Korean restaurants
Almaty has a huge diaspora of ethnic koreans. the ladies sell their salads at the market places around town, and there are several quite good restaurants. one of the more korean popular restaurants is in the square in front of the entrance to the exhibition on temirazova a few blocks away from the intercontinental and the new holiday inn. you'll often see business men from samsung and lg here lunching with people from the korean embassy.
Indian restaurants
One of the more popular indian restaurants is namaste, on the corner of kosmonaft and satpaeva about mid-way between the intercontinental and the hyatt. service is very slow, but if you have time the food is pretty good. govindas is a wonderful indian restaurant that is entirely vegetarian.
Georgian restaurants
Feature khachapuri, cheese filled bread, eggplant stuffed with nuts, spinach with nuts, and various savory kababs. try tbilisi on zheltoksan or pirosmani on ablai khan two blocks down from tsum. georgian restaurants are great places for vegetarians to dine.
Individual restaurants
Mad Murphy's
somewhere on tole bi street. unless you're desperate for an irish pub. the food is predictably mediocre and the bar is thick with smoke and english-speaking expats. prices are a little steep but you are getting what your money's worth. some of the best americanized food in almaty. although it is filled with middle/elderly business men mostly from america and the u.k it has recently attracted a younger crowd becuase of its fabulous live band. on fridays and saturdays the crowd at murphy's is treated to great live english music, by the end of the night the whole bar is rocking to the band.
Soho
Lunch isn't bad - a buffet with a nice assortment of breads, soups, salads, and main dishes called a "business lunch" at a reasonable fixed price. however the evenings are quite pleasant with live music and reasonable drink prices - no entrance fee during the week. soho is a great place for a single business man to attend during the night. it is not a very classy joint and is usually packed with almaty's working woman. never the less they have one of the best bands in almaty and they sing in english! some of their covers are better than the originals, it's a must see event. try making a booking for a table, to avoid having to stand at the bar.
Sapphire
Late night club and restaurant for the young people. basic chinese menu and live dj with a dance floor. the main drawcard here is the shisha, or 'hubbly bubbly' 'nargile' or 'water pipe'. other places in almaty also have shisha fruit flavoured tobacco, smoked for an hour or two from a hookah, but this is one of the few to use real charcoal and authentic al fakher shisha tobacco from uae. the bar delivers the vodkas pretty promptly too.
Tau Dastarkhan
halfway up to the mountains. located in a large area made up of "islands" with kazakh, russian, georgian, and uzbek kitchens. not to be missed in the summertime. it's as fun to walk around and see the various settings as it is to eat.
Jantik Club
138 bogenbay batyr street, shagabutdinov street corner. western-style bar. life music and xx century super hits. beatles fans will be very placed to visit this bar. residents include jeraldine hunt, oleg magomayev and jantemir. moderate prices.
Pizza restaurants
Mama Mia's
Located on gogol between ablai khan and panfilova across from dastarkhan grocery store and the second mama mia is located on tole bi and zharokova. another pizza restaurant, but with a large assortment of fresh salads a good place to go when you tire of carrots and potatoes in the winter time. a small, separate non-smoking section. for a change, stop in and order your dishes to go, then walk across the street to dastarkhan to buy some sodas and pastries for dessert; then walk two blocks east on gogol and eat in panfilov park.
Venezia
Located on dostyk lenina between satpaeva and abaya. four pages of choices. the pizza has very good thin crust. the restaurant has two rooms.