About Sim-Sim Restaurant
Sim-Sim in Ashgabat offers authentic Turkmen cuisine where flavour meets tradition. The restaurant has built its reputation among Turkmenistan-resident food press as the city's reference Turkmen-classic dining destination. A comfortable mid-range restaurant that accommodates Turkmen-resident families, government officials, and visiting international tourists seeking the country's traditional food experience.
The signature dishes are unambiguously Turkmen. Turkmen Plov ($14). The rich-and-fragrant lamb-and-rice pilaf with extra lamb fat and roasted garlic cloves; the Turkmen version is heavier and more umami-rich than the Uzbek Bukhara plov. Dograma ($12). The regional Turkmen meat-and-bread stew, with slow-cooked lamb, onions, and crushed flatbread, served as a comforting one-pot dish. Manty ($8 for six dumplings). The steamed lamb-and-onion dumplings. Shashlik ($4 per skewer). The chunky-cubed grilled lamb. The kitchen also serves a small camel-meat menu with the regional Turkmen-style preparations.
The room is comfortable Central-Asian-restaurant style. Sixty seats across a single ground-floor open dining hall with bay windows facing Magtymguly Avenue, decorative Turkmen-traditional carpet wall hangings, and traditional Turkmen-cuisine-themed artwork. Reservations matter for weekend evenings; one week ahead is enough.
What makes Sim-Sim the right Ashgabat Turkmen-cuisine introduction is the recipe authenticity (the kitchen takes the regional cuisine seriously) and the comfortable mid-range format that accommodates international visitors who want a proper introduction to the country's food without the more formal palace-style presentation of Altyn Asyr.
Best Occasion Fit
First dates with travel-curious partners. The Turkmen-cuisine introduction and the comfortable mid-range format work without trying too hard. Birthdays. The multi-course Turkmen-classic format is properly celebratory. Team dinners with visiting colleagues. The format absorbs four to eight.
Explore More in Ashgabat
Discover more exceptional restaurants in Ashgabat ranked by occasion. From first dates to deal-closing dinners and once-in-a-lifetime proposals. Browse our full occasion guide for every type of table, or explore all cities in our directory.