IELTS test, Uzbekistan food and Russian beer

My wife has been so busy this month. Every day she has to get up early to make the hour long bus trip to work to teach Winter camp. Despite this, she has been studying for an IELTS test - an internationally accepted test for English proficiency. Over the weekend she went to Busan to take the General test.

Unfortunately there was no test taking place that weekend in Daegu which meant that she had to get up at 4am to get ready for her 6am train to Busan on Saturday. She had to be there before 9am to take three parts of the test, listening, reading and writing. Worse though was the fact that she had to make the same trip again on Sunday for the speaking part which she tells me took only fifteen minutes. Understandably she was tired all weekend.

Because of her busy schedule my wife doesn't know how well she did. If she thinks she can get a better score she can always take the test again but will have the benefit of being able to have studied longer for it. The test costs around 200,000won or £110. She took the General test but there is also a harder one, the Academic test. Ihe difference between the two is the Academic one is to prove that you can study in higher education (where only English will be used) and the General is more to prove your ability and we're using this for proof of her level when we apply for her visa for England.

She had no idea what time she would be arriving back in Daegu but thought around 3pm or after. Luckily the test finished fairly quickly so she made it back before 2pm where she met my co-worker Ivan and myself. I would have gone with her to Busan but because there was no way of knowing beforehand what time the test would be over we decided there was no point me going with her just to be sitting around for a few hours.

I met Ivan downtown and took him to the Uzbekistan restaurant, Samarkand. I told him not to expect too much but at least have a beer. He said some of he food reminded him of food he tried on a trip in Europe but not as good. I tried mainly the same dishes as before but also tried a meat and spice filled pastry.



This time the service was better and the portions were back to normal but the meat in the pastry and the dumplings was still a little fatty. The kebab style meat I tried again was really, really good and by far the best dish I've tried there in my three trips. Alas there were no talent contests on the TV that I'd seen before. Instead we were treated to a series of Disney cartoons in Russian and Tom and Jerry.



Thinking that this may be my last chance to sample the beer here I had two. There were three choices, Baltika 3, 6 and 9. Ivan went for the lighter 3 but I tried the 6 for the first time. It was dark and reminded me of the Japanese stout by Asahai you can get here, but at 7% was much stronger. It went down well but I didn't go for a second. Instead I went back to the stronger Baltika 9 which is a hefty 8% lager. I may go back again before my time is up, just for the beer because at 5,000 for a 500ml bottle it is good value here.

Revisiting the Uzbekistan restaurant in Daegu

In March, craving some European food I tried out the Samarkand, an Uzbekistan restaurant found in the downtown area of Daegu. At the time I thought the food was OK but nothing special but put some of the blame down to the food I chose as not particularly Russian/Uzbekistani - even though I know nothing about that cuisine. But I loved the beer, which was cheap, plentiful and strong. I don't know if the Daegu Samarkand is connected with the Samarkand in Seoul but I read some decent reviews of that recently.


I decided to check it out again a few weeks ago but was a bit disappointed. The portions were smaller than before, for example last time I got the dumplings and there were five, this time there were only three, but the price was the same. The food again was OK but not what I would call good but I did enjoy eating some lamb which is hard to get in Daegu. The service on the day was poor. My wife and I were were the only customers in the place but food arrived slowly and one of my orders arrived over an hour after I ordered. The sauces given as accompaniment were not what I expected, ketchup and spaghetti sauce - I watched the woman pour it from a bottle of Prego sauce.


On reflection I don't think I would go there to get food again. The items I chose were no better than first time round which suggests that it was not a bad choice before, but simply not so great food. However, it is worth a try if you are up for a change of scenery and want to try something different. I recommend getting a beer or two as it will make the wait for your order go by more quickly. Even more worthwhile are the entertainment programs shown on the big screen. The singers on the shows have to be seen to be believed.

Uzbekistan restaurant in Daegu

On Saturday we tried something new, a new restaurant, new food and more importantly, new beer. Wandering through the streets of down town Daegu looking for a bite to eat we once more passed through an area that is home to a Daegu Uzbekistan restaurant.


Also, I've been pining for more European cuisine. It's hard to get decent European food in Korea, never mind the insular Daegu. In Korea many restaurants that claim to serve Italian, French or even Spanish style food often give you a combination of European food made to suit Korean palates. Often the results are disappointing messes.



I've always been curious as to what they serve and how good it would be but never took the plunge until now. The food wasn't fantastic though this is perhaps partially due to the dishes we chose. Not being able to read Russian and not strictly trusting the Korean translation I chose foods that resembled more Western foods. This was a mistake. The food was a bit bland but I think I would go again to try more authentic dishes. What we ordered did not seem to us to be representative of Russian/Uzbekistan food but we could be wrong. The dumplings were good, containing discernible meat but the rest left me a bit flat.



Onto more important matters, the beer. Never having been anywhere near Russia and never having has the chance to sample one of their brews I jumped at the chance to sample the beer. The Korean translation read "Russian beer" so I didn't know what brands were available.



The waitress asked if I wanted strong or normal. I chose strong and the wife chose normal. I was expecting a 5/5.5% lager. What I got was a mighty 8%, and it tasted pretty good. I associate beers of that strength back in the UK to be unpleasant, tasting more like a bitter treacle but this was light. After a while I began to feel like I was drinking 8% beer but I would definitely drink this stuff again.



It's worth pointing out that this was a big beer, 500ml, not the normal 330mls you get in most bars and it was only 5,ooo won. A Bargain. After doing some research on Wikipedia I have found that the beer I drank was Baltika 9 (Krepkoe) and my wife drank the Baltika 7 (Export Beer).


If you are in the area and fancy a change, this place may not or may not meet your needs but its worth a look at, especially if you are missing European style food.

The restaurant name is Samarkand