Cafe Kashkar

This place is a bit out of the way for most people in the city, but worth the trip. So is the neighborhood, for that matter. The «soman» (aka noodle stir fry) was great, as was the soup with dumplings. Really a neat find.

This place is the bomb! The portions are perfect and the price reflects the portion (you can eat a ton and spend $ 15-​$ 20). I had very many dishes from this place and could say that almost all of them were very good. The dishes have a lot of flavor because of the Central Asian cuisine if you are familiar with this type of food then this place is for you. Downside is this place is kind of small and sometimes can be full, call for groups or reservations.

The owner is from Xinjiang! I was so excited to hear that as Xinjiangese food was my favorite while traveling through China recently. The loooong trip all the way down to Brighton Beach was worth the delicious food — splurge on breads and pitas. The dumplings are excellent too as well as the brown rice. I knew it was going to be great as soon as I walked in and could see a lot of people from the neighborhood sitting there for a long time and enjoying the food and tea.

Pretty good food, the noodle dishes use a great blend of spices which showcase how different yet complimentary cuisine from Asia and the Middle East can be, i.e. Steppe countries. The kebabs that were prepared here are some of the best I’ve had in NYC and anywhere else. While the English language isn’t something easy to find here, short descriptions on the menu are really all you need to have a good meal, that and an open mind.

Excellent dumplings and hand pulled noodles with lamb. sweet family cooking and serving. I’m not sure I’d travel an hour JUST to go there, but if I had half a reason to come to brighton beach, this would be an adequate other half.

Want to try something a little different — head to Brighton Beach — seek out the orange store front, get a few russian beers from the corner deli/​russian bodega and settle in for fantastic food.
Look up the region and you will recognize the influences — yet nothing is like Uighur food.
This is one of my top 3 places to take someone that really loves food — because it is so special.
Small place multi generations in the kitchen serving up delicious items.

Place is quiet busy and small hidden gem. Food is great. Device is bit slow. You have to get the serves attention since place is quiet busy. But over all great food. I’d have this food over any Chinese foods so much flavor and taste. If you are a meat/​lamb/​beef lover it’s your place to go.

Terrible food.
My best friend and I ordered the dumplings and chicken and lamb kabobs. The chicken kabob was okay, nothing special, but the lamb was practically uncooked and smelled bad. As for the dumpling. I found a hair on it and that smelled kind of weird as well. Definitely not worth it, will not be coming back.
Update: I legit got sick from eating at this place.

It’s so hard to find a truly unique food experience in New York when you’re a native (or even if you’ve just lived here a while). Japanese food, Thai food, Chinese food, and Italian food you can find on every other corner, they’re basically the staples of a New Yorker diet. And while there’s always new fusion restaurants popping up, by the third try you realize they’re all just reiterations of the same uninspired creations. I’ve found the truly best restaurants in New York City are the ones that showcase a cuisine and section of the world you never would have known about otherwise.
Enter Café Kashkar, a small mom & pop joint with amazing food you really can’t find elsewhere in New York! The first time I had Uyghur food was in California and I’ve been pining after it ever since… Kashkar did not disappoint! Amazing Laghman, samsa, and sausage. Easy menu to navigate if you don’t speak the language, they have photos of all of the food (even if they don’t always have an english equivalent). The food is prepared as ordered and the ingredients are fresh. Service was pleasant and friendly and the décor is fantastic too– hand painted drums and colorful and intricate drapery all around, plus pink walls! I can’t wait to come back and try everything else.
Café Kashkar is absolutely worth the trip down to Brighton Beach– just think, in the two hours wait it’ll take for you to get into that newest fusion trendy restaurant in Williamsburg or Manhattan, you could have traveled down to Café Kashkar and had authentic Uzbek /​Uyghur food in a great Brooklyn neighborhood that’s remained largely unchanged for years.

The service was very polite and the food was good/​reasonably price. My only complaint is that the dish that I wanted wasn’t available even though it was on their menu.. .
Also, if you are coming out of town, take the subway. Trust me the walk is a lot easier than finding parking.

Stopped into Café Kashkar on the way back to Manhattan from Rockaway Beach. This little spot was jam-​packed at 4pm on a Sunday and with good reason! The food is DELICIOUS! We ordered the tomato salad, manty, another lamb dumpling dish, lamb and chicken kebab, and noodles with meat and vegetables. Everything was terrific, especially the noodles and kebabs. The restaurant doesn’t have much ambiance (a large TV played a Uzbek reality program for the duration of our meal) but service was great. Kashkar is definitely worth going out of your way to visit!

I really, really loved this place. I had manty (the regular kind), lagman, lepeshka, fresh salad, green tea. Everything was great and done correctly — the fact that the lepeshka comes out fresh and hot is amazing. I was also pretty taken aback by a total price tag of 28 $ (waaaaaahhhh? Cheapest meal for two I’ve had anywhere in NYC with a lot of food left over). Absolutely great place which I would recommend to anyone!

Dad’s hometown food. First time and it was great. We ordered the polo, lamb kebab, a soup noodle, naan, and much more! We heard this place from someone else and we came to try. First impression: we would have never thought they had XingJiang food here as it says it’s Chinese and halal.
The place is pretty small but the service here is pretty decent. There may be some waiting if you come a little later though.
We also got the pitcher which consists of many fruits mixed together and it was a bit weird tasting, but it was good enough.

Nice xingjiang food! I took me one and half hour to get there. But the food worths the traveling time!

I come here every time I’m in Brighton beach area.
And it’s not only Uighur food like says in a lot of reviews… I would say they serve Central Asian food!!! And it’s pretty good! I’ve been coming here for 3 years now and I was never disappointed. Brought bunch of my friends here last time, called them 15min prior to arrival and when we got there they arranged a table for us for 6,
And prices are very reasonable.,

Yup. Still shite 2 years later.
Dragged back here by a friend who kept gushing about it but couldn’t remember the name. So imagine my face when we arrived. I instantly lost all respect for said friend and have put him on the «never trust his advice or recommendation for restaurants ever again» list.
Bowl of soggy noodles coated in a half a pint of oil and barbarically cut vegetables.
Good news is that since then, a place that actually serves freshly pulled Lagman opened up called ‘The Handpulled Noodle’, in Harlem.
It’s literally on the other side of the moon if you’re not used to traveling above Columbus Circle, but hey Harlem is the new Williamsburg haven’t you heard and unlike this place, is worth the schlep.

I will always have a warm spot for this place in my heart. After hurricane Sandy they were out of power and flooded like everyone else. BUT the wonderful couple who own the place sat up a grill and made sure we all had hot, good food! They were the only place open in the area serving hot food. It is my go to spot for take out. wonderful home made salads, lamb is always a great choice here. Byob here. no bar service so you can order a table full of appetizers, several shish-​kabobs and whatever else callls to you! I have never left here hungry, or unhappy. Service is great. no ice so when you byob bring your own bag of ice too! That’s my only complaint here! I always order an extra kebobb for my dogs at home. they have a small table outdoors during the summer, but not a good place to go chill with the dogs and eat.

I have been here at least 5 times and after each time I vow to myself to eat there more often. The food is consistently amazing. The flavors of everything I tried exceeds my expectations and my taste buds experience nirvana especially when I eat their lamb rib kebab.
My recommendations are the lamb kebabs, samsa, lagman, polo or plov and their french fries. This place truly takes their food seriously and does not compromise on flavor.
Thank you Café Kashkar for providing some of the most delicious meals I have had in Brooklyn. You have a regular customer out of me.

I stand by the fact that I mostly put my score on food, because it’s food that really differentiates restaurants. I’ll first describe what central asian food is, so you don’t walk in expecting lo-​mein and other white-​washed chinese food.
Background:
Central asian is similar to turkish/​middle eastern cultured foods. That is because Central Asia is mostly desert and plains, meaning there aren’t many crops (or most resources) grown there for that matter. Thus, the environment isn’t known for cattle, pork, chicken and many other regional poultry. Instead, they are known for lamb and dried meats, so if you ever see seafood or dishes heavily based on greens at a central asian restaurant — you’re being lied to. Also, because central asia was once a route for the silk road, most dishes are based on a heavy amount of spices.
TLDR: Dishes to avoid in these regional restaurants: heavily greens-​based or seafood. Dishes generally contain heavy spices and lamb meat. Spicyness level can often be adjusted to taste upon request
Food: ⁵⁄₅
It’s rather rare to find a central asian restaurant in NY and Kashkar is one of those places. The first thing that really stood out was the tea — they used loose leaf tea and the green tea had a very spice-​centric/​earthy scent to it without losing the original green tea taste. Everything on the food menu is great (i recommend one soup dish and one hot main dish) so food menu roulette is relatively safe here. They use rice similar to the Japanese variety, which is very starchy and very beautiful in texture/​aroma. Food is perfectly spiced and very amazing. However, it’s laced with enough spices that it’s almost necessary to order a bowl of rice (fyi, the rice doesn’t come free/​included).
Service ²⁄₅
First off, my main complaint is price because this is located very far away from the center of the city yet these prices are fairly close to those in manhattan. A bowl of rice for $ 3 was a tad excessive (although really good). To be fair, it seemed like people usually don’t request rice and they cooked it for us on-​the-​spot but still expensive. Another bad sign was that the waiter didn’t know what to recommend when we asked for recommendations (it was our first time here). Sure, everything is good, but part of the waiter’s job is to offer suggestions if asked. Service was also lackluster as I had to walk up to the counter a few times to request things. But the staff was really nice and accommodating otherwise (esp since my foodie partner was particularly rude that day).
All in all, would recommend, but not a place i would go to often unless i really crave it

As fate would have it, I parked right outside Café Kashkar after reading the positive buzz on Unilocal.One meal later, I am moved to contribute to this buzz and eat there over and over.
I had only two dishes, the manty and the French fries, but each was independently worth five stars. The service was five stars. And the décor was vibrant and memorable. The prices are in the basement, and I’m in the sky just remembering it. Rich, wholesome manty dumplings, no sauce needed. The fries were bathing in oil, but had a depth of flavor seldom encountered in any dish. Bravo!