The Plov Center is one of Tashkent’s most iconic food destinations and a place mentioned in virtually every travel guide to the Uzbek capital. Locals recommend it unanimously, often saying that if you haven’t tried plov at the Plov Center, you haven’t truly been to Tashkent.
However, visitors should be aware of an important detail: the Plov Center has no branches. Due to its popularity, several ordinary cafés around the city use similar names, hoping to capitalize on its reputation. These lookalikes can easily mislead tourists. The authentic Plov Center is located near the Tashkent TV Tower, one of the city’s main landmarks, and is well known to local taxi drivers once specified correctly.
The Plov Center is a lively, unpretentious place — something between a café and a traditional canteen — where quality matters more than décor. It is considered a truly people’s restaurant, attracting locals, families, and visitors alike.
Plov here is prepared using carefully selected ingredients:
The cooking is handled by five master plov chefs, each with years of experience, assisted by their teams.
Every day, plov is cooked simultaneously in five massive cauldrons, each holding up to 360 kilograms. One of the highlights for tourists is that the entire process unfolds right before their eyes. Crowds often gather around the cauldrons, phones raised, capturing photos and videos of the spectacle.
Some locals even arrive with their own containers to take plov home — for family dinners or office lunches.
The Plov Center includes a large, two-story dining hall, though finding a free table can be challenging, especially after noon. Traditionally in Uzbekistan, plov is eaten only fresh and mainly at lunchtime, which is why it’s recommended to arrive before 12:00 PM for the widest selection.
Even in the early afternoon, the place remains packed, with guests patiently waiting for tables to free up.
There is no printed menu. Instead, the waiter simply lists what is available that day. Typically, only a few varieties of plov are prepared daily. During one such visit, only Wedding Plov and Special Plov remained.
Plov portions come in three sizes:
Even the reduced portion is generously sized and filling.
Guests can add extras such as quail eggs or horse sausage (kazy). Side options include fresh vegetable salad or pickles, and of course, traditional Uzbek flatbread (lepeshka).
Alcohol is not served. Drinks include tea, fermented dairy beverages, and cola (available only in 0.5-liter or 1-liter bottles).
Both Wedding and Special plov are similar in appearance and flavor — fragrant, fluffy, and rich. The rice is perfectly separate, with abundant tender meat pulled into fibers, and generous amounts of carrots, raisins, and chickpeas — noticeably more than the rice itself.
Approximate prices:
The flatbread deserves special mention — hot from the oven, fluffy inside with a crisp crust, and deeply aromatic.
Tea, while very affordable (around $0.30 per teapot), is basic — a tea bag rather than loose-leaf tea, with no lemon available.
A 12% service charge is added to the bill. An interesting local detail: while the waiter brings the check, payment is made at the cashier, not at the table.
Despite the crowds and the challenge of finding a seat, the Plov Center remains an essential stop in Tashkent. Outstanding food, authentic atmosphere, incredibly reasonable prices, and the chance to watch plov being made from start to finish turn a simple meal into a cultural experience.
For travelers seeking to understand Uzbek cuisine beyond restaurants and menus, the Plov Center offers something closer to a live culinary ritual — and it fully lives up to its legendary reputation.
