Sunqar Bar & Restaurant
A glass cube perched at 1,057 meters, offering 360°
panoramas of mountain ridges and the city’s pulse below. It’s front-row seats
to a love affair with Almaty. The kitchen reimagines Central Asian flavors as
fine dining: think horse pâté, baursak (fried dough) with Caspian
sturgeon caviar, or venison medallions with birch glaze. If culinary daring
isn’t enough adrenaline, the nearby extreme trampoline will do the trick.
Abay
Every guidebook points you to Kok-Tobe («Green
Hill»), where a cable car ride delivers you 1,110 meters up to a park with
lookout decks and old-school amusement rides. Here, the circular Abay
restaurant hides under a glass shanyrak (traditional Kazakh dome), its
walls adorned with engravings of spring festivals and nomadic rites. The menu
is a gateway to Kazakh cuisine — beshbarmak, zhaya (horse
delicacies), and rich meat broths (sorpa) taste even better with the
city sprawled beneath you.
Inzhu
Also on Kok-Tobe, Inzhu swaps yurts for minimalist
elegance and Mediterranean-European fare. Kitchen is shared with Abay
restaurant, so you can mix paella and beshbarmak, or pair Spanish jamón
with Kazakh kazy (cured horse sausage). Oenophiles will geek out over
the wine grotto, stocked with treasures from Bordeaux, Burgundy, and Champagne.
(P.S. In 2024, Inzhu snagged WhereToEat Kazakhstan’s Media Choice
Award.)
Seven
When «special occasion» isn’t just a phrase —
it’s a 28th-floor promise. Perched atop the Ritz-Carlton (Almaty’s tallest
building), Seven is all hushed luxury: smart-casual dress code, flawless
service, and chef Glenn Thompson’s globe-trotting fine dining. Think Wagyu
nigiri, dry-aged sea bass, or chicken ballotine stuffed with truffles and foie
gras.
For drama, book the Le Petit Chef experience: a
3D-mapped dinner where a 58mm-tall animated chef «cooks» six courses
on your plate via projection — part gastronomy, part magic show. Cap the night
two floors up at Sky Bar, sipping cocktails above the city lights.
Barfly
Almaty’s iconic Hotel Kazakhstan — a Soviet-modernist
«wheat stalk» crowned in gold — houses this 26th-floor gem. The view?
A cinematic sweep from the Alatau peaks to downtown’s glow. The menu jets
between Asia (sushi, crispy duck) and Europe (foie gras terrine, Milanese-style
octopus), with prime steaks for center stage. The summer terrace edges right up
to the building’s golden spire, and a private karaoke room awaits for belting
out Batyrkhan Shukenov’s hits.
Bar Sky 17
Tucked on the 18th floor of the Shanyrak residential
tower near Dinamo Stadium, this under-the-radar spot earns its place with one
killer feature: a rooftop that frames sunsets like a painting. The
Kazakh-European menu (Greek salads, kuyrdak) plays second fiddle — come
for a cocktail at golden hour, stay for the skyline.