Chayhana

"The food was pretty good! Service was a bit lacking."

"Delicious food, the lagman was very hearty and flavorful. The lamb was fork tender, and the noodles were very good. Greek salad was fresh made and tasty. The fried bread shown below was good served warm with tea or coffee, and the honey cake was a nice dessert, not too sweet. Service was efficient. Recommended!"

"By far the best Central Asian food in the Chicago area! Entire menu is authentic. Hearty, delicious food in enormous portions. Handmade noodles, dumplings, and pastries are fantastic. Hot bread, both oven and deep fried (!) served with tons of butter and spicy peppery sauce. Soups are meaty and rich. Strongly recommended. Don’t forget to drink green tea as a traditional palate cleanser after your meal :)"

"Do you love food? I do. I love food, if I don't like the food, I will refuse to eat it, I will spit it out. I love good food. I have traveled to Europe, to Asia, to Australia, to various parts of North America with the idea of seeing culture and experiencing food. I spent about a year in Europe, mostly Eastern Europe and wanted a taste of borscht again. Did I go to this restaurant to get borscht? No. I went there for the Honey Cake. I heard they had good honey cake. I really really really wanted some cake. Why do I recommend this place? It's not the fanciest place I've ever been, nor did it serve the nicest food. When I walked in, there were families, multi-generational sitting at tables. I'm here in Chicago on business so I'm away from home and family and I'm sitting at a table by myself. I promised my colleague to bring her back something but I was literally eating by myself. I worked 6 days in a row to get the work needed done and I'm tired, exhausted, even. I'm in a city without family, exhausted, and hungry. I take my first bite of bread and suddenly that fatigue starts wearing off. It's a soft cloud with a give to the dough and not dry but chewy exterior that makes the sesame seeds on top just pop with roasted flavor. Before the soup comes out I've downed almost half the basket. I regretted almost polishing it off and having nothing for my soup until the waitress simply offered more. The inner me gave her a hug, the outside me just thanked her politely, it's COVID-19 times after all. The borscht came out, I wanted my sour cream on the side. I dipped my bread in the cream and popped it in the soup and ate it that way. The cool cream was a great contrast to the soft bread and the hot (temp, not spice) and slightly tangy soup. The beef chunk in the soup was perfect, lean with a good sized fat chunk which flavored the soup beautifully. I ended up having a chicken dish, a beef dish, and a beef and lamb pastry. The soup was so good, I ended up getting more portions to go. The honey cake was like biting into a sweet puff of amazing, I ended up grabbing more to share as well. By the time I left, I didn't have the energy to walk. I overate, I was no longer homesick. I'm not from this part of the world but the food gave me my soul back after a long day of work. It really felt like a family meal. I only finished my soup and ate portions of each dish I ordered but I'll have meals for when I'm working due to the generous portions. I thanked the waitress with a nice tip and took a ride home with bags full of goodies to share, feeling like I'm ready for another week of whatever life wants to throw at me. Highly recommended if you love cake. Have the cake."

"This is a mom and pop restaurant serving Central Asian dishes e.g. Uzbek. Tried dishes I had never eaten before, which is quite rare in North America. Tasted good!"