It's not every day your food is grilled by a man who looks like a bonafide Bond villain. The man in question has been expertly flipping meat over glistening coals for just over 20 years, more than enough time to turn you into a bonafide professional. 

Let's be frank, I would never have come here based on name alone. Despite the bizarre christenings, this restaurant was suspended high above the top tier listings on every Uzbek blog. Tourists raved about the "Asia-meets-Central Asia" fusion cuisine, which was almost enough to give it a wide berth, but when my Airbnb host also professed his undying love for the place I gave in.

By the second week even i'll admit, I was getting rather tired of the constant barrage of fatty meats. The culinary compass in central asia harbors few highlights for vegetarians or vegans, and being a part-time vegetarian myself I was not used to the constant onslaught of sacrificed livestock.