East Meets West With Traditional Dishes and Karaoke at Uzbek Bubala Cafe

It's fascinating to explore the historical and cultural significance of food. A journey back to the times of the Silk Road illustrates that food played a crucial role in facilitating not just trade but also the exchange of ideas, technologies and various aspects of culture from China to Rome. The Silk Road's impact on fields such as mathematics, philosophy, architecture and (last but not least) cuisine lives on in Dallas.

Which leads us to the discovery of Bubala Cafe & Grill, a restaurant specializing in traditional Uzbek and Russian cuisine. Since 2019, Bubala has added another layer of unique tapestry to the forever-changing Dallas food scene. One of Uzbekstan's cities, Bukhara, was called the "Shining Pearl of the Silk Road," a city with a rich history spanning at least five millennia. That's a lot of time to perfect a recipe, so we were definitely excited.
Bubala is located in Far North Dallas in an everyday multipurpose shopping center not far from the Dallas North Tollway. Once you cross the threshold to the entrance, anything contemporary disappears. The décor has a stylish yet rustic charm. The walls are shrouded with elegant embroidery with playfully bright flower patterns. Atop the tapestry are several wooden instruments that we were told are unique to Central Asia. All the tables are adorned with polished silver and white tablecloths. There are elaborate paintings illuminating life in the region, overall making it a very sophisticated yet cozy environment to impress a date or decompress after a long day.

Although the menu has traditional items from Russia, Georgia and Ukraine, we wanted to lean more into the Uzbek dishes. Most of the helpful staff we met were from Central Asia and didn’t mind getting pelted by our ignorance. They shared a lot about the history of the food and after a few minutes, we were ready to order.
For drinks, we went with a few because we couldn’t make up our minds. We got two of the Russian and Georgian soft drinks ($4) and also a pitcher of the Kompot ($15). The soft drinks weren’t like American products overloaded with carbonation and sugar. They stuck to the script and were actual soft drinks. The pear-flavored beverage was perfection, but the other tarragon drink may be an acquired taste. It’s like a sweet licorice medicine that is greener than a radioactive Mountain Dew. The Kompot was extremely refreshing. It’s basically a compote, with fresh berries boiled down and strained into a juice elixir that reminded us of Agua de Jamaica, the Mexican tea.

The first things to hit the table were the beef tongue ($16.99) and Samsa ($12.99). The Samsa could be a whole meal by itself. Sometimes sold as a hot street food, this perfectly baked pastry has the girth of Jamaican bean pie but the decadence of a French pastry, stuffed with chopped lamb, onion and a variety of spices. The beef tongue is a solid appetizer, but the pickled horseradish that comes as a condiment will have you wondering if you can get a jar for the house.
We were told that Plov was the National Dish of Uzbek cuisine and the most iconic. It's made with rice and slices of beef, along with carrots and traditional spices. On looks alone, it's unassuming, but something about the way the rice is cooked helps us see why the whole country sings its praise. The meat carrots give the moist rice a slight hint of sweetness, which made us devour the plate even faster. It’s no surprise that this is the star of the show at weddings and other major celebrations. We also went with an old faithful, the delicious lamb kebab ($22.99), served with cabbage and onions.

For the final inning, we decided to shoot our shot at the Shuba ($15.99). Shuba reads like a description of something you would eat on an episode of Fear Factor: Herring, eggs, various vegetables and mayo. Shuba in Russian means fur coat, which probably speaks to all the layers of interesting choices that are used to make this dish that no American would ever think to put on the same plate. It had smoky tuna salad vibes, and instead of wearing a dusty jacket was rocking a fancy fur coat. Makes sense, right? This was surprisingly good and recommended if you like tangy mayo and fish.
Desserts, like a tasty Napoleon cake made with thin layers of pastry, are available, but the sweetest treat here comes on Friday and Saturday evenings when the music gets turned up and the belly dancers arrive. We were told weekends become quite electric when one of the owners serves as DJ and there's karaoke, dancing and various performances. Before we left, we had already planned a return trip to try the other items on the menu, but now have an even better excuse to return for the nighttime festivities.

Bubala Cafe & Grill, 17479 Preston Road. Tuesday – Thursday, noon – 9 p.m.; Friday – Saturday, noon – 10 p.m.; Sunday, noon – 9 p.m.