Anniversary dinner out on the first day of Ramadan

It's the first day of Ramadan. Some (but not all) cafes, food kiosks, ice cream and soda vendors have closed shop during the day. (I wonder how they can survive if they're not working for a month.) The meal to break the fast can be eaten after 7:40 pm.

We haven't eaten out much in Dushanbe and we thought it would nice to celebrate our anniversary with dinner in a nice restaurant. But where to go, given it's Ramadan here? 

We chose to walk a block to the Tajikistan Hotel where we'd heard (no big signs anywhere) there was a Chinese restaurant. When we got there at 6:15 (walking through a cavernous empty lobby), sure enough, the smell of garlic greeted us. The restaurant was already half-filled, mostly with Chinese patrons. There was an extensive menu (the kind where English translations are not very idiomatic, such as "welded vegetables" (mixed?) and "saliva chicken" (mouth-watering?)). The Tajik wait staff were knowledgeable. The Chinese hostess said the chef was from Xinjiang. We got three dishes--green beans, eggplant, and beef.

The authentic (i.e., oily and flavorful) taste took me back to days in China. The rest of the experience was unique. Coming into one ear was a TV station playing a Russian channel and into the other ear was a table full of men speaking Mandarin; in between were the wait staff speaking Tajik. We threw a few English words in for good measure.

Somehow, it was a perfect celebration of our 34 years together!