Roni Pizza Napoletana Tashkent

Roni Pizza is Tashkent's trendiest new micro chain of restaurants. As much as I enjoy living in this peaceful city, it's not exactly the coolest city in the world. One Russian entrepreneur is attempting to change that with cocktails, DJs, modern interior designs, and pizzas cooked in seconds.

Walking into Roni Pizza Napoletana for the first time, I had to remind myself where I was. Tashkent, which is famous for its bazaars, TV tower, and parks, has few trendy restaurants and is better known as a sprawling city of mixed Central Asian, Muslim and Soviet culture. Roni Pizza restaurants wouldn't look out of place in London.

The restaurant takes pride in serving customers quickly, and their pizzas take no longer than 90 seconds to cook. You can even watch the chefs cooking them in their authentic wood-burning ovens. The prices are good too. Their cheapest pizza, margarita, costs just 55,000 Som (about $4.50), which is a bargain if you're visiting from a Western country.

Whilst a diavola pizza washed down with Zhiguli beer won't do much for my dad bod, it's definitely worth the occasional visit.