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Taking a bite out of Kazakhstan cuisine ahead of England clash...'niiiice'

By Neil McLeman 11/10/2008

Meet my new wife-to-be. She is the fourth-best waitress in Kazakhstan.

But Nurgul Kandikaraeva works a long way from home in the only Kazakh restaurant in Europe – in Camberwell, South London.

The Pasha Hotel has been booked by the Kazakh Embassy to provide the post-match meal for Bernd Storck’s team in a central London hotel tonight.

“We hope it will be a victory party,” said hotel manager Bora Bicakci.

Kazakhstan, ranked 131 in the world at football, has already enjoyed their small share of sporting success this year.

“We finished 29th in the medal table at the Olympic Games,” said Aslan Moldakhanov, a student at City University. “We won gold medals in boxing and weightlifting.”

But most people have only one insight into this former Soviet Republic of 16 million – Borat: Cultural Learnings of America for Make Benefit Glorious Nation of Kazakhstan.

Though filmed in Romania, Sacha Baron Cohen depicted the central Asian country as full of racists, homophobes and sexists. Even if it was very funny.

“I don’t think people think life in Kazakhstan is really like that,” said Bicakci. “Everyone knows it is fun and a bit sarcastic. Turkey had the same with Orient Express. You can say there is no such thing as bad publicity – but there can be.”

Instead, the 10,000 Kazakhs in this country want this World Cup qualifier to promote their real homeland and their ethnically-diverse culture.

The traditional dress of the Kazakhs is not a mankini but a shapan. Their guitar is called a dombra.

And the food is excellent – I hope England don’t offer the same hospitality to foreign visitors at Wembley today.

It is a mix of Chinese and Russian cuisine with dim sum-style dumplings, fried rice, pasties and noodles – supposedly brought to the region by Marco Polo on his journey back from the East.

Niiice – although the most famous dish, beshbarmak, is served with horse meat for weddings and funerals back home. I would like that not so much.

“If we served horse meat here, they would close the shop,” admitted Bicakci.

Kazakhstan is the ninth-largest country in the world – and the biggest landlocked nation on Earth.

After declaring independence in 1991, tonight is a real chance to put themselves on the map.

“We are a new country but we are not a new culture,” added Bicakci.

“This is a great opportunity for this country to take a step forward to the West. It is important for us.

“Whatever the result at Wembley, we can’t lose.”