How to eat well in Baku. Do's and don'ts of restaurant travel research.
A culinary travel guide to the Azerbaijani capital. Less than a three hour flight. Same time zone as Dubai.
I rarely have a dud meal when travelling. Why? Because I spend weeks researching restaurants and must-try dishes. Often spending more time on trawling local recommendations than the actual travel. But I love this immersion. Top tip: don’t ever saunter out of your hotel in the hope of stumbling upon a charming neighbourhood joint. You’re guaranteed to end up in a tourist trap.
So I thought I would pen my do’s and don’ts for researching restaurants that may help with any upcoming travel:
I check with foodie friends who either live or have lived there - or failing that, have visited. There’s usually at least one person! My definition of a foodie is someone who plans holidays around breakfast, lunch and dinner - sandwiching any sightseeing in between.
I scour lists and guides from reputable organisations, local food writers and journalists. I tap into chefs and restaurateurs with their wealth of insight.
I pose the question to my following on my social channels, Instagram in particular.
I never ask blagger bloggers who thrive on freebie meals, and whose experiences will therefore differ from diners paying the bill.
I don’t waste time reading Google, Tripadvisor and any aggregate reviews. Why? These so-called ‘reviews’ are hardly ever written by true foodies, who don’t have the time or inclination to post reviews. Often these sites are manipulated by friends and family of the restaurant, as well as aforementioned invitees posting positive five star reviews. In contrast, those writing one star reviews are either keyboard warriors hoping to blag a comped meal on the back of complaining - or competing restaurants determined to raise their own star rating.
On the other hand, Andy, who reviews the UK restaurant critics in his witty Smashed Substack does dabble in TripAdvisor, but with a pinch of salt.
And I definitely don’t touch AI which only brings up touristy restaurants, similar to what you would find in a Lonely Planet guide. But it does help with non-food stuff like identifying the major sights.
Onto Baku…
On the back of the stories that I shared on Instagram over my Baku trip, a few of you messaged with plans to visit, so this guide is landing in your inbox a month early to help with your prep. A bonus newsletter.
Baku, the capital of Azerbaijan, a former Soviet Republic has been on my bucket list for a while, so with direct FlyDubai flights in under three hours, and the added bonus of the same time zone as Dubai, we book a three-night Eid break. Overlooking the Caspian sea, this East meets West country is flanked by four nations - Russia, Georgia, Armenia and Iran. The language, to me, sounds like a Turkish-Persian hybrid - reflected in the culinary scene. Baku cleverly manages to juxtapose the old (think UNESCO World Heritage sites) and the new (think Dubai-like skyscrapers) to create a wonderful, pristine walking city. The city hosts the F1, and later this year Cop29.
The culinary travel guide that follows covers tried and tasted recommendations for restaurants with must-try dishes, hotels, sightseeing tips and general housekeeping (visa, weather and the like) - along with a photo gallery. I have also added these tips to a Google maps link.
If you’re reading this newsletter in full, thank you for supporting my research and writing. I am very grateful. And if you’re not, but are keen to read more, whilst also benefiting from additional perks and direct message access to pick my brains, you may like to upgrade for much less than the price of a glass of Azeri wine. Azerbaijan is a wine-producing country, like neighbour Georgia.