Uzbekistan Street Food in Miami - Somsa, Lagman & Plov | Sunny Isles

I like this. What is this? Oh man, the taste. What's up everyone? I hope you're all doing well. This is David Hoppin from David's Binia coming at you from beautiful, super sunny, sunny Isles, Miami, Florida. Today, my father and I are going to be visiting Chayana Oasis, the only Uzbek restaurant in the city. This is going to be amazing, dad. Central Asian delicious food. Somsas, manti, plov. What else? They have dolmas. So many things. You've never been there. I never. I don't know the food. He doesn't know the food. I went to Uzbekistan last year. I spent like 10 incredible days there. Tashkent, Samarkand, Bukhara. I mean, what a beautiful country. I'm excited. Let's go inside. Let's eat some incredible Uzbek cuisine. Let's do this. David, pleasure. Nice meeting you, man. Felix. Yes. What are we doing today? Let's check it out. Really beautiful. I mean, I'm sure the food is just as good as it looks. It's going to be an amazing experience. Yeah, what's cool about it is that it really gives you a feel of Uzbekistan and the music, it feels more like a loungy atmosphere, right? So you're going to be here, lounge, relax. They also have wine over here, wine, alcohol for sale. And they have these private areas. So we're going to actually go to that room right there. So it's like a private, you know, dining room. There's actually two of them. There's a longer one over here. Over here is a smaller one for us. And then over here, this is just a huge restaurant. One big dining area, you know, you do like 20 tables and you have like two giant tables that's like family sizes, you know, 10, 15 people fit over there. And you have the smaller ones, like four people. Now let's go to the back. So right here, he's doing chicken kabobs. And what's the sauce? That's the marination. The marination. Yes. We use mayo and spices. It smells great. Smells great. On the other side, my chef is doing the salsa. Okay, the salsa. Perfect. And pilaf over there. Awesome. And then right here is just some sauce. That's a cornish. Seasoning some chicken. Cornish, yeah. Oh, 10. Okay, beautiful. Super fresh. Everything is like super spotless here, dude. Your kitchen is like super clean. Thank you. Amazing. So in the hand, you put paprika. So you made it like really red. Wow. So a little spicy, right? A little spicy. Gives a good color. So these are the salsa, which is basically similar to an empanada, but this one, it's lamb. So they put lamb, then they make two of them and they combine together and they make one. So each one is two. Big. And this goes into tandoor, no? Yes. Okay, so right here, he's making just Uzbek bread. He has a dough. He's like, you know, mushing it around, taking it out, breaking a piece and throwing it there. So right now, he's breaking up like eight different pieces and then he's going to roll it out, right? You're going to get, you're going to roll it. Not ready yet? No. Not yet? Yeah, more. Salsas are the best. Dude, they're so good. Baked, delicious dough with lamb inside. That's the biggest difference. You barely get lamb like empanadas or samosas anywhere in the world. Here, the salsa, it's a little different. Has lamb. This is empanada with beef. So chipotle with beef. Wow. Beautiful. These are really, really big empanadas. They put it into the fryer and they don't actually just throw it down. They slowly submerge it so the bottom gets crispy, right? Yeah, so what he's doing is he's slowly putting oil on top of it, right? And it's puffing up. So it's a little different. Yes. I've actually never seen done this. Usually, they'll fry it and they'll put the other basket on top so it stays all down. You have to be an artist to do this. What's in there? Dolma. No. What's inside it though? Lamb? Lamb, yes. Lamb? No way. So right here, we have the dolma, grape leaves. Inside, you have lamb with some rice, right? Rice and lamb. Look at this. This is a very Greek dish. But obviously, Alexander the Great made it all the way up there, right? What are we doing? Manti. What he's making right here is called the manti. This is the dumpling in Uzbekistan. They have two different versions here, pumpkin and lamb. But we're going with lamb. Obviously, we're doing all lamb today. And it's amazing how they do it. So they get the dough. He flattens it, makes it very nice and circle. Then he fills it with lots and lots of lamb. And then he closes it up. And it almost looks like a Chinese dumpling. Just bigger, juicier. And if you guys don't know about Uzbekistan, they're part of the Silk Road. They're actually the center of the Silk Road between like Rome and Beijing. You know, like right there or Shanghai, right? So hey, this is gonna be awesome. That looks amazing. I'm getting hungry by the minute. It's like amazing. The food, the smell. I know. The smell of the food is like I want to travel to Uzbekistan right now. And right here, he has the lakman dough. Lakman, which are Uzbekistan noodles. You guys do two different variations, right? You also do fried, right? I don't think you've had noodles like this done. Maybe in China, but... So it's either soup, lakman. Or either fried. Or fried. Yeah. But the soup can be dry too. It doesn't have to have the broth, right? Yeah. All right, great. Yeah, these noodles look phenomenal. I've never seen it come out like that. I mean, they were soaking wet. And obviously, it's a little slimy, right? Yeah, a little slimy. Oh, God. You know what the name of it is called? Dalma? What's the name? Dalma? No, Asomsa. Asomsa, okay. And right here, he's cutting beef. Because he's going to make the fried lakma. It's basically beef. And you have some red pepper, yellow pepper, green pepper, onions. I think it's garlic. And what, tomato paste. And soy sauce. And then he's going to throw all that into like the wok. He's going to, you know, put together. And then throw on the lakma. And that's how they do the lakma. You know, he folds it in his arms. And then he like bangs it like hard. Really hard. This is the best experience, dude. This, I mean, you're making my day right now. So you're going to throw the lakma into there? Yes. Fry it up. So it's beef with vegetables lakma. It's going to be a little spicy, though. A little bit. It's good, though. I mean, I can smell the aroma. And I love the lakma, the thickness of it. Not too thin, not too thick. Just right. Off the fire here. Almost everything's ready. The mantis, done. Wow. They look good. This is like the super fluffiest dumplings of all time. Steamed perfection. And then right here. What is all this bread, dude? It's crazy. So they put this thing to shape it in a different, like a spiral in a way. With like a little top, almost like a volcano. And then he goes in with his hands. And he like pushes it down. So the middle has a hole. So it's like hollow. And then around it, you have the fluffiness of the bread. So when they bake it, it's going to come out almost like a big donut. So once they're done like bashing it, they add milk on top. And they're going to put sesame on top of that. So it like absorbs it, right? It like really grains it into the bread. So once they're done making the bread, they throw it into here to bake. How long does it take? 10-12 minutes. 10-12 minutes and that's it? Yeah. Wow. We're also going to try some salads. And this one's called the fresh salad with sour cream. So we just mix it all together. I mean, it looks beautiful. So he just pulled the bread out. And when he put it down here, he added butter. Lots of butter. I mean, just give it this beautiful golden color. And the smell right now. It's sesame, right? Look at that. Amazing. Thank you. This is going to be the best bread ever. As you can see, here we have chicken. We have the lamb ribs. And we have liver. Dad, we have the Uzbekistan feast of Uzbekistan feast. There's so much food here. So much variety. Obviously, Silk Road. So you're going to have noodles. You're going to have dumplings. You have chiporek. Chiporek. Look at this. Oh, inside there's a huge empanada. Right in front of us, we have the lagma soup. Which is like, you know, noodle soup. Bread. We have two different kebabs. So there's the lamb and ribs. Chicken. Over here, we have the manti, which is the dumplings. Then we have the somsa, dolma. Uzbek salad? The Tashkent salad. Tashkent salad, I'm sorry. And then over there, we have the plov. The king of dishes in Uzbekistan, the plov. So it's rice on top. They also have lamb. And they have two quail eggs. I'm telling you, this is like a wedding. I mean, this is like a feast and everything. I've never seen anything like this. This is crazy. And we're starting it off with some vodka. So I think it's Uzbek vodka. You know, obviously, it was part of the Soviet Union. So a lot of Russian influences. They love vodka in Uzbekistan. Cheers. Nice and smooth. It's actually very tasty, this one. Very tasty. But just one. Why don't you get a bottle? Nah, you're crazy. Okay, dad. So we're starting off with the lagma soup. So it's basically noodles on the bottom. And then on top, you have, I think it's beef. And you have, look at this. This looks amazing. This is unreal. It's like, you can't show this. You have to get this. I'm gonna dress it like this. Oh, it's beef, right? The broth. The broth is super, super flavorful. Wow. And lots of nice crunch here. Lots of veg. But you gotta try the actual noodles, dad. Here. Oh, wow. Dad, these noodles. I know, I know, I know. I mean, I love it. It's super rich. I love how they cooked the beef. Tender, the broth. Not spicy at all. Although you can make it spicy, it will be amazing. So it's a beefy, veggie broth. It's a full soup. But then the noodles on top, so it's a full meal here. Yeah, yeah. I know it's tempting. I know. I know, too. So what is this, dad? It's a homemade fruit punch. Homemade fruit punch? Wow. Very fruity. I don't even know what fruit that is. I don't know. Ruin the fruit punch. But I think, guys, we have to move on. Because if we eat this entire lima soup, we're gonna get too full. So I think we should jump on to maybe the mantis, right? So the mantis. These are lamb dumplings with sour cream in the middle. Yeah, I think what we should do with this one is just cut one. Cut one, okay. This one right here. Yeah, we'll have one. If we have too much of this, we can get too full. Look at that. Look how juicy that looks. Wow. And she actually said if you wanted to, you can put one of these sauces. Yeah, the sauces are a must. But this is also a must. Yeah, so we'll get a little bit of this. A little bit of this. A little bit of that. Let's try with this first. It's a delicacy. So much flavor. The onions, the lamb. Very moist, nice, soft dumpling. But I think I'm gonna have to like put something on here. Maybe a little bit of this. You want some too? Yeah, but not that much. You're like, ooh, you went overboard. There you go, there you go, there you go. All right, let's do it. A little spicy. But that's the way to go. I gotta say, these are just like in Uzbekistan. They're delicious. I mean, full meal too, you know? The dough. I don't know what to do with the dough. Yeah, the dough, it's just the way they do it. The way they, you know, they bang it. This one is phenomenal. It comes with four. So it's a good appetizer. Manti. But I think next up, I think we should try this guy. Yeah, let's just share one. We have two. We have two, but let's share one. Because two is too much. So it's very fluffy, fried inside. I mean, the lamb is like moving around. It's hard. And I mean, it's another big, big dish, right? The entire one. I think this one you have to go by hand. Look. Oh, wow. So it's almost like a lamb patty inside. It's still smoky, look. I know. Nice thin layer, right? Thin, crispy layer. It's really a delicacy. It's a delicacy. I love this spicy sauce they made. It's almost like a tomato spice. Gotta finish this one. I think that we need to try this. This is the lamb rib kebab, shish kebab. The way you do this one is very easy. Just pull them out, right? You pull them out? Yeah, pull them out. Get a few, get one. Crunchy. Crunchy, smoky. Oh, the rib is the best. Any piece of flesh is touching a bone. That and the fat, that's where the flavor comes from. Can I have another one? Then this one, we're finishing the whole thing. Yeah, right? Yeah. I'll grab this guy, you grab that guy. Yeah, there's two right there. Yeah, the taste of the lamb is super unique. Super unique. What I love about their little barbecue is it's a straight line. In Uzbekistan, you'll see like 150, 200 in a row. I think we also have to try the chicken one. At least a little bit. By hand also? Yeah, I mean if you want, just grab it with you. Like this? Yeah, just like that. I just go like this. What is this? Oh man, the taste. The marination. Ridiculous. It's smoky. The marination's like, I don't know, it's a die for it. This is like incredible food. Wow. What a deep taste. Soft chicken. Deep taste, not heavy, tender. A little bit of charcoal as well. Like I taste the smoke. Smoke. These are unreal. Unreal. So you want to try the salad? Yeah, I want to try. I think it goes really well. This is the Uzbekistan salad. Yeah, my plate is like super full of decorations. Let's try it. So it's basically all it has, right? Tomatoes and red onions. Yeah, it's a basic salad. Let's see. It's a summer salad. Fresh, fresh, fresh. It's a good thing we're both eating onions. Otherwise, you would smell my onions and I would smell your onions, right? This guy's wild. Vodka. Cheers. You know how to say cheers in Uzbek? I forgot. It's been a while. We'll find out soon. Somesat next. So these are baked and what they have inside is lamb. What we're going to do is we're going to cut one in half. And we'll eat that. Exactly. And you see the inside. More meat. Yeah, so this one's very meaty. So again, onions, moist. Very similar to the manti, but somesat. So the biggest difference between the manti and the somesat is this is baked and that was steamed. But similar in ingredients, right? This is my favorite. Sesame seeds on top. Let's try it with the sauce. Yeah, put some sauce too. Let's see. Enough, right? I tried the other sauce. It's like tomato sauce with somesat. And again, this food, you're going to have a lot of lamb. You're going to have a lot of noodles, a lot of dough. Again, bread, somesat, you know, manti. Again, the fried one, the fried empanada. Then you have the lagma, the noodles. So I mean, just a lot, a lot. It's derived from their culture also because it's colder, right? Yeah, but it's a silk road. Remember, the silk road goes through it. So that's where the dumplings and noodles came from. And they're all meat. Yeah, they're all meat there. But then they're a very big meat culture. Lots of meat. Next up, we have the dolmas. So dolma is the best. So grapes, dolma is the grapes, grape leaves. And then inside, it's a meat with rice. That's it. Sometimes way more meat, sometimes more rice. It really depends. So the way I eat this one, it's very easy. I get an entire one and I go straight to the mouth. Whole thing. The whole thing? Yeah, whole thing. Healthy, filling, very earthy, green. That's my favorite. Every time I eat it, I'm like, it's soft. It's not too, it's not too strong. I mean, obviously. I've had dolmas that are stronger with salt. So these dolma are made of lamb. Amazing. You want a piece? Actually dip it into this, like you said, it's a Greek sauce. It's like a thicker tzatziki. Very similar to tzatziki. It's dill, yogurt, cucumber. My friend, we're taking this home today. Because if I keep eating everything, I just like pop. Two plates, I would have been done, you know. But I think we have to jump on to the next one. This is a star right here. Look at this. This is the fried lagman with egg on top. You have, you know, vegetables. So you have onion, red pepper, and you have beef. I'm just, I can't wait to get to it. So I think the way we jump into this, you just get a little bit of the lagman from the bottom like that. Whoa. I am excited for this one, bro. I'm not gonna wait for you. No, don't. Basically, it's a stir-fry with noodles. So good. Not spicy. I thought it was gonna be spicier than what it is. At this point, cut it. I was able to pull it off. It's nice and oily too. No? When they were cooking, you could see it was a bit oily, no? I mean, it's good. It's a nice filling. The noodles are like, you know, they don't fall apart very easily. They're thicker. Wow. Yeah, so I'm just gonna dip it into the spice. Just like that? Good combination. I'm telling you. Whoa. Unbelievable. I could keep going, but I don't want to. It's just too good. And this is the Tashkent salad. This looks like a very creamy salad. Super creamy. Almost like chicken. Like, uh, I don't know. Is this egg white? That's an egg white. That's one thing you get a lot of, you know, like a salad. What kind of salad is this? Is that chicken or something? I think, to be honest, we don't know what's in it. This is more of a surprise. Oh, you don't want the egg white? No, I want it. Give me half, give me half. I'll give you half. Okay, I'm gonna try it. It looks amazing. Is that tuna? Oh, wow. It tastes like tuna, but I don't think it's tuna. These are all veggies, I think. These are all veggies? I think it's all veggies. I mean, it's super creamy. Almost like it's like mayo. I don't think it's mayo. No. More like yogurt. But it's super fresh. Summer, summer salad. I could have this with a glass of wine. You know, Rio? On the beach. I mean, it reminds me of like some of these like creamy chicken salads, you know? But definitely not chicken. Yeah, not chicken. Maybe tuna. Maybe. One last bite of this. I'll have one. Like one last bite. Okay, guys, we have to try the bread. Look at this monster of a bread. I just love the way you did it. We saw the entire process of how they made it. First time I've actually seen that. And you break it like that. Just gonna break it in half. And then we'll take this piece out. Yeah. Want a piece? Alright, so let's try it. Fluffy. Comfort. So fluffy. I love the butter on the outside. Also sesame seeds. And the great thing is that it's made so you can like, you know, pick up like extra sauces like that. And if you want to, just straight up put it in the soup. Crazy. I'm gonna actually... Oh, you know what? That's a better idea. Yeah, dip into the sauce. Get a little bit of the sauce. Like that. Wow. Great combination. Soaked it up. This bread doesn't go with anything. So good. Okay, dad. This is called the king of dishes in Uzbekistan. The plov. I've seen them make it in a humongous pan. The biggest pan I've ever seen in my life. It was like, I don't even know, 1.5 kilos of plov. Just in one section. Insane. So what do you have here? You have rice. You have... So it's like fruit. So dried fruits. And then you also have the lamb on top. And you have... I think it's garlic. And that's quail egg. So one quail egg and garlic. All right, dad. So let me serve you a little bit. So I'm gonna give you some rice, some lamb. Yeah. Right. Let me give you... You want the quail egg? Half. Can you do half? I don't think so. It's too slippery. Here, we'll cut it with this. Yeah. There you go. Okay. So here we go. Let's try. King of dishes, dad. King of dishes. Let's go in. Get it. Deep, deep, deep flavor, you know, with the lamb. Lots of flavor. Oily. I love the... Like the dried fruits in there. Gives it like a sweetness to it. You also have some chickpeas. Look at the amount of lamb here. This is the best. This is so good. This is what Uzbekistan's love to eat. Every day, a plate of plov. That's what they eat every day? I mean, usually. Every city, every region. It's a different variety. Change it up a little bit. They add stuff to it, you know. This is so good though. And I think there's raisins in here as well, right? It's a full meal. Oh, the garlic. Gotta have a little bit more of this. This lamb is so good. Delicious. It's so filling. And dad, here we go. This is dessert. The honey cake. Wow. Honey cake. This is Uzbeki. Uzbek. So... Why not Uzbeki? I don't know. But they call it Uzbek. So just dive in. Ooh, lots of layers here. Look at this. It looks almost like a tiramisu, right? Okay, guys. Unexpected. Amazing. I mean, it's like a layer of honey, a layer of chocolate, a layer of cream. That's what it feels like, right? I don't know about that. And the chocolate powder at the top or the cocoa. It's like, wow. Gotta have another piece. It's very appropriate to end the meal. I'm blown away by that. There's also some cherry mix it up. What is this? Mint? Mint. Decoration, dad. I've always eaten decoration. I know, I know. Well, guys, that is it. We experienced Uzbeki food in Miami. It's like Uzbekistan street food slash like homey food. The lagma, the manti, dolmas, somsas. What else? The plov, the kebabs. I mean, so much variety. Obviously, again, lots of dough, lots of lamb. That's what you have. Yeah, that's predominant. Yeah, because it's so broad. What was your favorite? I don't know. I mean, the plov was amazing. But I gotta say, for me, the somsas are like a, you know, they're a staple. For me, the kebabs. The kebabs were outstanding. And that's it, guys. Chayana Oasis, the only Uzbekistan restaurant in Miami-Dade County here in Sunny Isles. Uzbeki food is amazing. Central Asia, Silk Road. Dumplings, noodles, and lots and lots of lamb. Well, guys, I hope you love this video. If you did, give me a thumbs up. Leave me a comment below. Subscribe to my channel for more awesome travel content. I'll see you in the next travel food adventure in... Uzbek. No, Miami, Miami, Miami. It's wrong, it's wrong.