Money Talks: 7 Restaurants Where Spending Feels Good

For those who want to elevate their dining experience, head to Selfie on the 18th floor of The Ritz-Carlton. Here, you’ll find spaghetti with black caviar in Champagne sauce (₸25,990) and possibly the priciest tartare you’ll ever try (₸14,990). The menu also features kazy with tonnato sauce (₸10,990) and the indulgent Nun’s Sighs (₸15,390) — sweet donuts elegantly topped with sturgeon caviar. The chef Evgeny Chekanin’s culinary artistry, panoramic views of Bayterek, crisp tablecloths, and floor-to-ceiling wine racks combine to create a lavish experience.

This Italian restaurant is helmed by Michelin-starred chef Giuseppe Ricchebuono (his Il Vescovado in Liguria holds one star). The signature grain-fed veal tagliata is the menu’s centerpiece — best enjoyed medium to preserve its exquisite texture and flavor. The price speaks for itself: ₸64,000 per kilogram of pure pleasure. The menu also boasts oysters, a crudo bar, fresh seafood, crab pasta, and a well-curated wine list with over 150 selections from Italy to New Zealand, perfect for any dining scenario.

A refined take on Kazakh cuisine: qazaq eti with truffles (₸12,500), mustang fillet with scallop sauce and corn espuma (₸12,900), and sturgeon baked in grape leaves with béarnaise and cider (₸13,700). Chef Artem Kantsev’s haute steppe gastronomy has earned the restaurant a spot on The World’s 50 Best Discovery list, making it worth a trip even from abroad — or at least from another part of Astana. Pair your meal with a bold, charismatic wine, and dinner becomes a culinary journey of epic scale.

This restaurant with a panoramic terrace shifts moods with the sun: coffee and bagels at dawn, business lunches at noon, and fine dining under evening lights. The star of the menu is the Grilled Meat & Lobster platter (₸127,000) — a surf-and-turf masterpiece featuring two steaks, fire-roasted chicken, and half a Canadian lobster. Other luxurious options include a Wagyu beef burger (₸39,000), champagne paired with sturgeon caviar and blini (₸47,000–210,000), wild mushroom risotto (₸12,500), and an optional 5g of truffle (+₸24,000) for good measure.

Located in The Veil Hotel, Cantinetta Antinori is like a slice of Tuscany in Astana: warm lighting, crisp white linens, endless pasta, mountains of Parmesan, and live lobsters in the aquarium. The must-try? Linguine with lobster (₸16,880) — perfectly al dente pasta, a balanced tomato sauce, and the star of the show: the lobster. Pair it with a glass of Tignanello from the namesake winery, and you’ll feel transported to an Italian villa — even if the view outside is the Maral bridge instead of Chianti.

A temple of meat and a gallery of taste in the Sheraton Hotel: walls adorned with Kazakh art, club-style leather chairs, and the grand finale — Japanese A5 Wagyu steak. The perfect marbling comes at ₸350 per gram, meaning a full steak will cost you a small fortune. But you’re worth it.

At NegroNi, the ultimate indulgence is the A5 Wagyu striploin with celery cream and truffles (₸60,000) — a dish worthy of Michelin acclaim. Other luxuries include baursaki with black caviar and lemon kaymak (₸7,500), hot dogs with Kamchatka crab (₸7,500), dry-aged kazy beshbarmak (₸7,900), and cheburek with Wagyu (₸11,000). The 260-label wine collection ensures the perfect pairing.

Photos: restaurants' websites/social media; Yandex Maps