Destinations

Caravan restaurant Pattaya review: Housed within a uniquely hidden gem in the city-like seaside destination of Pattaya – Let’s Hyde resort – also a rather different, and truly interesting, dining experience is also to be found. Uzbek cuisine anyone?! If saying “Russian restaurant” it may raise fewer eye brows while it may come as a surprise to many that there are in fact three restaurants in Pattaya serving food from Uzbekistan! The most known such restaurant is Caravan, which moved location to Let’s Hyde in July 2023, and a well-established one. It serves Asian, Russian and Uzbek food.

Caravan is situated adjacent to the popular garden resort’s open-air lobby, under the shades of full-grown trees and with pleasant lush vegetation. Aside an al-fresco platform Caravan offers air-conditioned seating inside its square restaurant bungalow, which has window walls on all sides. Different from standard restaurants is also that here the dining tables are spread out along the walls, while the centre is an open zone. This renders a feeling of space, more privacy and a less crowded atmosphere, also thanks to that each table is furnished with opposite-facing sofas. This is the way traditional Uzbekistan restaurants are configured, including offering comfortable sofa seating.

Caravan and Let’s Hyde are situated in booming Naklua, where the Terminal 21 shopping centre and mushrooming lifestyle centres and new residential buildings dominate the neighbourhood. It is also a hub for high quality cafés and many restaurants. Let’s Hyde is at the same time slightly away from it all, down a sideroad and much thanks to its jungle-like vegetation on the premises.

One of the big advantages in Asia, and in popular tourist destinations like Pattaya in Thailand, is the abundance of access to the many cuisines of the world. And the visitor mix that varies from country to country and destination to destination also impacts what cuisines are available – and to what extent. Many visitors tend to seek out restaurants serving their home food. In several Thai destinations many Russians live and are significant in terms of visitor numbers, hence there are many hospitality services catering to them, as well as other Eastern European and Central Asian nationalities. And yes, Uzbek tourists are among those from Central Asia coming to Thailand too, out of the not so insignificant population of 36+ million!

What also makes Asia interesting in this context of the world cuisine’s is that it has these destinations that have been influenced – going back centuries – by many countries. This has resulted in unique cuisines and many dishes, for instance in popular destinations like Penang in Malaysia, or in southern Thailand.

And while it may not be obvious at first, Caravan restaurant fits well into this “category” of blending. Its logo is ingenious, with a camel symbol combined with a very oriental font. And Uzbekistan is not just any place on the map of Central Asis but a territory which as at the heart of the Silk Road. Samarkand was a major city on the route.

Unsurprisingly one today finds a fusion of flavours within Uzbek cuisine (the Silk Road led to the establishing of catering at roadside inns along the route). The cuisine, informs the web, “was heavily influenced by the Silk Road, which fostered a fusion of East and West flavours through trade and cultural exchange. This led to dishes blending ingredients and cooking styles from various regions, such as Persian rice techniques, Chinese noodle-making, and nomadic grilling traditions. The cuisine is also marked by influences from neighbouring cultures, including Turkic, Mongolian, and Russian, resulting in a diverse culinary tradition.”

This also it perfectly understandable that Caravan also offers this mix on its menu, and where to facets also defines it differentiation: Uzbekistan, while being at the crossroads, is also a majority-Muslim country, and thus no pork is served. Second, the food is not spicy.

The restaurant spokesperson informs that many Central Asian guests contact Caravan in advance to ensure that the food is not spicy (e.g. not Thai spicy no blending with the local cuisine). Many of them simply cannot handle spicy Thai food.

Happy Hour Asia – always keen on trying out different cuisines – is curious as to how the Silk Road has influenced the Uzbek cuisine and what it can offer one’s taste buds, especially also from a European perspective, with its many variants of home cooking dishes.

And dining at Caravan, chances are high you are in for – exotic – dishes previously never tried and that may very well make you return back for more!

Its menu contains no less than 67 signature and original recipes that have been improved by the Caravan chef during many years – presented as: ‘cuisine cooked with love’.

As for the Uzbek dishes, these are rich in flavours and heavily influenced by local agriculture and features hearty, noodle-rich dishes. Its most famous national dish is Plov, a fragrant rice pilaf cooked with meat, carrots, and onions, that is considered a symbol of the country’s food. There are 200 varieties of this, and also served at Caravan as ‘Uzbek pilaf.

For some starters the ‘Cold snacks’ selection offers Herring – sliced marinated in salt, served with boiled potatoes, fermented onions, fresh spring onions, seasoned with dill and butter. This dish will be in familiar territory for most northern European countries as well.

On the soup front The Pumkin cream soup is Russian and made from a secret recipe, served with sour cream, cheese and fresh dill. Interestingly lots of pumpkin is grown also in Thailand, while this pumpkin soup differs from the none commonly served as part of buffets here. It has very thick texture, and is creamy and delicious, and served as a large portion!

‘Caravan Signature soup’ is another choice, which comes with Caravan’s home-made beef stock and is rich and tasty with veal, vegetables, greens, sesame and spices.

More Russian representation comes in the form of Pirozhki – fried yeast-leavened boast-shaped buns stuffed with mashed potatoes, onions and butter. These are just delicious!

Similarly, and very common in Southeast Asia as well in the form of samosa, is the Uzbek version of this oven-baked puff pastry, with minced lamb meat (or pumpkin), onions and spices – a great pairing with the soup actually!

Kebab is also known to all of use, where the Lula Kebab (Uzbek cuisine) offers a minced marinated mix of lamb and onion, skewered and roasted slowly over smouldering coal on top of grill (mangal), served with marinated onion, fresh tomatoes, cucumbers, greens and signature sauce. This is heavenly delicious… resembling another classic: meatballs.

Other discoveries on the menu to consider include: Ukrainian borscht (rich beef soup with beetroots and other vegetables); Uzbek pilaf – another name for the he national and signature Uzbek dish Plov, consisting of rice, meat, and vegetables; and the Kazakh dish Beshbarmak, made of thin dough pieces cooked in a beef stock with beef and onions, and served with horsemeat sausage and seasoned with black pepper.

There are also craft beers from the Czech Republic as well as Poland.

We’ll you explore and find your dishes but the dessert section is also a must to mention. It consists in cakes, and not any cakes, but the layered pastry kind, such as The Napoleon and here quite unlike the French original. The recipe has variations across different cultures, with the Russian version being particularly popular for its rich, tender layers.

The Almond cake is another choice, as A multi-layered dessert with signature buttery caramel cream, with loads of walnut and almond petals. The perfect ending of a splendid meal.