“Raj Kapoor is extremely popular in Uzbekistan. Generations of Uzbeks, Tajiks and Kazaks have grown up humming songs from his films,” says owner Zulaykha Umarova who settled in India almost a decade ago “after tying the knot with an Indian”. But it took her several years and a bit of coaxing from her husband to venture out of her CR Park home and set up a restaurant. The idea came on a holiday. “During a holiday in Dubai, I stumbled upon an Uzbek restaurant. For a change, I was not in the kitchen making a traditional meal for myself. I just sat back and enjoyed the food and the ambience that was reminiscent of my homeland. Moreover, the restaurant was doing quite well with the locals. It made good business sense, to attempt selling our food in Delhi,” she adds.

In the following months, Umarova roped in musician-singer Aybek Matyusupov, who worked at the Indian Embassy in Tashkent, and made Kabiljon Umirzakov quit his kitchen chores at a café in Tashkent, and packed them off to India. “For me, it’s a great opportunity. We love Bollywood music and I am trying my luck at singing here,” says Matyusupov, whose Hindi is almost as good as his mother tongue.

Set up a couple of months ago, Karavan may be tucked away in the lanes of Lado Sarai but Umarova says that doesn’t stop Uzbek students staying primarily in Paharganj and Karol Bagh to hop on to a South-bound bus and come here for a bite of ‘manti’ (steamed lamb dumplings) and a bowlful of Fricadel soup (generously laden with meat balls and dollops of hung curd). “Apart from tourists, a lot of Uzbek students and businessmen visit Delhi. Also, many Uzbek women marry Indian doctors who are working or studying medicine in Russia and eventually settle in India,” she says. Umarova’s brother Ruslan Naimov who frequently travels to India has several plans up his sleeves, including setting up an Uzbek restaurant in Goa. “It’s a beautiful tourist spot and offers a variety of cuisines,” he says, as the siblings sit down for a quick lunch.

Apart from Uzbeks, Umarova says, Turks and Russians living in the city also drop by at her restaurant. “We use similar spices and have similar tastes,” says Umarova. Lamb dishes dominate the menu at Karavan—there is samsa (triangle patties stuffed with minced meat), liver kebabs and Samarkhand stew along with several salads, soups and Uzbeki naans.

And it’s no longer just the Uzbeks who are visiting the restaurant. “We now have regulars from the neighbourhood too,” says Umarova.