Photos courtesy of Manuchehr Kholov

Having worked in restaurants for a dozen years, chef Kholov was ready to open his own restaurant and serve a variety of traditional dishes he loves.

Nestled in the heart of Madison’s Bram’s Addition neighborhood is halal, “flame-to-table” restaurant Silk Road. Located at 1920 S. Park St., the eatery features a robust fusion of Central Asian cuisine, comprising vibrant dishes and generous portions of Tajik, Turkish, Uzbek, and Afghan origin. Silk Road chef and owner Manuchehr “Manu” Kholov named his restaurant after the ancient Eurasian trade routes that facilitated major exchanges between Eastern and Western cultures.

With a camel adorning the restaurant sign and beautiful patio readied for the summertime, Silk Road keeps their ambiance simple and casual while lightly accenting the space with cultural artifacts. Dishes and drinks are served in Tajik ceramics, while the menus are decorated with artistic patterns.

Silk Road in Madison’s Bram’s Addition neighborhood, features a fusion of Tajik, Turkish, Uzbek, and Afghan recipes.

Born and raised in Tajikstan, Manu Kholov has loved cooking since he was a teenager. His mother is a baker and chef with over 35 years of experience. Kholov remembers spending a lot of time in her bakery as a child. “I would sleep on flour bags,” he recalls.

Kholov studied abroad in Russia and Kazakhstan while in college, and he would frequently cook for his roommates. When he returned to Tajikstan, he worked various jobs in the restaurant industry. “With cooking, I was never trained, I was always self-taught,” Kholov notes.

He met his wife, Hannah Hamelman, while studying in Kazakhstan. The couple moved to Madison in 2021 when Hamelman began pursuing her master’s degree at the University of Wisconsin-Madison.

When Kholov came to Madison, he had a difficult time finding adequate Central Asian dining options. “I love lamb, and I wanted good kebabs,” he recalls. “I didn’t have a job at the time and had plenty of free time.”

Focusing on a menu stacked with a variety of healthy, halal choices rather than fried was intentional.

Kholov took advantage of the moment and started cooking at his local Masjid every week, baking sambusas and barbecuing kebabs for their community. Around the same time, he invested in kitchen supplies to cook at home more often. “I started inviting my friends, and we would meet every week cooking our traditional foods and rotating at each other’s houses,” Kholov mentions.

Finding his culinary passion, Kholov realized that he wanted to have his own restaurant. People kept asking him when it would happen, but Kholov did not have money, a place or a menu yet. “It was June, and I told a friend that I was going to open in September,” he remembers. “That was kind of a push, and then I started looking for a place and getting serious.”

Upon finding the location, Kholov developed a menu and website while saving up money working as a food delivery driver. He managed to secure investments, and after getting some helping hands for the patio and electricity, Kholov opened Silk Road in August 2023 – ultimately accomplishing his goal prematurely.

Kholov remarks, “It took me basically a month and a half from zero to open.”

Roasted quail with pomegranates and rice

When Kholov was designing the Silk Road menu, he made a concerted effort to have everything be as healthy as possible. “I tried not to do anything fried,” he elaborates. “Everything is fried, wherever you go. The only fried things we have are the falafel and French fries.”

Silk Road offers five different kebab dishes that encompass lamb, beef and chicken varieties, each grilled to perfection with a unique combination of vegetables, rice and spices. Kholov says that the roasted lamb is the restaurant’s most popular dish; they roast the whole lamb over the fire for five to six hours, so the kitchen prepares accordingly depending on how busy it is. Grilled salmon and falafel are also appealing main courses, plus there are three wrap options.

Different cultural notes of Central Asia are incorporated into Silk Road dishes. For example, their kebabs are cooked Turkish style. Mantu, a meat dumpling commonly served in Uzbekistan and Tajikistan, is another popular special (can also be made vegetarian, seasonally, with a pumpkin filling). Then there is their Afghan rice dish palov, cooked with beef, carrots and raisins and served with a side of kefir.

In terms of soups and salads, Silk Road offers mercimek corbasi, a Turkish vegan lentil soup containing onions, carrots and potatoes, as well as Tajik beef and vegetable soup khomshurbo. Their fresh, healthy salads include grilled peach salad, burrata salad, beet harmony salad and more. Turkish yogurt dip haydari and hummus are available as starters.

“This is a really diverse menu, and it gives people options,” Kholov describes. “The menu is basically food that I eat myself. In order to have good, high quality food, you have to love it yourself.”

For dessert, Silk Road offers baklava and the cheesy, syrup-covered pastry kunefe, served with ice cream and pistachios. Beverage options include Mexican and Russian soft drinks as well as yogurt-based beverage ayran and assorted teas.

Kabuli palov served with bread, fresh vegetables and kefir

Kholov makes a point to check in at the beginning and end of each customer’s meal to hear feedback and make sure that everything is to their liking. “We always make changes,” Kholov affirms. “The customer is the boss.”

Silk Road also has a food truck, known as Silk Road Express, that parks on the University of Wisconsin-Madison campus at 1225 W. Dayton St., near the computer science building, every day from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. The truck offers a limited version of the Silk Road menu.

“A lot of students from the downtown area come to our restaurant, but it’s a little bit far from them, so a lot of them requested it,” Kholov mentions.

Roasted lamb served with rice and vegetables

Manu Kholov notes that the Central Asian community in Madison is growing, estimating that currently about 50 families from the region call the city home. “In the last couple years, people have started knowing how beautiful Madison is and the price of living. Most Central Asian people live in either New York or Philadelphia.”

Looking ahead, Silk Road plans to introduce new menu items, expand their specials and renovate the interior design.