Kazakh Food: 12 Dishes to Try in Almaty
Kazakh food comes straight from the nomadic past: meat, milk and bread, built to sustain people on the open steppe. In Almaty you'll find it alongside Uzbek, Uyghur, Russian and Korean influences, making the city one of Central Asia's most interesting places to eat. Here are the dishes to seek out.
The national dishes
- Beshbarmak — the national dish, whose name means "five fingers" because it's traditionally eaten by hand. Boiled meat (horse or lamb) served over wide flat noodles with an onion broth. The centrepiece of any celebration.
- Kazy — a prized horse-meat sausage, often served in thin slices at feasts. Trying it is a rite of passage for visitors.
- Kuyrdak — a hearty fry-up of meat, liver and other offal with onions, a classic home-style dish.
Dumplings, rice and noodles
- Manty — large steamed dumplings filled with meat and onion (and sometimes pumpkin), a Central Asian favourite.
- Plov (pilaf) — rice cooked with meat, carrots and onions; every family has its version.
- Lagman — hand-pulled noodles in a spiced meat-and-vegetable sauce, a gift from the Uyghur kitchen.
- Samsa — flaky baked pastries stuffed with meat or pumpkin, ideal street food.
Bread and snacks
- Baursak — puffy squares of fried dough, served with tea and at every celebration. Impossible to eat just one.
- Shelpek — flat fried bread, often made to honour guests and ancestors.
Drinks from the steppe
- Kumis — fermented mare's milk, slightly sour and mildly alcoholic; a genuine taste of nomadic tradition.
- Shubat — fermented camel's milk, richer than kumis.
- Tea — Kazakhs drink black tea constantly, usually with milk, and offering tea is the heart of hospitality.
Where to eat in Almaty
Look for a traditional restaurant serving beshbarmak for the full experience, browse the Green Bazaar for kazy, dried fruit and horse-milk products (see our Green Bazaar guide), and don't miss the city's excellent Uyghur lagman houses and Korean-influenced cafés — a legacy of Almaty's mixed communities.
A note on hospitality
Food and guests are sacred in Kazakh culture. If you're invited to a home, expect to be fed generously and offered the best cuts — accepting graciously is part of the ritual. (More in our Kazakh culture guide.)
Do it with us
We can fold a proper Kazakh meal into any day tour, or point you to the best local spots. Our trips are private and English-guided, priced per vehicle. Browse the tours or message us on WhatsApp — we usually reply within about 15 minutes.
Quick questions
What is the national dish of Kazakhstan? Beshbarmak — boiled horse or lamb served over flat noodles with onion broth, eaten traditionally by hand.
What meat do Kazakhs eat? Horse and lamb are traditional and prized, alongside beef and chicken. Horse-meat kazy sausage is a delicacy.
What should I drink in Kazakhstan? Try kumis (fermented mare's milk) and shubat (camel's milk) for the nomadic tradition, plus plenty of black tea.
Is Almaty good for food? Very — it blends Kazakh, Uzbek, Uyghur, Russian and Korean cooking, making it one of Central Asia's best eating cities.