KEY TOWN

This modern Korean restaurant minutes from Temur Square, is one of the many Korean paradises in Tashkent. Perfect for all, with menus in Russia, Korean and English.

To start, I lived in South Korea for 3 years and have lived and breathed Korean food, in participial Korean BBQ, so my expectations of Korean food were very high, however I was pleasantly surprised by KeyTown.

During my first few weeks in Tashkent, I found myself in KeyTown a number of times. It's not like your family run Korean restaurant in South Korea, its very modern and arty but has a very welcoming, bright and warm feel.

It does however keep some of the key Korean traditions, like floor sitting, metal chopsticks and extractor fans for BBQ. However their do have knives and forks and regular sitting also.

Private booths with taditional floor sitting

The restaurant has a wide selection of Korean food; Gimbap, Korean BBQ, dumplings, soups, fish, seasonal side dishes and of course Kimchi! It serves many drinks including teas, juices, beers and other alcohol, unfortunately no Korean drinks.

The first time I visited, I ordered Moksal (marinated pork neck) barbecued meat (around £11), the seasonal salad set, which was really all the sided dishes you commonly get with Korean BBQ (which costed something like £2.50), some Gyeranmari; steamed scrambled eggs (again while didn't cost more than £1.50), and rice. From 2 people this was plenty of food and super tasty, full of flavour and some of the best Korean I've had outside of Korea!!

Moksal BBQ dinner with sides for 2 (cost around £15)

I returned to KeyTown about 2 weeks later with a group 4, we ordered the same seasonal salad set, which arrived with different veg and side dished from the last visit which was a nice change. As there were 4 of us, we ordered extra meat, the Moksal and Galbi (marinated beef ribs.) Again, the food was really flavorsome, spicy (but not too spicy) and moreish.

We all left the restaurant really full and very happy! We will definitely be back to KeyTown.

My overall experience of KeyTown was wonderful, the atmosphere was really nice, the service was great, and the food was even better. The price is of course a little more expensive than what you'd find in Korea, but on par with other foreign restaurants in Tashkent. Definitely a restaurant worth a visit if Korean is your thing!