Where Spring Finds Its Warmest Tables

Ami is a French bistro with a terrace impossible to miss: green awnings, a chequered floor, woven chairs, and plenty of greenery to soften the whole scene. It’s an easy place for a late breakfast — shakshuka with feta, draniki with salmon and stracciatella, syrniki, all served until 4pm. And should the conversation run longer, as it often does, the menu gives every reason to stay: horse-meat tartare, beef stroganoff, orzo with squid, or Cornish hen.

Aurora’s summer terrace has the kind of brightness and ease that makes an overlong stay feel entirely forgivable. It suits almost any version of a meeting, and the menu is broad enough to follow the mood wherever it happens to lead. Until 4pm, breakfast remains in full play: beef sausages with softly folded eggs, an Asian omelette, Benedict on pumpkin waffles, and sweeter dishes such as poppy-seed syrniki and porridge finished with vanilla cream. From lunch onwards, the menu opens into pasta, kebabs, steaks and burgers. A separate wellness-minded selection offers more balanced plates, with a clear emphasis on fibre.

Auyl, abr’s richly evocative restaurant and one of the most compelling exponents of contemporary nomadic cooking, occupies a singular setting in Medeu: the former residence of Dinmukhamed Kunaev, a historic house transported from Almaty into the mountains and reassembled against an entirely different horizon. Seats are rarely left to chance. The room is almost invariably full, and a reservation is less a courtesy than a prerequisite. Those intending to linger on the summer terrace would do well to bring something warm; the mountain air is brisk, but the view is persuasive enough to make departure feel unnecessarily abrupt. The menu is rooted in the culinary traditions of the steppe, drawing its logic from recipes associated with nomadic life in the age of Tengrianism.

Terenkur has a way of sharpening the appetite, and few places answer it more convincingly than Big Apple — a two-storey house with a quietly inviting terrace, set roughly halfway along the route. It is particularly worth stopping in the morning, whether for a substantial breakfast or one of the baked dishes. The main menu moves between burgers, pasta and meat-led plates, while the café also doubles as a serious specialty coffee address, with a strong selection of beans. Fresh air, the sound of the river, and a terrace kept on the intimate side — it is an arrangement difficult to improve upon.

Abr’s terrace on Kabanbay Batyr Street has the kind of visual confidence that makes it instantly recognisable: closely set tables, greenery running the perimeter, bright parasols overhead. Here, breakfast — served until 4pm — slips easily into brunch, and brunch, just as easily, into dinner. The menu stays close to the familiar, which is part of the appeal: Almaty-style doner, horse-meat beef stroganoff, house-made pelmeni. There is also every reason to come purely for the pastries and desserts.

With several addresses across the city, abr’s Del Papa has the confidence of a place that knows precisely what it is. No unnecessary experimentation — just consistency, ease, and a standard people return to instinctively. On Kabanbay Batyr, Del Papa runs on a familiar city rhythm: tightly set tables, movement all around, the street just beside you. It’s an easy default — lively, reliable, and always full of life. The menu rests on the unfailing grammar of the Mediterranean table: pasta and pizza, wine and cocktails, dolce vita with a hint of dolce far niente. For lunch away from the city, the newer Medeu address makes the stronger case. The mood is different here: chalet-like interiors, quiet nods to the Dolomites, and panoramic views of the Zailiyskiy Alatau. The menu stays close to the city version, but with more emphasis on the Josper — a burger or beef tagliata arrives still carrying the heat of the fire.

Fika is one of those cafés where an empty table is nearly impossible to come by — especially in the morning. Best, then, to set an alarm and claim a favourite spot on the generously sized terrace that runs along Kabanbay Batyr Street. The menu is clear, stylish, and neatly divided by mood: breakfast, lunch, dinner. One warning, though — the buns and croissants have a way of making themselves part of every meal.

The terrace at Giardino is reason enough to come. The space has the feel of a garden: abundant greenery casts generous shade, and the tables are set far enough apart that even at full capacity, the room still seems to breathe. The menu keeps to the Italian essentials — house-made pasta, risotto, pizza. And if the mood calls for something with a little theatre, the pasta finished in a wheel of cheese is the obvious choice.

On the terrace at Ozen, set along the banks of the Vesnovka (Esentai), it is easy to lose time — reading to the sound of the river, or meeting friends and letting the afternoon unfold on its own. The menu resists any strict allegiance to a single cuisine: soups, seafood, meat, pasta, pizza. Breakfast is particularly well considered, ranging from bone broth to more classic sets built around eggs.

A reincarnation of the city café, with all the atmosphere of how it used to be. The summer terrace is generous in scale, thick with greenery, and looks out onto the fountain and Panfilov Street. The menu moves between city-café staples and dishes that lean more openly into nostalgia. In the display case, the classics hold their ground: wafer rolls, oreshki, flaky pastries, vatrushki.

Images: restaurant websites and social media; Yandex Maps