time of day with clients and can enter into conversation on almost any topic under the sun.
On one occasion, some Americans were looking for sponsorship for a local orphanage and approached David for support. Although he could have handed over some som and said goodbye to them, (which is what most businessmen here would have done), instead he said, “Look, I have a café, bring the children down here and we’ll give them a meal.” The Americans decided to take him up on the offer and, apparently, the children enjoyed the experience immensely.
I have taken several people there to eat and Andrei, in particular, likes to visit. When I do go, I always make sure to pop into the butcher’s shop next door to pick up my ration of bacon and Beef Jerky.
Bishkek