‘Karvon’ is an authentic Uzbek restaurant where
flavors of the east and the west meet
Seduction of Silk Road with a wave of desert wind
Writer Lee Hyeon-ju
Photographer Jang Hyeon-seon
L Living abroad can be difficult for many people, and food is probably the one thing people struggle with the most. Food reflects one’s memory and life of home country, and any chance to gobble up on familiar flavor can easily lead people down the much precious memory lane. Many foreign cuisines like Vietnamese and Chinese have entered the mainstream dining scene here in Korea making it easy to spot restaurants offering authentic cuisine, but more exotic cuisine from other countries are not readily accessible by the public yet. Restaurant that specializes in Uzbek cuisine is especially foreign in Korea, but one restaurant in Dongchung-dong, Yeonsu-gu named ‘Karvon’ is offering savory Uzbek cuisine authentic enough to incite memories of home for even the most home-sick Uzbeks.
‘Karvon’ welcomes guests with its exotic exterior full of Islamic flair adorned with Uzbek ornaments and artifacts. The first impression alone is powerful enough to trick people into temporarily believing that they had been transported to Uzbekistan. Majority of Uzbeks are Muslims, and ‘Karvon’ doesn’t offer any dish made with pork. The menu is filled with tasty dish made with mutton instead, and it’s only uses halal food as ingredients. Dining experience at ‘Karvon’ has an added elements of entertaining, because guests can see how the food is being prepared.
Let’s start with ‘lepeshka’, which is a round loaf of flat bread, being baked in a clay oven shipped all the way from Uzbekistan. Lepeshka dough is fermented for 2-3 days before being baked on the wall of the clay oven to render simple flavor with chewy texture. Lepeshka tastes best when dipped in sweet strawberry jam.
In the middle of the restaurant, chef is roasting mutton and kebab over an open grill. Biting into mutton squirts well-preserved juice and a pleasant aroma of charcoal radiates in your mouth. Little bit of mustard sauce can go a long way to cover up any unpleasant meaty flavor while intensifying the savory taste. ‘Karvon’ uses 100% fresh mutton refrigerated only and not frozen, and they exclusively serve the best grade mutton; shoulder rack mutton from baby lamb under 6 months of age. Even though refrigerated meat is a lot more expensive than frozen meat, Karvon’s owner is adamant about offering the best taste and flavor, which is possible only from the best quality meat.
Another signature dish of ‘Karvon’ is ‘lagman’, which is a traditional noodle soup cooked with different vegetables. Rich flavor of vegetables and soft and chewy noodles blend well with the soup and makes lagman a fun dish to enjoy. Sweet potato julienned and fried and tossed in mayonnaise with sliced cabbage is a delicious salad. For Koreans who might find Uzbekistan cuisine a bit heavy and greasy, Karvon offers Korean-style spicy chive salad and tomato salad to refresh people’s taste pallet.
Such efforts to accommodate the taste pallet of Koreans made ‘Karvon’ with its spacious dining area and tranquil atmosphere a popular restaurant to dine out for a whole family.
5 chefs working at ‘Karvon’ as well as the servers are all Uzbeks who came from Uzbekistan, and charming ornaments and artifacts were also hand-picked by Soonok Lee, owner, from Uzbekistan. Lee lived in Uzbekistan for more than 20 years and still makes regular trips to the country where her family members still reside. By far, ‘Karvon’ is pioneer of introducing the most authentic Uzbek cuisine in Korea.
With Uzbekistan being located in the middle of the Silk Road that once connected the East and the West, taste of Uzbekistan at ‘Karvon’ represented a harmonious infusion of flavors of the East and the West. Follow the tempting breeze of desert wind from the Silk Road, which will lead you to ‘Karvon’ in Dongchun-dong, Yeonsu-gu.
Karvon
Address 811-14 Dongchun-dong, Yeonsu-gu, Incheon
Phone - 032)832-9449
Lunch Special Course for 1 Person – lepeshka, rack of mutton, lagman, & desert (W15,000 per person)
Rack of Mutton Special Course for 2 People – lepeshka, ttikva soup, rack of mutton, salad, lagman & desert (W50,000 for 2 people)
Menu also includes a variety of other Uzbekistan dishes such as somsa, lavash, and shashlik, and a selection of imported alcoholic beverages such as pilsner beer from Czech Republic, Baltica (beer) from Russia, and vodka.
