Useful information about food in cafes and shops in Altai, as well as prices in 2020. What national cuisine dishes to try in Gorny Altai?
Attention: Basically, the prices in the article are given for the less popular part of Altai among tourists, that is beyond the Seminsky pass, that is, for the so-called Far Altai - it was there that we spent almost all the time on the trip.
Grocery stores in Gorny Altai
We were worried that in the republic we would have to buy in rural soviet shops, where prices are sky-high and the assortment is scarce. However, it turned out that in Gorny Altai there are supermarkets "Maria-Ra", and this is a real salvation for the tourists hungry for sweets. The prices are usual, the assortment is wide. Only fruits and vegetables are few, they are not cheap. There are also non-food items, for example, gas in cylinders and household chemicals. "Maria-Ra" is in Mayma, Ust-Koks, Ongudai, Aktash, Ulagan, Kosh-Agach.
In small villages there are always one or two shops where you can buy the essentials. The prices are a little overpriced. Advise "Basket" and "Gourmet" (fresh delicious cookies and muffins).
Have private traders or on the market you can buy subsistence products: milk, cottage cheese, koumiss, ayran. Milk (1.5 l) costs 80 rubles, cream (200-300 ml) - 100 rubles, cottage cheese (0.5 kg) - 100 rubles, kumis (1.5 l) - 300 rubles (prices are for Ongudai).
There is a useful shop in Maima, Ongudai and Kosh-Agach "Novex"... He specializes in household chemicals, cosmetics and other little things, but you can also buy Altai products - for example, antler balsams, mumiyo, larch sulfur, healing herbal preparations. There are goods for tourists and motorists.
Honey we recommend buying by the road. We bought the best honey from beekeepers in the Shebalino area. There was also good honey at the Chike-Taman pass. We do not recommend buying honey at the kiosk opposite "Maria-Ra" in Aktash - bad.
Advice: remember that most cafes and small shops in Gorny Altai close very early, especially on Friday (they may stop working at 3-4 pm if there are no visitors). And on weekends, they may not work at all! The exceptions are "Maria-Ra", "Novex", as well as establishments in the tourist Altai (Maima, etc.).
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National cuisine of Altai Mountains
We love to try new things, especially to get acquainted with the national cuisine. When traveling, we try to always eat like a local. Only now it turned out that in Gorny Altai it is not so easy to find dishes of local cuisine, usually the usual rice, buckwheat, borsch, hodgepodge, pilaf, cutlets, etc. appear on the menu.
What we have tried in Altai and we advise you:
- Arychka - alcoholic drink made from milk with the taste of smoked pigtail cheese. It is drunk cold (alcohol is not felt) and hot (like chacha or vodka). It costs about 600 rubles for 1.5 liters.
- Talkan - barley groats, a good replacement for oatmeal (about 100 rubles per 0.5 kg).
- Talkan tea - tea with talkan, butter, milk and salt (30 rubles).
- Khan tea - tea with milk and salt (but you won't find a real one, only Chinese from bags).
- Hayrak - ayran with a slight degree.
- Manty (70-130 rubles per serving).
- Kurdak - roast lamb (about 70 rubles).
- Cake (25-30 rubles).
- Dessert chok-chok - sweet balls of talkan, honey, sour cream, nuts and dried fruits (about 15 rubles apiece).
We wanted to try kurut (hard salted cheese), chegen (fermented milk drink), byshtak (curd mass), edigey (crunchy cottage cheese), borsook (donuts sprinkled with honey), oromo (almost like manty), lamb kocho soup, but did not find ...
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Cafes and canteens in Gorny Altai
Catering establishments are modest and unassuming. The portions are large, the prices are pleasing. What was pleasantly surprised, both in tourist and little-known places, the prices in the cafe are almost the same!
We can recommend several establishments:
- A canteen shop at the exit from Aktash on the left (as it is called, on the map in MAPS.ME it appears as "Rainbow") at the "Nika" gas station along the Chuysky tract. Delicious manti (4 pieces - 70 rubles), lagman, pork chop, cakes.
- Cafe "M52" in Aktash at the entrance to the left. The portions are small. There is grain coffee, which is very rare (100 rubles).
- "Ak-Boom" in White Boom - national cuisine. Delicious and inexpensive. Excellent pilaf and lagman!
- Cafe in the village in the village of Kurai.
- Canteen "Suharik" in the village of Izvestkovy - everything is very tasty and inexpensive.
- Cafe in Tashanta near the border with Mongolia (not far from the checkpoint on the right).
- Ongudai, opposite Maria Ra, has two good dining rooms.
- Cafe "Irbis" at the entrance to Kosh-Agach on the left. National cuisine. The portions are small but very tasty. There is grain coffee. There are many cafes in the center of Kosh-Agach, there is even a sushi bar "Panda".
We do not recommend:
- Cafe "Tashanta" in Ulagan - there they poisoned themselves with a hodgepodge.
- The "Caravanserai" snack bar on the way to Ulagan is a very unfriendly hostess, tasteless. Stale tortillas, expensive.
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