As my day in Khiva, Uzbekistan wound to a close, I had the amazing opportunity to enjoy the national dish, plov, inside the ancient walled city and watch some beautiful traditional music and dance performances! Come along with me as I dive deeper into this incredible ancient city!
My final adventures in Khiva began in Itchan Kala, the walled inner town of this 2,500-year-old UNESCO World Heritage City. There were so many things to see in a small area; there are 54 historical sites there in total!
There, I got to watch a beautiful traditional music and dance performance. We only got to see about two minutes of it because we got there late. We would have joined in and danced!
I’m all about culture and history when I travel, so spending time in Khiva, especially at night, was like a dream. It really was like something straight out of Aladdin.
But it was nearing dinnertime and I was hungry, so I couldn’t wait to get something to eat!
We ate at Khiva Karakul inside the walled city, in the shadow of one of the minarets, as musicians played. I tried something that might have been stuffed zucchini, as well as an Uzbek tomato, which explodes in your mouth the moment you bite down!
Then I tried an omelet-like fried item that contained eggs and vegetables and some wine! As we ate, dancers put on a traditional performance around us. Then I took a big bite of a big, juicy pepper. My new friend Sadaf got up and danced while a woman sang in Uzbek!
Then, I tried an empanada-like dish that’s stuffed with potato. I followed that with a grain soup with yellow carrots, beans, and beef. It was super flavorful and tasty!
The wine continued to flow as we continued our amazing Uzbek dinner in the middle of Khiva’s walled city. Then, we had the king of Uzbek dishes, the plov. It contains rice, beef, lamb, raisins, yellow carrots, and more.
The lamb was super juicy. I loved the oil in the rice, as well as the addition of the raisins, which gave the dish a nice, fruity flavor. The beef was also amazing!
Plov varies from region to region, so this one was different from the one I’d had in Tashkent earlier in my trip. It was still really delicious and fresh.
After dinner, everyone got together and enjoyed some hookah! I said good night to everyone and headed back to my hotel. We only had about six hours until we had to be back up!
What an epic night in Khiva!
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My name is David Hoffmann. For the last decade, I have been traveling around the world in search of unique culture, food, and history! Since starting David’s Been Here in 2008, I have traveled to over 1,100 destinations in 76 countries, which I welcome you to check out on my YouTube channel, travel blog, and social media sites.
I focus a great deal on food and historical sites, as you probably have seen! I love to experience the different flavors that each destination has to offer, from casual street food to gourmet restaurant dining. I’m also passionate about learning about the local history and culture.
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I love the raisins.
It gives it a nice, fresh, like fruity taste.
Great dish.
Slov is different in every region, so it's a regional dish, and that's it.
Good evening, everyone.
This is David Hoffman from David's Been Here in beautiful Kiva, Uzbekistan, in the western
part of Uzbekistan, and this city is freaking amazing.
2,500-year-old UNESCO World Heritage walled city, there's four gates, there's so many
different things to see here, like 54 different attractions.
It's really, really small.
So tonight what we're doing is we're gonna go see a cultural performance, you know, music,
dancing, and then after that we're gonna go eat dinner, we're going with the group, and
I'm here with my boy.
Yo!
How you doing, guys?
Enjoy.
So we got here late, and we only saw like two minutes.
I was trying to get him to dance, but uh...
Yeah, but they ended it.
They ended it.
They ended it just before you were about to dance.
I know, man.
It would've been awesome.
I wanted to do it.
I wanted to do it like Abu.
Yeah.
I'm here with the beautiful Raya.
From Tunisia.
Tunisia.
Oi, oi, oi.
I just want A to get to bed.
The city's like magical at night.
Really?
Yeah, man.
It feels like a scene out of Aladdin.
Nah, nah.
Historical.
I'm all about this.
For me, this is the best, you know, culture, history, you know, mixing it all together,
really experiencing it.
The only thing I would love to do is probably like sleep like out in the desert.
But I'm hungry, guys.
I'm starving.
It's over there, right?
What up, man?
Buddy, you know what just happened?
What happened?
I just slept for four hours.
What?
I just missed most of the day.
We've been in Kiva.
I'm so jet-lagged.
I couldn't even.
I just couldn't even.
Couldn't wake up.
So you have no idea what this is, right?
No idea.
Oh, no.
It's like, maybe, like, zucchini?
I didn't know that.
They're what tomatoes?
The land of tomatoes.
Really?
Yeah.
Tomato.
Whoa.
We're an explosion.
Like a gusher.
It just explodes in your mouth.
All right.
So I'm trying something that's fried.
We don't know exactly what this is.
Thank you.
Eggs and vegetables.
It is like an omelette.
It's like an omelette.
Cheers.
Incredible experience.
Cheers.
It's like a chili, right?
I don't think I've had vegetables this, like, meaty before.
Like, juicy and, like, wow.
All right.
So this is basically a Cuban empanada.
Here, it's like a wonton, a fried wonton, and there's cheese inside, right?
There's cheese?
No cheese.
No?
I thought there was cheese.
White cheese, no?
Oh.
What's that do?
This is empanada.
The same thing.
Oh.
Wow.
All right.
Next up, we have this delicious soup.
It's basically like a grain soup with yellow carrots, there's beans, there's beef.
Super delicious.
Like, really, really flavorful.
Wow.
The flavor here.
A little like a dog.
Yeah.
Oh.
Yo.
How's it going?
Good, bro.
I got a whole pizza myself, man.
That's right, dog.
I got one too.
No way.
Right there.
They told me you were serious.
That's what we don't mess about, bro.
I ate so much the other day.
We're like, yeah, you can do it again.
All right, guys.
So here we have the king of dishes here in Uzbekistan, the blog.
Check this out.
Got a lot of beef.
Got some lamb, some raisins.
You got yellow carrots.
You have delicious rice.
My God.
So we're just going to grab some of this.
Mix it together.
That's a lot of beef.
That's a big piece.
Huge piece.
Gabriel, you're looking at it.
You're tempted, huh?
I'm like peering through the glasses.
Good roll.
Super juicy lamb.
They also put some oil in the rice.
I love the raisins.
It gives it a nice, fresh, like fruity taste.
Great dish.
Look at that piece of beef.
That's beef, right?
That's not lamb.
So Plov is different in every region.
So it's regional, it's regional, it's regional.
It's a regional dish.
It's a little different from the one I had earlier in Tashkent.
Super delicious.
Very nice, rice-y, fruity, fresh dish.
And that's it.
You paid for nothing.
And the hookah was next door.
Hello.
Bro.
You good?
Hearing this music?
photo to make good followers, you know?
Good luck.
We're going to sleep.
We got like, what?
Less than six hours?
Six hours?
Good night.
Damn, you're leaving us.
See you tomorrow, man.
Have a good night.
It never came, bro.
It never came.
I can't even believe it.
Wow, what an epic night.
So great.
Such a good night.
We started off with some little performance.
I only saw like two minutes.
I saw like the whole thing.
You saw the whole thing?
I don't know what you're doing.
I don't know.
I got there a little late.
I mean, my bad.
Yeah.
It was really cool though.
You had the king.
Well, guy dressed as a king.
And then dancers.
Yeah.
And then after that, we came here and had an epic meal with this incredible freaking
minaret.
I mean, lit up right there.
Incredible terrace.
And yeah, guys, that's basically what you can do here in Kiva at night.
Go have an incredible dinner mixed with some cultural, you know, experience.
And I hope you love this video.
If you did, give me a thumbs up.
Leave me a comment below.
Subscribe to my channel.
Follow my boy Connor.
And we'll see you in the next trout food adventure in Uzbekistan.
