Bigchefs: Delicious food on the Shymbulak in front of Almaty

To reach the "Bigchefs" restaurant, you must have an electric vehicle, because for environmental reasons the access road has not been accessible to combustion engines for some time. If you can't do that, there is a gondola lift built by the Austrian company Doppelmayr. The journey time with this cable car is around 15 minutes. Tickets are available online via the official homepage of the Shymbulak Mountain Resort (QR code on the mobile phone must be scanned at the turnstile) or simply on site at the ticket office.

The “Bigchefs” is not a “classic ski hut that you could put on any mountain”. It is located after the first section on the left hand side of the mountain station and its architecture, which is characterized by a lot of wood, is immediately striking. In two further sections, you can take the cable cars up to 3.200 meters all year round. This should be considered before or after visiting the restaurant, unless you are here in winter to ski anyway, because the view of the mountains of Kazakhstan is impressive. If the visibility is good, you can even see a 5.000-meter mountain. There is no cable car on this yet, and there are no plans for one, but who knows, Doppelmayr and Leitner would certainly like to make an offer… A portrait of the Shymbulak can be found under this link at Aviation.Direct.

Turkish franchise chain on Almaty's local mountain

"Bigchefs" is a franchise chain that is completely unknown in Western Europe and has its roots in Turkey. The chain is represented in Kazakhstan, Turkey, Azerbaijan, Georgia, Northern Cyprus, Libya, Iraq, Uzbekistan, Belgium (Antwerp) and Germany (Frankfurt, Oberhausen and Stuttgart). There are two locations in Almaty: one is in the city center and the other is on Shymbulak. The restaurant on the mountain was tested.

This impresses not only from the outside, but also from the inside with its attractive architecture. The interior and the decoration give the guest a pleasant and comfortable feeling. There are books in various places that you can take free of charge and read if you know the Cyrillic script. There are no printed menus, but a QR code has to be scanned, which you then have on your smartphone. Free WiFi is provided, which works more or less quickly. This is important because the data roaming costs in Kazakhstan are extremely high.

Delicious meals

The order itself is placed in the traditional way by the friendly staff, who have a good knowledge of English and are on the ball. They ask questions proactively and make one or two recommendations. The cuisine is not classic Kazakh, but an international mix that is obviously derived from the core countries in which the restaurant has been active for a long time. The strong influence of Turkish cuisine is no coincidence, as "Bigchefs" is a franchise chain from Turkey.

For starters, we chose various Bodja, breads typical for Turkey, and a typical borsch soup. Spreads were served with it. The portions were very large and tasty. The main course was a meatball and vegetable bowl, which was also very large. It was freshly prepared and you could taste it.

Large portions at a reasonable price for Europeans

The portion sizes in this restaurant are really very large, so if you are not that hungry you should consider sharing a bowl with a fellow traveler, for example. Even then both will be full. After the main course there was the famous Tashkent tea, which was extremely well prepared and therefore delicious.

In terms of price, the "Bigchefs" is not in the low-cost category, but in the upper middle class. For Western Europeans it may seem surprisingly cheap, because from this perspective the price-performance ratio for the quality and quantity on offer is absolutely good value for money. However, you have to bear in mind that for local income levels - apart from Almaty, where comparatively very high wages are common - it is rather expensive. So it all depends on how you look at it.

The restaurant, including the washrooms, was perfectly clean and tidy at the time of our visit. The staff are on the ball and immediately take care of empty glasses or dishes or small items left behind by guests, such as spills or something similar. The WiFi internet, on the other hand, is unstable and sometimes slow. This should be taken into account, as you are dependent on it in order to be able to use the menu.