I was like the early birds I had when I first visited Caravan Uzbek and Turkish cuisine. It was a place I’d wanted to visit for a while, but by chance I couldn’t manage until at the right time I had me in the right part of town. Interestingly, there were teenagers in the restaurant’s driveway and they managed the flow.
It was interesting for a number of reasons.
It was 6pm
It was a weekday.
And from the appearance of things, we were likely to be a lot of residents.
My companion tumbled out the window.
“Are you here at a restaurant?” the young man asked.
I nodded.
“Enjoy,” he said politely, allowing the aisle.
Space – one large, open room – sparkled. The table was perfect. The caravan has only been open since October 2023, but it clearly has a throwback vibe. As I am at the Uzbek Community Centre in Queens, it feels old (the building) and a strange, fun cosmopolitan. Or even in the outskirts of Toshkent, the capital of Uzbekistan.
The friendly and efficient staff were purposefully shattering as they sat at the table for the two of us on the other side of the room.
We scanned the menu. It was full of familiar and not too tightly pleasing, and I sipped Turkish tea from my elegant, soft curved glasses.
“Why didn’t we get the date?” my partner asked.
I scanned the room.
Certainly, most of some very large tables had slightly more formal settings than ours. Each place has two beautiful mejor dates lined up and set side by side. There was also a big water pitcher. My brain started math: kids are front, energy, table, water, dates.
“Because they know we’re not here for Iftar.”
I was really in the right place at the right time. The caravan is owned by the Al Buhari Islamic Centre, which will be learned later. And I timing my first visit during the holy month of Ramadan.
After about 20 minutes the sun was gone and the place was noisy and cheerful. It was filled to explode until family and friends cut off the day.
But by then I was already eating a fun discovery for me, a cold beef tongue ($16.99) with mustard appetizer.
Our server tried to speak to me to the hot version that choked with onions, mushrooms and creamy sauce (“I love it, but it’s not too cold,” he laughed and told me. I enjoy my tongue in other iterations – mostly on Lengua Tacos – had to be rolled along with what I spoke to. Combined with warm, fresh Uzbek bread, even plain yellow mustard couldn’t shake me, but the brown version really makes me sing. Good stuff.
Our server says that much of the caravan’s material is imported from Central Asia. So food really speaks to the customer. There are also many customers from Russia and China, but over time the majority has now been about half.
More and more, Pakistan, Arab and Latin American countries and American customers are finding their way here, he said. The reviews are good. The taste in it is even better, I guarantee you.
He points out similarities between the dishes in these regions, such as dumplings from China and the handmade steamed mantis here ($18.99). But the latter is packed with seasoned lamb sweetly made with a slippery garlic butter.
And is there a yogurt sauce like sour cream on the side? That’s my grandmother’s East Euro Kitchen, calling me from the deli to the house.
Next up, the summer and grilling couldn’t get better elsewhere along with kebabs of lamb jazz ($11.99) and chicken adana ($10.49). The sides are sold separately, but the thin non-slip onions and some homemade pitas are accompaniment to beautifully cooked meaty skewers. There is no gas here, only charcoal. And the flavor is inherent. Fresh.
“Sometimes people get mad at us running out,” he says. “But that’s because everything we have here is fresh.”
On a subsequent visit, something fresh and toothy was simmered in the hands of a rugmann, plucked noodles ($17.99), noodles, vegetables and protein addicted. Signature To’y OSH ($18.99) features rice imported from Central Asia along with cumin, coriander and raisins. According to our server, sweet yellow carrots are coming through Canada. Canada is the closest place where they can get as much produce as possible in their homes.
On the Turkish side there’s plenty of Metze platter ($19.99) along with hummus. Smoky Baba Ganoush; Creamy, Garlic Heidary. Delicious spinach fried with spicy ezmes and onions was made for an incredible shared dinner when you head home. But in the restaurant, the fluffy sweet honey cake along with bitter Turkish coffee was the heavenly capper of that first night’s discovery.
There was music and laughter, and what drove from table to table, within and without it, within the Muslim community, to a table that satisfies the mission of the neighboring community. The spirit of a holiday was permeated.
And we ate as if we weren’t eating.
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If you’re going
Caravan Uzbek & Turkish Cuisine: 8015 S. Orange Ave. in Orlando, 321-294-4444; caravanhalal.com
