I had a fun dinner at Jibek Jolu with a group of five friends as part of a BYOB dinner club. The meal was such a great value; we ate like kings and the final tab was just $21 per/person (including tax and generous tip)!
About the only knock is the menu is on the small side and many dishes sound similar to one another (lots of pies/dumplings filled with meat/cheese/potatoes/veggies with slightly different combinations of ingredients or type of dough - some fried, some steamed and some baked). As a positive, all the appetizers are priced as individual pieces, so you can try just about everything if you want - or if there is something you know you love order double or triple orders (appetizers ranged from about $1 to $3). Our group did double orders of six different appetizers (pretty much the entire selection) as well as ordered the carrot salad (really delicious - spicy shredded carrots with garlic and olive oil) and this was a nice amount of food - everybody was able to have a decent size tasting portion of each appetizer. If dining as a couple single portions of three to four different appetizers would probably be optimal. The food was well seasoned and just about everything was good. Definitely hearty food, so perfect on a chilly Chicago winter evening.
Most entrees may be ordered in half sizes in case you want to dine "small plate" style and sample multiple dishes. Since we had five people we opted to order four full size entrees of a variety of dishes and eat family style (i.e. share everything). This again worked out to be the perfect size of food. While some of the meats seemed a bit overcooked, overall there were nice flavors; nothing fancy, but good, simple ethnic cuisine. With most entrees being priced under $10 this is really an awesome value (portion sizes are fairly hearty). The Lagman Ganfan was my favorite entree, featuring sliced daikon with red green, and banana peppers tomatoes, garlic, and beef stewed alongside your choice of noodles or steamed rice. There is also complimentary warm bread served soon after you seat (the bread was a bit on the sweet side and resembled a brioche). The menu also contains some soups such as a borsch, but since we were eating family style we opted not to order any soup. By dessert time we were quite full, so we just shared a single piece of the honey cake which everybody enjoyed.
Jibek Jolu is quite casual and has warm, pleasant decor without being too busy setting a nice tone for the Russian/Central Asian cuisine. The venue is on the small side, but has good acoustics and was not at all loud. Our server was friendly but a bit overworked in that she was the only server for the entire restaurant. As such it took a lot of time to place our order, but once placed the food was served at a decent pace and she checked in with us as often as she was able. If the restaurant had been filled to capacity having only one server on duty would have been a big issue, but since they were only about half full it was workable. Not sure if they were short staffed last night, or if this was typical. All in all this was an enjoyable evening and one of the best values in dining I have experienced in Chicago.
This is one of the best food finds in Chicago. Excellent taste, excellent service. Think Russion cuisine meets Turkish cuisine, with a bit of Korean influence. Basically nomadic food from Central Asia. If you've never tried it, you absolutely must! They prepare the dough from scratch, so go ahead and enjoy the noodle and dumpling dishes too!
Review Source:Nice! Â I did have to look up exactly where Kyrgyzstan was (because I am a nerd) but its location completely explains the menu which has Russian, Turkish and Asian influences. Â Thanks to you Yelpers, we ordered the Korean carrot salad which was excelllent. Â They do a special chicken on weekends which was also great. Â Add some dumplings and homemade dessert -- great for a winter dinner. Â Everything is made from scratch and it is BYOB. Â I knew that we were in for a great meal when a group of eight young Russians came in, complete with GIANT bottle of vodka for a night out.
Review Source:My gf is Russian and she has been on a quest to find Russian cuisine in Chicago and pickings were pretty slim. A russian friend told her about this place and she said we had to try it as it has very authentic russian dishes.
We came on a Saturday afternoon and it was almost a full house with spectators watching a soccer match. Our server was a very nice girl from Kyrgyzstan and she treated us like gold. She made sure we had everything that we needed and took good care of us. Her & my lady spoke russian to each other which was an added bonus for my girl. I was told to try the russian potato salad which was okay, but nothing to sing home about. My main dish was the Plov, which is beef served with steamed rice, carrots, onions & garlic. Very good as the beef had a flavor that I never tasted before. I would definitely try that dish again as I am now thinking about it as I write this. I also tried her Manty which is steamed dumplings stuffed with pumpkin, chopped beef/pork blended and onions...very good as it came with a salsa like side to pour over.
This place is a nice find if you like Russian or central asian food!
What a fantastic find! I had never eaten Central Asian food before...but it was really delicious. I don't remember the names of any of the dishes we tried, but they were all tasty. My favorite was a noodle soup...and the honey cake was great (even though we were completely full from the large dinner portions).
The staff was VERY friendly, and more than accommodating when we shared a bunch of plates. Super-sweet waitress!
I will definitely be back.
What a find! Â BYO (huge plus) and dozens of items on the menu I'd never heard of before. Â Went to dinner with three of my sisters and placed in a back corner with cozy bench seating. Â We ordered: Carrot Salad (delish pickled carrots with spices), Lagman, Manty, a noodle dish with boiled lamb and honey cake for dessert. Â We ate every bite and the total for the meal was $46! Â Will definitely be back for a second round.
Review Source:Such a unique place. The food was really tasty and cabbage-y. Not a great place to go if you are a vegetarian, but I'm not! I think the meat jelly was a little too adventurous for me. Â Everything else was yummy and cheap. BYO is a plus always and the staff was attentive. Â Awesomely huge disco ball in the middle of the restaurant too!
Review Source:I tried this place on Friday night and it was really great for the price. Â My dinner total was under $10 dollars and I had more food than I could eat. Â Waitress was sweet. Â Food was definitely fresh and tasty. Â
Not a big deal, but the bathroom is really creepy! Â (not dirty, just odd).
If you haven't been here then put it on your list of places to east. This is by far one of the best places to get Central Asian and Russian cuisine. The menu is almost of 50/50 split between the two and has some solid Russian favorites on the the list.
I've been here a couple times and been able to sample about half the menu and I haven't been disappointed yet. For drink I recommend trying the Kompot, and I recommend any of the appetizers they are all excellent. After that it's up to you to make your own decisions.
I recommend any night of the week for this place but on Friday and Saturdays they offer up Shashlik Mashlik (kebobs). Â I haven't had them here but if it's anything like the rest of their menu then I"m sure it'll be awesome.
Tips for this place
You practice your Russian with waitstaff
Russian/Central Asian Pop in the background
Service is hit or miss but there so friendly and typical of Central Asian Restaurants
Food is flavorful not spicy and dill is a staple among the dishes
Central Asian comfort food at its finest. Really. Get in here now (but just not when I want to come for dinner! ;))
I wasn't feeling too great, and now that Jibek Jolu is SO CLOSE TO WHERE I LIVE (!!!!), we stopped in for a relaxed Friday dinner. Probably the best idea I've had all month. The people who work here are so friendly. I want to hug them all!
The Korean carrot salad is still the most delicious thing ever. We tried the blini stuffed with beef - a great little appetizer. Then, the highlight was the lagman, of course - a bowl of hand-pulled noodles topped with a savory beef/pepper/onion stew, and the manty - dumplings filled with beef, onion, and pumpkin.
Oh! And since I was here last, they added a new traditional drink to the menu! The Kompot is a juice blend of apple, lemon, and raspberry. It is delicious. I would definitely recommend this to people who want something traditional, but don't want the yogurt drink (Airan).
All that, and our meal only cost $34. At this rate, I'm going to having lagman for every meal - you know, to prepare for the winter...? Long Live Lagman!
What a great surprise.A small menu but nice variety of dishes.I tried Chebureki a fried pie filled with lamb for a app. Meat Ball Soup and for the main course Beshbarm ,boiled lamb is diced with knives and mixed with special stew and boiled noodles.
I have never tried kyrgyzstam food I would recommend anyone that like to try something new give it a try. Our waitress was very nice and helpful. Can't wait to go back.
The service was extremeful friendly & super nice.
The food was really unique & tasted homemade--I'll be back for that.
The dish "Lagman" Â was my favorite--so flavorful, and the egg noodles were delish.
The bread was homemade and tasted great!
The decor was so cute, including the cute little disco ball hanging from the ceiling.
The Kyrgyzstan pop music (I assume it was that) playing in the background was upbeat and lively. Really felt like you were in a foreign country.
Overall, this was such a cool experience, and I highly recommend it. (For the meat-averse, yes, there are some veggie dishes to order from the menu.) I think if you love German food (meat & potatoes) then you will love this restaurant.
My husband and I came here for a late lunch on Saturday. There were a few other people eating there, but it wasn't too full. The restaurant was very small but very clean and the servers were all friendly. We have never had Kyrgyzstan food before but this place felt very authentic.
We had the chebureki to start. It was like a fried meat pie. It tasted kind of like a giant fried wonton with lamb filling. Pretty good, but not that exciting. Next we had the Korean carrot salad. I really liked this. Something about the spices and olive oil and the texture of the carrots...it was great. They used some kind of pepper that was like a cross between black and white pepper. It was delicious. I could have eaten a giant bowl of this carrot salad.
For our entrees we shared the besbarmak, which is a lamb and noodle dish. It's like a large platter of asian noodles and then ti's topped with small chunks of lamb, green onions and that delicious pepper I mentioned above. Â I felt that the noodles were slightly more cooked than I would have preferred, but it was tasty. The manty (lamb, onion, and pumpkin dumplings) were really tasty and were served with a dill and yogurt sauce.
We got the honey cake for dessert. I guess I came in hoping it would be like this honey cake we used to get from this Russian Bakery when I was a kid, but it wasn't quite like that so I was disappointed. The cake was fine though, although I felt like the chocolate sauce kind of drowned out the honey taste.
Anyways, our bill was only 40 bucks which was very reasonable considering we had enough leftovers for dinner too. We will be back to try some of the grilled meats on the "specialties" section of the menu.
I really can't recommend this place -- it turns out there's a reason I've never eaten Kyrgyz food before. Basically, it's starch, oil, ground meat and onion.
Chebureki (fried pie with lamb)? Starch, oil, ground meat and onion.
Beshbarmak (lamb and noodles)? Starch, oil, ground meat and onion.
Manty (dumplings)? Starch, oil, ground meat and onion.
Pelmeni (smaller dumplings)? Starch, oil, ground meat and onion.
Tefteli (basically spaghetti with meatballs)? Starch, oil, ground meat and onion.
Our waitress was quite insistent that the "honey cake" was actually sour cream cake and did not contain honey. She was also quite insistent that it was only enough for one person. We split it three ways, and found it palatable but not much else. The baklava was decent.
My food didn't come out with the other 3 dishes, and it was 15 minutes before I could find our waitress and another 10 before I got my plate.
Avoid.
WOW! I was really impressed.  It is a CLEAN/ NEAT small/ Mid sized place.  Very cute spot. Service was great, and the food even better.  They had Russian/ Kyrgiz TV on playing Pop Music, as back ground Music, but not over bearing.  We had 2 entrees, appetizer, 2 soups, and their specialty Salad for $44.00 w/ tax.  My taste buds  Love This Place. I Will Be Back.
Review Source:Jibek Jolu which means "Silk Road" brings the cuisine of Kyrgyzstan to Chicago. With influences from Russia, Turkey, India, Korea, and China this is food everyone needs to try! A delicious part of my meal was the egg salad type appetizer! Yum! I ordered the Oroma, the traditional steamed pie made with minced potatoes, onions and pumpkin in a long thin wrap. WOW! Nothing like I expected it to be like and it was so yummy and I even took the rest home and it held up well in the toaster oven! I also tried the Vareniki, a russian dish of crescent shaped dumplings stuffed with mashed potatoes served with sour cream - pretty great. Cute little place and of course - BYOB! I thought the food was excellent, portions large and the service from a single waitress for a group of 25 was great.
Review Source:Good vegetarian options such as Oromo (potato, carrot, spices, noodle) and Borsch  (beet soup) The food was good, staff was friendly and the cultural experience is worth it. I have never seen a restaurant that offers up food like this. Kyrgyzstan culture is a very interesting mix of various cultures and it can be seen and tasted in the cuisine here. It's always nice looking at your meal and seeing the different impact a particular culture had on the creation of the meal. BYOB which is a plus. I do declare this to be a hidden gem in Chicago that may not stay so hidden for long and for good reason!
PS many of the dishes are noodle based so it may be hard for those with glutten-free diets to find anything outside of salads
Highly recommended if you're interested in trying something completely different.
Kyrgyzstan is located between Kazakhstan, Uzbekistan, and China and was a stop along the Silk Route. Â You can definitely taste the influences from China, Russia, Turkey. Â The staff was super friendly and helpful. Â BYOB.
The highlights include:
Appetizers:
Samsy
Korean Carrot Salad
Garden Salad
Entrees (try the spicy sauce on the side, not too spicy, good flavor)
Manty - dumpling filled with beef, onions, and pumpkin (table favorite)
Besbarmak - lamb and noodles
Mongolian Beef - beef with mashed potatoes or rice
Vegetarian: Vareniki, Oromo
Dessert: Honey Cake!
Kyrgyz wha?? Â Forgive my ignorance, but before Jibek Jolu existed, I have never heard of Kyrgyzstan. Â I now know where it is located on the globe, a bit of their culture, and a lot of their cuisines. Â Thanks to Jibek Jolu, the back of their menu and Google.
I just love going to restaurants where they serve homemade food. Â No fancy little umbrella nor curly shaved chocolate pieces. Â Just plain good food.
My favorite so far is probably the meatballs and the lamb noodle soup. Â Plus, whatever they have in their list of appetizers. Â
Everything is made from scratch. Â I think. Â Thus, it takes a while to have your food served on your table. Â Definitely do not come here with your tummy growling.
First of all, Jibek Jolu (Kyrgyz cuisine) is a Central Asian restaurant, not Middle Eastern per Wei H's review below.
Kyrgyz cuisine is pretty unique, offering a mix between chinese, korean, russian, and persian influences in their dishes. I got to sample a lot of appetizers and entree dishes and the food was fairly good. So why the 3 star rating? Some of the dishes were too oily/greasy and the service was pretty bad/non-existent.
Let's start with the food.
Korean Carrot: Shredded carrots with korean spices. Very nice.
Chebureki: Fried pie stuffed with lamb. Pretty good.
Jibek Jolu Special Salad: It's a beef stir fry with onions, garlic and cucumber. Tasty but nothing special.
Stuffed Blini: small light pancake stuffed with ground beef. We didn't think it was *THAT* small. It's pretty small, like one bite small. FYI.
Vareniki: Russian like dumplings stuffed with mashed potatoes and served with sour cream. I LOVE this... the dumplings were cooked really well, not too firm or soggy, tastes really good I couldn't stop eating it.
Beshbermak: Boiled noodles/ pasta? with boiled diced lamb and vegs on the side. They say this is the most popular dish, but I'm meh about it. Not much flavor. The noodles were plain, the lamb was plain too. Not much seasoning. Kind of oily at the bottom.
Oromo: Steamed pie (more like lasagna but made with thin dumpling skin) layers of minced potatoes, onions, cabbage and carrots. Served with sauce. I like it a lot.
Marinated grilled chicken with fries was their special. Also just okay.
Honey Cake: probably one of the best things here. Be wary, it's a little on the sweet side, but not as sweet as baklava. the cake itself is dense, but very soft and moist. drizzled with honey AND chocolate.
At the end of dinner, we thought that the food was mostly pretty bland and underseasoned. (Remember, I'm Malaysian and I eat EVERYTHING with spice and sriracha, so I'm not used to this monotone flavor of food).
The things that stood out to me were the non-meat dishes actually, the carrot salad, the vareniki mashed potato dumplings and the oromo steamed pie/vegetarian lasagna.
Now onto the service. They were pretty slow.. there were 2 other people when we came in, they left and 3 other people walked in after us. We were a group of 6. On a Tuesday night. Pretty normal I guess. But the server would just wait in the kitchen forever. At times we had to wave our hands (asian in asia style) to grab his attention. They were out of a number of things on the menu, but offered substitutes.
However, I do think this place is pretty damn authentic given the 3 people who came in after us, were dressed like they were from the old country with military boots and everything. One time we laughed kinda loudly, I think military guy asked the server to turn the music UP to drown our jolliness. True story.
We also noticed a disco ball, colored lights and strober on the ceiling. In addition to the traditional Kyrgyz decor on the walls. Maybe they have dance parties on the weekends?
**BONUS: They serve zabiha/halal meat for observing muslims.
Love, love, love this place! Staff is friendly and accommodating, the food is cheap and delicious and reminds me of home.
Planned a party here on a Saturday night and they couldn't have been more awesome. It only set me back a couple hundred for 40 people (i believe it was appetizers, but can't remember the details)! BYOB of course!
It was just tons of fun. Go!
Loved my first central asian (not middle eastern, my apologies) food experience. I read through all of the yelp reviews and went prepared. A group of us 4 girls decided to pig out.
First off, service is slow as there seems to be just one waiter serving 8 or so tables. Secondly, water comes in a fancy tall bottle. Not that the water tasted like thawed ice from the Alps you know, but i thought that was so unique about this restaurant.
Appetizer:
pirojki - everything fried is good... amazing comfort food. just amazingly creamy, warm and soft and everything you need on a chilly night.
korean carrot salad - i had high expectations for this but i wasn't blown away. I find other other salads at a korean restaurant more refreshing and flavorful.
Main:
Lagman - extremely delicious and flavorful dumplings. I normally don't eat beef but decided to try and I am so glad I did. I am not familiar with central asian spices but the taste was so unique, strong but not overpowering.
Oromo - i loved this dish. It managed to make cabbage delish. There's something creamy about this lasagna-like dish. Along with the sour cream it is the ultimate carb bomb.
Chicken botley and lamb noodles- according to my gals they were delicious.
We also ordered the obligatory honey cake. I found it very sweet but since it was honey the sweetness was lighter. We all went crazy about it.
All of the above were in huge portions. I will seriously go back to try the rest of the menu.
Until a few weeks back I had fallen into a routine of peering over maps, trying to identify cuisines from the countries around the Silk Road. It was getting to be a nice scatter plot till I realized that I couldn't find anything from the land of Borat. I googled Kazakhstan restaurants and could only find something in London, disheartened I typed Kyrgyzstan instead and saw the name of Jibek Jolu.
Other than the fact that the server took slightly less long to bring the menu (and later the food) to my table than the flight from New York (ok, slight exaggeration), the meal itself was worth making the trip. To be fair, the extra time to select from the menu was helpful as I was struggling in selection of dishes with the number of options that tempted me. So, I made the executive decision to avoid the popular dishes at Jibek Jolu that I've tried in Uzbek restaurants (such as the hand pulled noodles: Lagman, meat dumplings: Manti, Rice: Plov) and instead focus on those that I had never eaten before.
The meal started with the Jibek Jolu Special salad: fried beef with onions, garlic, and cucumbers served with soy sauce. I've jogged my memory, but struggled to find any salad I've eaten that I could call hot (which says in equal parts about my ambivalence towards salads!), but the Special salad lived up to its name and was absolutely delicious. I loved the fact that the cucumber was soft, but not soggy and that the flavors were distinct and intense.
The salad was followed by Kesme soup, which I understand is the national Kyrgyz noodle soup and is made from beef, potatoes, tomatoes, garlic, green and red peppers, celery and beets. It was also excellent and reminded me as a better version of the Lagman soups that I've had in NYC.
After a lot of debate, I had selected the Oromo as my entrée. The struggle was not only based on competing items on the menu that were tempting, but also for the fact that the description didn't jump out at me: Traditional steamed pie made with minced potatoes, onions, cabbage, and carrots in a long thin wrap. I went for it nevertheless and was glad that I did, for one may have eaten the ingredients thousands of times, the way they the textures and flavors were brought together was exceptional - one of those simple dishes that stick in your mind long after for the way it came together. While I finished the yogurt based dip pretty soon, it didn't hurt that they have an excellent spicy salsa-ish dip as well that has a fresh bright flavor to perk things up, when the ingredients strike you as mundane.
Truly, one unique flavor after another! The only thing missing was the Kyrgyz equivalent of Jagshemash from the server. His saving grace was that he appeared contrite for the delayed service.
It's not that the food was bad... it's just that Kyrgyz cuisine appears to be exactly what you'd expect from a landlocked nation with a harsh climate that spent most of its culinary development without access to a nice variety of produce or spices.
It seemed to me like they did pretty well with what they could; I had the lagman, and the noodles were tasty and well cooked to a perfect al dente. Â I might've been more impressed if I had actually gotten to see them pulling the noodles. Â As for the stew served on top of the noodles, it was fairly pedestrian, with sauteed meat, peppers and onions, and lacking in seasoning and depth of flavor.
I also had the Piroyki, which was a fried doughball with mashed potatoes inside. Â It looked like a great dish on paper, but again, lacked any seasoning or sauce and so came off fairly bland.
I am sure this place represents the pinnacle of Kyrgyz cuisine... I am just not that impressed with the fruit of this central asian nation.
There isn't a self-respecting vampire that would come within a mile of me tonight, as I just finished dining at Jibek Jolu (which is apparently Kyrgystani for Gargantuan Garlic Breath).
While the food was good, it was unremarkable.
The Korean carrot salad (I thought this was Central Asian food... did central Asia move?), which sounds pedestrian, was in fact one of the best dishes we'd ordered.
We also had a Piroshki... sounded better than it was... shaped like a Calzone, but much lighter, with some kind of filling that was unidentifiable, but doused in garlic.
Main dishes we tried Lagman... seemed to be some kind of soupish concoction with lots of delicious noodles. More garlic.
The waiter recommended the Beef Kotley... (or at least I think he did... he nodded and smiled)... it was two beef meatballs, in the shape of goat testicles (c'mon... y'all know what goat testicles look like, dontcha??), on a plate with onions, cucumbers and tomatoes... you get to choose a side... I chose noodles... uninspired, and soaked in garlic.
Best part of the meal was the honey cake, drizzled in chocolate sauce. Â I'm not a big fan of middle-eastern desserts... baklavah isn't dessert... it's a puzzle wrapped in an enigma (how can I eat this tasty treat without my fingers and teeth getting stuck together permanently?) But the honey cake was large, moist and delicious. But damnit... no garlic.
so there it is... best choice for a meal... carrot salad with a side of honey cake. Â (bring your own Vodka).
Not having any experience with Kyrgyzstani food, I thought I'd try a lot of different things. Â It was all good, but I was surprised that I preferred the vegetarian dish the most -- so branch out a bit. Â Â
Chebureki -- not bad, if i remember correctly it reminded me of Naan filled with meat
Meat  Ball Soup - pretty damn good, and I get the feeling the others would be as well.  This was better than I was expecting. Â
Oromo - I originally ordered the Kotlety but they were out. Â The server suggested this, and I'm thankful he did. Â I was turned off by the word "cabbage" in the description, but he told me to try it anyway. Â It was my favorite thing I had and I would recommend it to anyone and everyone. Â
Manty - not bad, not bad at all
Honey Cake -- this was ok, but I'd opt for baklava instead next time
Can anyone out there confirm if they deliver or not? Â When I called, they said they didn't deliver, yet on their take out menu, it says delivery.
'You know what kefir is, right?' I asked my yogurt-hating dad right before he ordered the summer soup special (radish, cured sausage, cucumber, boiled potato, egg, and green onion in a cold kefir base). Â 'It's yogurt.'
He ordered it anyway. Â And ended up recalling its deliciousness for days to come (no, that is not a euphemism for vomiting - he really did like it). Â And so did I. Â With a shocking fizzy tang upon hitting the tongue, crisp, fresh veggies, and spicy, salami-like sausage, it was indeed just about the most refreshing summer soup ever. Â Score one, Jibek Jolu.
The lagman noodles (beef, tricolor peppers, daikon, clearly homemade noodles) were oily to the extreme, but that's just part of what made them so tasty! Â I found this to be a very Russian-tasting dish - something my grandma might make if she weren't afraid of spicy. Â This was my favorite dish. Â Score two, Jibek Jolu.
The lamb pie appetizer was nothing special, and neither was the 'national drink' (my dad thought it tasted like cherry Kool-aid - I figured more like apple juice mixed with pink lemonade) but it doesn't really matter. Â You don't need appetizers anyway - they swoop over with a ginormous platter of fried and baked bread as soon as you sit down.
I have nothing to compare Kyrgyz cuisine to - there is no way that I have ever seen a Kyrgyz restaurant before in my life - but judging on the universal scale of tasty, this place gets my vote.
The only complaint I had about this place was the slow service (-1 star). This restaurant is not big, and if you plan on coming with a group (I came with 10 other people), then making reservations is a must. This place is BYOB and accepts credit cards. We also didn't have any problems finding street parking (for 3 cars) in the area.
Everyone enjoyed the food, which included the piroshki and a vegetable noodle salad for appetizers; manty, sashlik, lagman, and oromo for entrees; and honey cake for dessert. Appetizers and desserts were all under $5, and entrees ranged from $9-13.
If you're curious to give Kyrgyz food a try, I highly recommend Jibek Jolu
I've been borderline-obsessed with Kyrgyzstan for many years, part of a problematic Orientalist infatuation with the former Soviet Republics in transition.. Â I even I.L.L.ed a dusty old Kyrgyz tourism VHS (back at the height of my obsession) that was purportedly about the epic poem Manas, but was mostly about the Kyrgyz love of horses. Â They love horses so much that their national drink is Kymyz-- fermented mare's milk.
Well, sadly you can't get fermented mare's milk at Jibek Jolu, but they will sell you a diet coke and some truly tasty and pretty cheap food. Â My date ordered Manty, which are beef-filled steamed dumplings, and I had Oromo, which are vegetarian potato, onion, and pumpkin dumplings. Â It was a huge amount of food, and I couldn't finish my entree even though it was really delicious. Â Both dishes came with a strong yogurt dip/sauce that was great and went well with the dumplings. Â I could seriously eat this stuff every day. Â Central Asian food is a real mixing of the cuisines of so many regions (Middle East, East Asia, Russia, South Asia), all of which are represented in the food at Jibek Jolu. Â Next time, I'll branch out and arrive hungrier
The horse theme, while not integrated into the menu offerings, comes out in the decor-- the walls are covered in paintings of horses, and my date and I were seated next to a pair of really great rhinestoned faux leather his-and-hers riding crops.
Quiet, great atmosphere, open late, and has several vegetarian appetizers and entrees.
The best Kyrgyzstani food I've ever eaten!!!!! Okay, I dont really have any other restaurant to compare this place to, but the food was really good and the dining atmosphere was really nice.
There was 12 of us for dinner so we ordered a lot of food. Â We ordered almost everything on the menu!!!! One of the few things we did not order was a soup dish. Â Here was our dinner menu for the night:
Appetizers:
Samsy (crispy and flaky pastry filled with beef and onions-similar to a samosa-delicious and filling!)
Chebureki-fried pie filled with meat (this was good but I liked the samsy better)
We wanted to order the Borsok, but the restaurant required us to order it in advance (probably about 4 hours before we arrived)
Salads:
Korean carrot (thinly sliced carrots with flavorful spices) and Funcheza (this salad had korean noodles in it) Â both salads reminded me of thai papaya salad without the fish sauce. YUMMIE!!
Entrees:
Lagman-spicy noodle dish
Oromo-
Ganfan-similar to the Lagman except with rice
Kotlety-meatballs with onions-the meat was tender and seasoned perfectly
Manty-steamed dumplings (similar to chinese xiao long bao except without the soup inside the dumpling!)
Pelmeni-triangular dumplings (similar to pierogi)
Vareniki-dumplings stuff with mashed potatoes (similar to a potato pierogi)
Dessert:
Honey cake- sweet cake with the texture of pound cake. drizzled in chocolate!
Everything in our food was so perfectly spiced!! The food appeared to have a lot of influence from Turkey, Russia, Europe, and China. I learned that this was because Kyrgyzstan was on the spice trail (Silk Road). Their menu says they serve meat that is organic (Kosher and Halal). Nothing was too spicy, but some food did have a nice kick to it. All the dishes had great flavor.
Service was very attentive. Â They provided us with extra plates and forks and glasses. They were so good to us!
Prices are VERY affordable. The dishes are priced under $10. We got all this food at $17 per person which included tip!!! What a steal!!! Portions were fairly big. The restaurant was actually pretty busy without our group of 12, which is a great sign! I hope this place stays in business for a long time because I think this may be the only Kyrgyzstan restaurant in Chicago! So happy its here!
Street parking is really easy in this area. There is an abandoned parking lot across the street from the restaurant, but park at your own risk!!!
Kyrgyz cuisine in Chicago? I am still baffled considering there is probably not many Kyrgyz in the city to cater to. But this is probably the best thing that happened to Chicago for a very long time. Apparently Jibek Jolu means "Silk Road" and their menu does not disappoint. Like the actual silk road, there's an interesting mix of Chinese, Persian, and Russian influences in their food.
If you have a hard time choosing, I would definitely go with lagman, their handmade noodles served with a beef and vegetable stew, which also happened to be their national dish. When I say handmade to order, I meant it, literally! I saw them stretching their noodles by hand in the kitchen and 5 minutes later, it was right in front of me. The stew was perfectly cooked and the noodles were al dente - it's probably the best noodles I've ever had in Chicago.
Other notable items include solyanka, which is a full flavored soup with chunks of vegetables, meat and olives, samsy which are freshly made flaky meat pies, pelmeni, which are dumplings served with sour cream, and airan, a plain yogurt drink that's popular in Asia.
You can tell from the food that the owner really puts a lot of effort in offering authentic Kyrgyz food. If you ever had to wait a little for your food, rest assured, they are making it from scratch. You can't get any better than that. Go support this local business!
Jibek Jolu (Silk Road) is an education wrapped around a meatball!! Christopher and I stopped here for lunch today and learned all about Kyrgyzstan and Central Asian Cuisine.
From everything I have heard, this cuisine is extremely rare in the U.S., so am so glad we took the opportunity to experience it. I started with a small bowl of borscht. Well to be honest, it was not such a small bowl. It was delicious and decadent with a dollop of sour cream on top. My entree was the Lagman. The menu describes it as "sliced daikon, with red, green, banana peppers, tomatoes, garlic and beef," served with their wonderful homemade noodles. I truly enjoyed it, though I think when go go back I will try other entrees for grins and giggles.
Christopher had the Kotlety (beef), which the menu describes as "Russian style meatballs with onions". He had it with the noodles, though you have several sides to choose from. I tasted it and it was very very good. The portion was quite generous. The entrees are served with homemade bread, which made the experience even better.
I got some soup to go for Mom. She has been on a soup kick lately and Jibek Jolu has 5 to choose from. I picked a winner for her with the Meatball Soup. The menu describes it as "freshly diced potatoes, carrots, tomatoes, served with meatballs made from our fresh beef and rice. I got her the 1/2 order which was $3.50 and she made lunch and dinner out of it by adding a side salad. I tasted it and it was delicious. It was full of flavor, but not too spicy. She gave it two big thumbs up.
The place itself is bright and very clean. I wish it had a little bit more atmosphere, but that may come with time. It has the feel of a place I would come to more for lunch than for dinner, but either way, try this place for a unique experience
After looking up Kyrgizstan on Wikipedia, we headed up Lincoln Ave on a dark and snowy night to try Jibek Jolu. This is exactly the kind of food that should be eaten during winter storm warnings, and the cafe was warm and cozy. Service was friendly -- they even apologized for not having wine glasses (not that we cared).
The guys tried the Lagman, but higher praise was given to the Manty (meat-and-pumpkin-stuffed dumplings) and the meatball soup, which was served with good bread. Dumplings here are less like pierogies and more like other Asian-inspired pockets of goodness.
Despite what the back of the menu said, I was able to eat meat-free and enjoy the experience. The potato dumplings paired nicely with the carrot salad. Actually my friends ate the first carrot salad so I ordered a second one. There are other salads and I will inquire about the borsht the next time we visit.
KHYRGIZ FOOD! Â
I know you're saying, "K-WHAT?" Quick breakdown; Khyrgizstan is one of the Central Asian countries that became independent when the Soviet Union fell apart. Â The ancient Silk Road passed through Central Asia, and its food and people are the results of centuries of trade and migration and conquest and Stalinist resettlement. Â So you get a cuisine that is the crossroads of Turkish, Persian, Russian, Korean and Mongolian movement.
Lagman is a mainstay! Â I've had it twice before: One mind-blowing time in Russia itself and one disappointingly decent time at Russian Tea Time. Â Jibek Jolu's lagman is closer to the mind-blowing time. Â As Jennifer P. said, it starts with a base of udon-like noodles, and then at Jibek Jolu it's covered in daikon radish, red,green and sweet banana peppers, lamb and lots of glorious dill! Â Also try the Korean carrot salad: the carrots are shredded and marinated in some kind of vinegar until they have the soft consistency of pasta, and then mixed with daikon radish and stuff. Exquisito!
The room is lovely and comfy, the staff is very sweet, and Jennifer P., they've completely resolved their service issues, apparently by having the family members who grew up in America work as the waitstaff. Â Don't miss this beautiful spot!
This is a brand new Kyrgyz joint, open only 3 days, and still struggling with service, having everything on their menu actually available, and the English language. Â But they are really, really good at soup.
It's a cozy red-painted space with banquettes and a few tables in the old Pizzeria D'Ora space. Â Service is very friendly, and the staff (who I'm pretty sure are all related to each other) work hard and cooperate with each other to make sure that what you ordered is actually what you wanted to order. Â There were a few other customers in the space, and a steady stream of foot traffic coming in to look at the menu. Â For a long time that space has been a black hole of food - terrible pizza, terrible service, mostly deserted - but I think the neighborhood definitely wants more good eating options and it showed.
We ordered the "Samsy", a spiced lamb meat pie appetizer, the Lagnan, a savory lamb & bell pepper & onion stew served over thick udon-like noodles and a pool of rich red broth, and a soup described as "large chunks of lamb and red potatoes with dill" that they didn't have available. Â The server suggested the Pelmeni soup - which was the best thing we ate all day. Â It's a salty, savory broth with tiny beef-onion dumplings swimming in it and a dollop of sour cream. Â At $5, it's enough for a meal, and I'll be coming back again and again for that.
I'm really torn between 3 and 4 stars, but the soup put me over. Â Consider this a grade on Great Soup, Nice People, and How Much I Think I'll Be Eating There In The Future (Answer: Â A lot).
I'd describe the food as related to Russian, Georgian, or Armenian food - same ingredients with slightly different spicing. If you like eating at Russian Tea Time (and who doesn't?), Jibek Jolu is like the hole-in-the wall with the $5-$8 homemade Grandma food version of that. Â Think of Podhalanka on Division Street - No frills, but you'll eat a big bowl of homemade soup and some fresh bread for very little money and walk out happy.
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