Our Favorite Restaurants in Baku, Azerbaijan

Baku, Azerbaijan is a fascinating city taking its culinary cues both from international inspiration and regional delicacies. You can find some fantastic eats when you’re visiting Baku, and we’ve listed some of our favorites below.

Chayki Restaurant 

Chayki is an Azerbaijani restaurant located along the waterfront in Dənizkənarı Milli Park between Dəniz Mall and the Baku Eye. It has a chic upscale interior, a wrap around porch surrounded by greenery, and rooftop seating. Google marks it as a more expensive restaurant ($$$$), but prices are very reasonable compared to the U.S. or Western Europe.  

We went to town here and tried several dishes: tomato salad, eggplant salad with oyster and sweet-spicy sauce, qutab with pumpkin, mini beef pies, spinach and goat cheese dumplings, dovga (a traditional yogurt soup), 3 kinds of dolma (eggplant, tomato, and pepper stuffed with minced lamb, herbs, and spices), and a ground lamb kebab. Everything we had was delicious. I don’t think there was a single dish we disliked.   

We had a great experience, but I did read several negative Google reviews. So that’s something to be mindful of. My one critique is that it was very dim in there, which made me drowsy and it was a little harder to see. I have also heard that the music on the upper level can be quite loud and make it difficult to have a conversation. So, I’d probably recommend eating on the first floor. 

Bar 19

Bar 19 is located on the 19th floor of the Fairmont Hotel in the Flame Towers. It’s definitely worth a visit since it’s in the iconic Flame Towers and has a great view of the city. The lobby of the hotel also has an impressive chandelier that’s worth a peak. They’re open from 6:00pm – 1:30am. We just went for drinks, but they do serve dinner, as well. They have salads, tapas, sushi, as well as some seafood and steak dishes. Their signature cocktail menu was fun and a little different than your standard manhattan or gin and tonic. I had their Violet Pearl (tequila, violet liqueur, lavender syrup, lime juice) and Tony tried their Whiskey and Popcorn (popcorn infused whiskey, mango syrup, soda water). While sipping our drinks, we also enjoyed some music provided by a professional saxophonist playing jazzy covers of pop hits.  

Derya Fish House

Derya Fish House is a ways out from the city center, but it’s a good spot for fresh fish. It’s north of the city center, right along the shore on the other side of South Bay. Since it’s a little off the beaten path, it looks like more of a local place and you’ll notice lots of families. It’s a huge complex made of multiple simple wooden buildings and has a jungle gym and trampoline for kids, as well.

They have several types of fish to choose from and after ordering your fish, they bring around a tray of cold side dishes for you to choose from: bread, cheese, olives, pickled veggies, eggplant. You can also order hot sides, like french fries, if interested. The fish was very fresh, but most of it is served whole. So you do have to work your way around the bones. Prices are very reasonable for fresh seafood. 

Firuze Restaurant 

Firuze is a traditional Azerbaijani restaurant located right off Baku’s Fountain Square. It’s easy to miss because the entrance sort of looks like you’re walking down into a metro station. But this one definitely shouldn’t be missed. It sort of looks like an underground wine cellar decorated with stained glass, traditional carpets, and lanterns.  

We ordered three dishes, all of which we enjoyed: qutab with greens (a thin flat bread, kind of like a tortilla, stuffed with cilantro, dill, sorrel, green onion, mountain coriander, and spinach), cabbage dolma (stuffed with beef, lamb, tomato, cabbage, herbs, onion, and rice), and sabzi pilaf (rice topped with a beef, coriander, dill, leek, sorrel, spinach, green plum, and onion mixture). We also recommend ordering a side of their fresh bread. 

Gazelli Cafe 

Gazelli Cafe is an upscale, modern European cafe with a clean white interior and a charming garden courtyard. We just stopped by for coffees, but it looks like a great spot for brunch or an afternoon dessert. They also have a supervised kids area, where you can drop off your kiddos to enjoy a little time to yourself.  

Sehrazat Restaurant 

Sehrazat is a Turkish Steakhouse with a modern green and warm wood interior. We went with a group and had two kinds of steak with fresh bread and a variety of cold side dishes (salad, dolma, eggplant, creamy mushroom spinach – which was really good), fries, and a variety of fresh fruit for dessert. The food was very good, but I think they may have charged us for some things we didn’t order, like the fruit and a second bottle of wine.  

You can check out more photos and their menu on Instagram, but it doesn’t look like it’s available in English.  

Mari Vanna

Mari Vanna is an old-fashioned Russian Restaurant that’s worth going to for the ambiance alone. It’s decorated like a wealthy grandma’s sitting room with antique chandeliers, lace curtains, china cabinets, books, and old photos. 

They have traditional menus, as well as a tablet with pictures of every dish, which I love. It’s so much easier picking out what you want when you can see what it looks like! 

We had the vareniki (dumpling) stuffed with potato, mushroom, and fried onions, beef stroganoff with mashed potatoes, and potato crepe with chicken stroganoff. All of which we enjoyed. I think I would even put it up there as some of the best stroganoff I’ve had.  

They don’t have a website, but you can view their whole menu online through the Wolt food delivery app.

Central Baku 

Central Baku is located near Fountain Square and Malakan Park. It has a black exterior with big windows and a red awning and the inside is black with warm wood tones and green accents. 

We had their 4 person Traditional Baku Breakfast which included: cheese, meat, jam, olives, greens, nuts, fruit, honey, cream, butter, cucumber, tomatoes, pancakes with cottage cheese, khachapuri (cheese bread), shor (bun/pastry), suzme (yogurt), hot dishes, tandir bread, tea and more. Plus, it was super affordable. Only 59 AZN or $34.71 USD. That’s just $8.68 per person. 

We also ordered Azerbaijani eggs with tomato; herb kuku, which is kind of like a frittata with lots of greens; french toast; and some kind of breakfast custard. I was partial to the eggs with tomato and ordered them for breakfast again at another restaurant.  

You can check out more of their menu here.