Tashkent Supermarket - Brighton Beach

"As one of my friends put it, there’s a tide that flows through Tashkent Market: If you want to shop here, you’ll need to commit to catching the wave and letting it carry you through the store, circling multiple times if necessary to get what you came for. The seemingly endless hot bar is stacked with Central Asian specialties, and it’s constantly being restocked with everything from fresh-baked baklava to creamy, layered salads and heaping piles of plov. The gyro stand near the entrance churns out chicken, beef, and lamb shawarma 24/7, and their housemade svekolnik - a bubblegum pink cold beet and labneh soup - is a must-try. Tashkent is also home to one of the best smoked-fish selections in the neighborhood, with both hot and cold-smoked varieties available. If the thought of coming here during peak hours is intimidating, go before 8am. You’ll have the store mostly to yourself, and everything on the hot bar will be particularly fresh." - carina finn koeppicus

"Tashkent Supermarket, an Uzbek grocer known for its oversized buffet with more than 200 trays of food, is expanding to 2845 Coney Island Avenue, at Avenue Z, in Sheepshead Bay. The supermarket opened in Brighton Beach in 2017 and now has several locations in south Brooklyn, with another set to open in the West Village." - Luke Fortney

"Keep walking until you get to the jaw-dropping hot food buffet. Two sprawling islands hold over 200 self-serve trays each one offering a central Asian dish more enticing than the one before it — bulging lamb mantis, fat and wrinkly grape leaf-wrapped dolma, a bright red sea of pomegranate seeds over pink beets and white rice. Both sight and smell compete for attention. Still, there’s more. The lagman counter and the plov bar serve hot noodle soups and rice and meat pilaf. The place is dangerous for those with weak impulse control. But if that’s the case, bring a jumbo Ikea bag for your haul." - Caroline Shin, Robert Sietsema

"Brighton Beach’s Tashkent Supermarket, known for its more than 200 buffet trays filled with Uzbek food, will open its first Manhattan outpost by end of year, a manager tells Eater." - Emma Orlow

"We’re guessing a large swath of children and their adult creators will be heading to the Rockaways or Coney Island this weekend. So if you’ve never been to Brighton Beach, this is an excellent time to check out the area just a little further east of Coney Island. We have a ton of ideas about where you should be eating there, including this market full of Central Asian specialties. You’ll end up circling the hot bar and gyro station like a hawk who has spotted a ground squirrel. Embrace the hawk lifestyle, and pounce on piles of plov, baklava, and cold-smoked fish." - hannah albertine