Baku Restaurants

BAKU RESTAURANTS GUIDE 

One of the highlights when visiting Baku is the local cuisine. During our stay in the capital of this ex-soviet country we visited some nice restaurants which we wanted to share with you. Read below which are the best Baku restaurants in our eyes.

What to eat in Baku, Azerbaijan?

The Azerbaijani cuisine is very rich and diversified: there are plenty of traditional and oriental herbs which often flavor meat dishes and salads. The unique thing about the Azeri cuisine comes from its location. Azerbaijan is on a crossroads between Europe, Asia and Middle East. It combines best of them all. An interesting thing about Azerbaijan is that out of 11 climate zones, it has 9. This explains the fertility of the land and respectively the richness of the local cuisine. 

Lili’s 5 tips what to try in Baku:

• There are many different types of bread. Even if you are not a bread lover, you must try them.

  

• The combination of dried foods with rice and other salty meals is very often and characteristic for the local kitchen.
• Dishes to try: Rice Plov, Sarma, Bozbash, Qutab, Dushbara and others.
• When it comes to beverages -the black tea is the national drink. Most of the population is Muslim, so alcohol is not very common. However each restaurant serves beer and wine.
• Azerbaijan is rich in pomegranate. Make sure you try the fresh pomegranate juice from the street sellers.

Food takes central place in Azeri’s culture and it has deep roots in their history and values. Although we never put than much focus on food, this was very visible during our trip. For more detailed info and explanation of all the local dishes, refer to this article.

Which are the best Baku restaurants to eat?

As you have noticed, we try to choose the most interesting places to eat. Not that we are such food experts, but we want to make sure we takes the best out of it. I made quite an extensive research and here are our recommendations (of course tested and verified by us :).

• Art Garden

  

  It is located near the Maiden Tower, this is a huge garden covered with enormous tent. The place is really big, being able to host also big events.

  

  Despite the fact that it is located in the main touristic area of Baku, the prices are not high and the menu choice is very rich (as it is in most of the traditional restaurants in Baku). The service was perfect and also the atmosphere is nice.

  

   

• Fuzire

  

  

  Traditional Azeri Baku restaurant located in a basement on one of the main shopping streets in Baku. The interior is typical local one and also the menu choice is very rich. They have a live performance which makes the whole experience even better. Although the place can be considered a bit touristic (very popular amongst foreign visitors), in our opinion it is a must visit if you want to try traditional Azeri cuisine.

• Telequlle Restaurant

  

  

  This is also one of the best things you can experience in Baku. Telequlle is a revolving restaurant located on the 27th floor of the TV tower of Baku. In 80 mins it makes a full 360-degree circle and you get an amazing bird-eye view of Baku. When you enter the TV tower you take a long tunnel (very nice lit in red- goldish colours) which leads you to the elevator.

  Basically the only way to have a view from the tower is to use the restaurant. You pay 20 Manat which are afterwards from your bill. The menu is also rich and the things we tried were very delicious.

  

  The prices were also fair having in mind where you are (more or less similar to the prices in the other restaurants in Baku center). Better go there around sunset, so that you can enjoy both the sunset and view when all the buildings (incl the Flame Towers) are lit when it is dark outside. Absolutely must do when in Baku.

• Wino tapas bar

  

  If you are looking for something different than the local cuisine, this tapas place is a very good option. Also located in the central Baku area, Wino bar is a cozy place for tasting different types of wine from all over the world.

  

  They serve tapas and other Spanish/ Mexican dishes which accompany your wine. This was also one of the few places where Aperol spritz was served (we love this drink).

• Kolorit

  

  

  This is one of our highlight among all Baku restaurants we visited during this trip. Located in the end of Nizami street, it is a shisha place where you can also have a good meal for low price. The interior is very nice and as the name of the places suggests- it is very colourful. This was one of the cheapest places which we visited, but the food and everything else was of good quality.

• Chinar sweet

  

  

  If you are looking to eat on a budget, this is your place. It is the local fast-food option, located on the Nizami street under the pillars of one of the old buildings. It has just a few tables, which makes it quite cozy. If you order one of the traditional dishes (kind of pancake with different fillings), you can even see a woman preparing it in front of you. We paid €5 for 2 of the main mails, 2 teas and 2 deserts. There is another restaurant in Baku which has the same name; we are referring here to the “fast-food” option.

• Kitchenette

  

  

  This restaurant is located in Park Bulvar mall. If you are looking for a place with a view, this restaurant located in the mall on the Baku Seafront Boulevard is a good option. It has a terrace which with glasses in case of windy weather and the view to Caspian sea is very nice. The prices here were much higher than the rest of the places (at least 30% higher), but the view always comes with a markup. The menu choice is also not extremely rich, but the food was delicious and the portions were quite big.

• Kibrit cafe

  

  If you want to drink a tea in a peaceful atmosphere where also the young locals are meeting, this cozy cafe is a good option.

  

  The menu is not very rich and do not expect a lot (better order something standard things like tea, Coke or something similar), but the soviet interior is worth visiting.

We hope the tips above about our selection of best Baku restaurants is helpful. Let us know your experience in the form below.

Follow the following links for more info about Baku and Gobustan. 

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