Georgia – a guide to food and feasting
On my first day in Georgia, when I arrive at Kala for lunch, a rustic little restaurant tucked away in old Tbilisi, I’m really hungry. This is the last time I will feel that way for over a week.
At that first lunch we ordered all sorts of dishes from the fabric covered menu, far too much, getting excited about the different tastes, combinations of ingredients, the unique flavours. Little did we know that Georgians don’t eat – they feast – at every meal.
Eating is taken very seriously and a supra or feast will stretch on for hours and hours. A tamada is appointed and is the toast master. He will give heartfelt thanks for the food on the table, the company the occasion. Mindfulness for Georgians is a way of life. The toasts are not flippant but involve deep feeling and thought. It’s not about getting drunk (although Georgian’s seem to have a great capacity for drinking) it’s about taking a thought or a philosophical notion and expounding on it. The supra and its ideals is not something that’s arranged for tourists, it’s part of Georgian culture – our guide Geo would not be able to let us sit down for an evening meal without a few words to help us savour the moment.
Georgian’s mythology tells that a stranger to your table might not be all they seem so guests are viewed as potential Gods and treated as such. I was a guest of The Georgian Wine Agency for over a week and no God could have received better treatment (or more food). In a whirlwind of food, wine, polyphonic singing, scenery contemplating, history and Georgian lessons when I started writing this up new questions about the dishes and ingredients kept arising. A great excuse to return to find out more…but here’s what we ate and what you might encounter on a Georgian table.
Khachapuri
There are at least forty different variations on this filled dough often dictated by region. Usually bread with cheese (sulguni cheese) baked onto it or inside it, there are also bean and egg versions in many shapes too and some are fried. Some are a bit like fluffy pizza, some are buttery and flakier, I had one from a street-side kiosk made with hard-boiled egg and cheese … it was a cold day and I grabbed it with both hands, demolished every cheesy, fluffy mouthful quickly and it soon warmed me up. Khachapuri was served at every single meal and often after several courses so you were filling up but couldn’t resist a slice…or two.
Khinkali
The national dish of Georgia is filled dumplings. To eat them you hold the dumpling by the sides or the top-knot and bite carefully, sucking the savoury liquid out of the hole you have made. You can then eat the whole thing (the top knot is often discarded). Strangely we are only served them on two occasions; a comforting smokey potato filled version with fried onions at an incredible foraged feast and the more typical meat and gravy kind at Tabla.
Vegetables and walnuts
Walnuts feature a lot in Georgia cooking and these badrijani nigvzit were on every table without fail. Silky grilled or fried aubergine slices rolled around a subtly spiced paste of walnut and herbs. Sweet grilled peppers were stuffed or just plain.
Pkhali are little balls of puréed vegetables mixed with spices and flecks of walnut and usually shaped into little balls – like shaped dips really. We had spinach, beetroot and aubergine versions – all delicious – and topped with pomegranate seeds. Aren’t they gorgeous.
Bean culture
Lobio is bean stew taken to another level of hearty, tasty, comfort food with dried spices and fresh herbs. It is traditionally baked in the oven in clay pots – loved the one at Kala. Vegetarians have plenty of choices in Georgia… (unless you have a nut allergy).
Beans or lobio at Kala
There must be meat
…despite the Georgians love of meat in stews and barbecued on skewers on outdoor grills. These mtsvadi can be lamb or chicken but the pork we were served (in many forms including a suckling pig at one supra) is a particular Georgian favourite.
Just when you thought you couldn’t eat another morsel, usually when grilled meats were served, out came a plate of thick, sweet, perfectly cooked chips. All the vegetables in Georgia were full of flavour and the potatoes were no exception.
A steaming bowl of meat stew was always part of our groaning table of dishes. Chicken such as Chakhokhbili in a tomato sauce, liver with a blackberry sauce and even chicken cooked in milk – rich and creamy – in all the meat tender and melting, the flavours deep, with multi-layered savoury spices. I wish I’d recorded the names of them all but our eating and drinking marathon was too intense. Another reason to go back to Georgia…
Georgian cheeses
Cheese was usually at the start of the meal but sometimes at the end too. Cows milk curd cheese made in the Imereti region or Sulguni from Samegrelo was the most common but there are many other varieties. Chef Gio Rokashvili at Pheasants Tears presented the most interesting cheese board: Sulguni aged in honey, Sulguni aged in Saperavi (red wine), Sulguni cheese rolls with smoked bacon, Cow cheese with spices, Sqibu (sulguni with mint) and Muchly cheese (still researching what this last one was).
Fresh and preserved veg
There’s always a fresh salad on the table, often just unadorned but sometimes with a walnut dressing.
The Georgians love their pickles. I think they are made in a way that harnesses natural fermentation (like their wine-making) as the market stalls have piles of pickles rather than jars.
Georgian bread
You may have gathered that bread is a big part of Georgian cuisine and trational chotis or shotis puri is on every table – a bread cooked in a wood-fired clay oven (a bit like a tandoor) called a tone. Mchadi, a popular cornbread, comes in small oval rounds and is perfect for dunking into lobio.
Fish
Georgians do not eat a lot of fish surprisingly but when they do it’s usually trout or carp – often served with a pomegranate sauce.
Mushrooms (and Racha)
Georgia has five micro-climates and Racha (part of Racha-Lechkhumi and Lower Svaneti) is known for its humidity which is ideal for growing mushrooms. Georgians attribute certain characteristics to the people of each region and the people of Racha are said to be slow at doing things. A movie called “The Fastest People in the World” was made about them. Mushrooms came simply baked, filled with cheese, or chopped and stewed, laced with large amounts of fresh tarragon.
Veal salad
Veal salad appeared on the table often – and it was probably the only thing that I disliked (other people enjoyed it). After Googling a bit I wonder whether this is a Russian influence rather than a traditional Georgian dish. I’m investigating…. We were served Russian or Easter salad at our supper in Telavi.
Dessert
… in the main there wasn’t one. After all this feasting, it seems that Georgians don’t have much of a sweet tooth. Or if they do it’s not part of a supra. Churchkhela are strings of nuts dipped in thickened grape juice and eaten as a snack. I saw them at the breakfast table but rarely at dinner. Winery Khareba served a plate of fresh fruit at the end of a quite stupendous supra (where I had no camera juice left) – you’ll see it stacked upon other dishes below. Supra means tablecloth as the dishes at the feast cover the table so densely. Another exception was at Azarpesha when a spectacular fruit and nut stuffed pumpkin was paraded out of the kitchen and served in slices. Gia at Pheasant’s Tears prepared seasonal fruit stewed in red wine served with clotted cream which was demolished so fast there is also no picture.
Other dishes and sauces
Thanks to Tamta for this information about the fried cheese balls: Elarji- ელარჯი, which is a popular dish from Samegrelo region, made from coarse cornmeal, cornflour and Sulguni cheese. Its balls are rolled in Panko Japanese bread crumbs. The sauce is – Bazhe- ბაჟე, made of almonds is also served together with hazelnut sauce.
Sauces whether sour plum, pomegranate or spicy tomato was always somewhere on the Georgian table.
Foraged menu
Our evening at Pheasant’s Tears in Sighnaghi stood out for many reasons – a night of toasts, polyphonic singing, quevri wines, chacha (type of Georgian grappa) and wild folk dancing. The menu created by chef Gia Rokashvili was based on traditional dishes from the region and local, seasonal ingredients with some foraged. The wild baby leeks were harvested from the newly thawed slopes of the mountains and were sweet and tender. See pictures above plus these…
Drink
Gaumarjos – this is Georgian for ‘cheers’ although it actually means ‘victory’ reflecting the country’s history of battling invaders. Dissecting my account of my visit to Georgia into separate chapters of places, food and wine is probably a complete travesty. It is inconceivable that there wouldn’t be wine on the table and sense of place given by the food, surroundings, singing or philosophical discussions around the table. But wine is so central to Georgians that I had to give it a special focus (following soon) – not to mention the ubiquitous firewater chacha. Georgia also produces some excellent mineral water (I can buy the excellent Borjomi here in Dubai) but there was another beverage on the table that fascinated us by its colour and flavour (an acquired taste to say the least). Natakhari lemonade comes in many varieties including pomegranate, pear, cream, grape and tarragon – which looks as though it’ll land you a part in Wicked if you drink enough of it.
The diary of feasts
Every meal in Georgia was memorable for its quality and blurred the memory because of its quantity. As guests of The Georgian Wine Agency and International Wine Tourism Conference our itinerary was planned and we visited restaurants where larger parties could be accommodated. When I return….oh yes not if but when… I’d like to seek out some of the smaller places and maybe eat at someone’s home (Georgian’s are famed for inviting strangers to dine with them). As a country coming out of the Russian culture of standardisation, Georgians are promoting their unique and regional cuisines after a century of suppression. This does mean that favourite dishes from all over the place are presented on the table at the same time. Celebrating the special characteristics of each region, whether through food, singing or wine-making is being encouraged by forward thinkers such as Irakli Cholobargia (Georgia Wine Agency) and John Wurdeman (Pheasant’s Tears) to name two. There’s a McDonalds in Tbilisi and one Starbucks kiosk but the invasion of multi-national chains has yet to happen (which could be an even more destructive force on Georgian cuisine than Soviet homogenisation).
Cafe Kala
A quirky place that we chose for lunch, tucked away on a pleasant pedestrianized street full of restaurants in old Tbilisi (our taxi driver hadn’t heard of it). Helpful waiter and embossed cloth-covered menu containing many classic Georgian dishes (as well as international). Next to and runs into KGB, which is owned by the same group.
8/10 Erekle II Street, Tbilisi (+995) 592 79 97 97 Facebook
Vino Underground
More drinking than eating went on here (tasting notes to follow) but this wine bar is underground in more ways than one. A basement serving a massive selection of qvevri and natural wines from around the world by the glass. Local cheese and charcuterie boards provide sustenance. Hang out with wine makers including co-owner Ramazi Nikoladze if you’re lucky.
15 Galaktion Tabidze Street, Tbilisi (+995) 322 30 96 10 Facebook
Azarphesha
Welcomed by proprietor Luarsab Togonidze, imposing in national dress, this was my first introduction to a supra and the start of a week-long supra marathon. Our party filled the whole restaurant which, in addition to the dim lighting and walls clad with ancient wine-making and wine drinking implements, made it very cosy. Course after course of traditional Georgian dishes, spell-binding polyphonic singing, qvevri wines, chacha, toasts drunk from animal horns and antique silver drinking vessels, culminating in the carving of the enormous pumpkin. A night to remember that kick-started the week.
– See more at: http://www.visitgeo.com/tbilisi/azarphesha-restaurant#sthash.DMpeOTs3.dpuf
– See more at: http://www.visitgeo.com/tbilisi/azarphesha-restaurant#sthash.DMpeOTs3.dpuf
– See more at: http://www.visitgeo.com/tbilisi/azarphesha-restaurant#sthash.DMpeOTs3.dpuf
2 Ingorkova Street, Tbilisi (+995) 579 7040 Facebook
+995 579 70 40 80
Georgian Chamber of Wine
After a morning of sparkling wine and brandy tasting the elegant table bathed in natural light was a welcome sight. Located in Mtskheta, the former ancient capital of Georgia – you can spot the Jvevri monastery from the terrace, just one of the surrounding UNESCO World Heritage sites (which include the Svetitskhoveli Cathedral in the town). The airy interior and excellent food, including grilled meats from the outside barbecue, made this a really enjoyable lunch. At other times there is traditional entertainment, wine tasting and culinary tours plus you can see some qvevri in the basement.
Agmashenebeli 69, Mtskheta (+995) 322 23 77 00 Facebook
Kopala
Arranged on several floors of one building, the major attraction of this restaurant is the absolutely stunning view of Tbilisi lit up at night from the terrace.
8/10 Chekhov Street, Tbilisi (+995) 322 77 55 20 Website
View from Kopala of Tbilisi
In the Shadow of Metekhi
There was a fantastic view here too, but the main focus is the entertainment of dramatic, stagey folk dancing in lavish costumes and singers – a bit like Georgian El Divo. Sometimes you have to be in the mood for this, and I wasn’t – however many of our party stayed dancing late into the night and absolutely loved it.
29a Tsamebuli Avenue, Tbilisi (+995) 322 77 93 83 Website
Old Telavi
Leaving Tbilisi after two full on days of the International Wine Tourism Conference we set off on a two and a half hour journey to Telavi. As we had to turn back at the path across the mountains due to icy conditions it took over four and half. Tired and weary it was a subdued feast at Old Telavi although Geo managed to make it into a supra with a least one toast. I can’t remember deciding not to take photos, I just didn’t. The food was of the usual good and plentiful standard, a Russian salad and a plate of fresh fruit adding a different note. The breakfast at the hotel was probably the most limited we’d encountered consisting mainly of bread, cheese, tomatoes and packaged honey. The rooms were clean but furnished with ornate furniture (not to everyone’s taste) and had complicated state of the art showers with countless knobs and sprays which was the main discussion over breakfast.
1 Cholokashvili Street, Telavi (+995) 350 27 07 07
Chateau Mere
I was predisposed not to like Chateau Mere. It sounded all wrong. Why give a Georgian place a French name? It looked all wrong too – is it old or new trying to look old? I never did discover. The dining room is kitsch – jampacked with ornaments, bits and bobs. But it reflected the personality of its owner George Piradashvili who was one of the most hospitable people we’d met – and in Georgia that’s saying something. More to follow about the wines we tasted, before a generous spread of freshly prepared dishes (no surprises apart from a delicious green garlic sauce). Sinking into a comfy sofa, sipping tea in front of a roaring fire was luxurious, with a splendid view of the Caucasus mountains glimpsed from the window. With both camera and iphone battery juice depleted, just one pic, but great memories.
15 Vardisubani, 0145, Kaheti (+995) 595 990399 Website
Saperavi restaurant at Winery Khareba
After a tour of the winery cellars and a tasting we spent the evening at a supra of lavish scale in a banqueting hall with John Wunderman of Pheasant’s Tears as tamada and course after course appearing on our tables including a suckling pig which was wheeled out (literally) sporting fireworks. Probably not somewhere you would go for a cosy lunch although there is a cafe apparently and as it’s up on a hill the views are wonderful. A bit odd this place as it seems to have two names and two websites Winery Khareba and Gvirabi.
Meurneoba District, Kvareli (+995) 32 249 77 70
Schuchmann’s Winery
We’d had the edge taken off our appetite by a some fairly insistent force feeding of grilled pork at Shumi previously (more about this in my wine post) but after a tour of the winery felt up to the task of another multi-course lunch. The restaurant is flanked by long glass windows with a view over the vineyard and distant Caucasus mountains and the floor had glass panels down to a view of qvevri. This was an elegant lunch and the food consisting of the usual suspects was really excellent. A lovely place to while away an afternoon, if you didn’t have another supra to go to….
Kisiskhevi, Telavi District 2200, (+995) 7 90 557045 website
How’s that for a view
Pheasant’s Tears
Artist John Wurdeman, born in New Mexico and raised in Virginia, USA, was travelling in Georgia following his passion for singing and recording polyphonic songs, with no intention of setting up a winery. However, his overwhelming passion for Georgia makes it seem inevitable that he would follow that path eventually as wine is so inextricably linked to Georgian life and culture. Sometimes it takes an outsider to see what people take for granted and he’s a great spokesman for the treasures that make Georgia so special. Pheasant’s Tears is in the centre of the historic (and restored) part of Sighnaghi. A slightly rambling building housing John’s artist studio, a carpet shop and an interesting cellar, the food prepared by chef Gia Rokashvili is both authentic but freshly original at the same time, perfectly suiting the wide range of qvevri and natural wines on offer.
18 Baratashvili Street, Sighnaghi (+995) 355-23-15-56 Website
Preparing to dance at Pheasants Tears
Ambasadori
This was an odd place. A stopping off point on our journey from Sighnaghi back to Tbilisi. A sign of some prosperity for a few in Georgia – new money. A cluster of single storey houses around a golf course which didn’t seem to be open but had an enormous, shining new club house which looked like it hosted banquets. The main building (which was being extended a rapid pace by construction workers) had a pool to one side and crazy golf complete with mini qvevris as a hazard opposite. There were business meetings going on in one section, a children’s play area in another and a very pleasant terrace shaded with flowing curtains where we ate lunch. The food was excellent and included the chicken in milk dish and vine leaves which we had not had before.
Kachreti 1510 (+995) 32 272 94 17/19 Facebook
Tabla
Tabla is located in the desirable University area of Tbilisi and it shows. The clientele were well-groomed. There was a genteel air of affluence about the place. The varied entertainment of singers was professional and accomplished. The whole atmosphere was extremely pleasant and the food some of the best we had been served, in my opinion. Amused that the Tabla home catering service is called house wife – read more here.
33 Chavchavadze ave., Tbilisi (+995) 32 2 60 20 15 Facebook
Related articles
- About Food – Svanetian Khachapuri (georgiaabout.com) – a really exceptional guide to Georgian food
- Everlasting feast: Food in the republic of Georgia (saveur.com) – a beautiful, indepth and moving account by Karen Shimizu
- Roadside stands of Georgia (sarahmelamed.com) – beautiful pictures and information about eating on your journey
- Tbilisi – new foodie capital (vinoge.com) – an insight into the restaurant scene and how it has changed in the past decade
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My Custard Pie 
I had no idea of the extent to which the Georgians were epicurean. What a sensational-looking week-long feast you were treated to. The breads and salads look particularly delicious to me. Makes for fascinating reading.
As a bread lover I couldn’t help but be satisfied with such diversity and quality.
Beautiful food! So diverse and mouthwatering.
Cheers,
Rosa
Gaumarjos Rosa (Georgian for cheers).
Wow. Super post. I’m surprised you could fit in your aircraft seat on the way home though!
I had never contemplated going on a diet before my last day in Georgia! The food was all wholesome and homecooked though – and with lots of vegetable dishes and few sweet things it was just the amount that was daunting!
I must try the fish with pomegranate when we get home. It all sounds deliciously good Sally 🙂
The recipe is here if you fancy making it Tandy.
Wow! What an amazing culinary tour 🙂 so interesting, thank you x
Thanks Elaine 🙂
I wish we all had such a mindful approach to food, rather than just eating whatever we can to stay alive. Lovely post, Sally. We had our first Georgian meal recently, and the food was incredibly interesting!
I’m trying to learn a lot of lessons from the Georgian’s approach to life Celia.
I could very, very happily spend the rest of my life eating Georgian cuisine. 🙂 The Pkhali are adorable and the bean dips have me swooning. Delicious. 🙂
Me too 🙂
Wow that’s some guide! I recall the Sulguni cheese from St Petersburg, in fact the Georgian food I ate there was the most memorable. The churchkhela are similar to our Cypriot soujouko. I spotted a Caucasian restaurant at JBR Walk the other day…don’t suppose you’ve been?
I haven’t. I just Googled Georgian restaurants and there seems to be one in Beach Centre Mall – without wine is impossible to imagine though as it’s such an integral part to the whole experience. Can’t seem to find much about the Caucasian restaurant online – will see if I can face The Walk.
What a fantastic time! I could happily enjoy Georgian cuisine any day of the week.
Have a lovely week ahead Sally.
🙂 Mandy xo
Thanks Mandy
Thank you for the great article! I went to a Georgian restaurant on a school trip to St Petersburg the 1990s and I still remember the feast. The starters alone were so impressive we nearly had to miss out on the mains…
I’ll have to start looking for a Georgian restaurant in London – shouldn’t be too hard.
I’m looking for one in Dubai – have heard rumours….
http://www.london-eating.co.uk/cuisines/georgian.asp
I’ve tried Mimino and Tamada, they’re both decent but not nearly as good as the restaurants in Georgia.
I’ll have a look but let me know if you come across something special!
Though, in my experience, even a bad Georgian restaurant outside of Georgia is better than none!
Thank you for this detailed write up – after reading about your trip, I’d be interested to read about solo/small group travelers’ experiences in Georgia too!
Yes – I loved my time with the group and we were looked after brilliantly but would also like to return at my own pace. If you are interested in the wine side then Wine Trail Traveler has written a book about them. My post on the wine tour side is coming up soon too.
The International Wine Tourism Conference 2015 will be heading for La Champagne and we are sure we will have some more culinary delights to look forward to
I am sure of that 🙂
Wow, I learned so much about Georgia (not that I knew much before). What a wonderful experience and interesting place to visit. Great reporting!
Thanks Joan – glad to tempt such a traveler as you.
What an exceptional post. I love that there is a toastmaster at every meal and that the toast is not the flippant version we often do light heartedly here in the UK. I also love the range of food you have photographed. Such a beautiful spread and highlights how little I know about this culture despite the fact that my sister traced our ancestors back to the place that is now Georgia! Meat aside I think I could give all of those dishes a go. I’d never have thought of this place as a weekend break destination but I think your list of suggestions is drawing me with some simple conclusions for Oct half term!
Wow that’s such interesting news Urvashi. Which part of Georgia are they from? Each region’s people are attributed different characteristics! There were loads of choices for vegetarians at every meal and the feasts were indeed genuine. The problem with getting from London is I believe there are no direct flights – you have to go via Istanbul or Frankfurt. I would choose the former and stop off in that wonderful city. I can recommend guides – few people speak English and there is so much to learn about the place. It’s very inexpensive there too. Oh I do hope you make it – we were all bitten by the Georgian bug – especially because of the lovely people.
This took me back to my week working in Tblisi and the fabulous food and people. Including a most memorable supra at Kopala with the parents and brother of our Georgian au-pair girl, followed by a very drunken (not me) drive at midnight to see the sites of Tblisi and praise George Bush (they not I). So glad you had such a marvelous trip and Geogian food is simply amazing and so tasty. xox
I’m so glad Karin – it’s a special place. Our guide was more circumspect about George Bush street and explained that if it was safe enough for the American president to visit they hoped others would consider visiting.
So well organized and my mouth is watering. Everything looks so good and so well-attended to. Eating in Georgia appears to be serious business. Wonderful.
Very serious Amanda – the eating and the drinking….but lots of good humour too. The Georgians are not dour at all.
Wow what amazing feasting and such a great account of it all. Would love to visit.
I think you’d love it Andrea – so much tradition and care for the land.
Wow! Sally, what a lovely article. I had Kinkali just once, and they were SO delicious. Not at all heavy, and full of flavour. We had the meat variety, in a Tbilisi restaurant that is (apparently) famed for them. Will dig out the name. There is a more ‘contemporary’ side to Georgian cuisine, I understand. Rene Ames (the food and drink writer for Time Out Istanbul) went to a few of the restaurants that are taking a lighter interpretation of the Supra tradition. Anyway, thanks again.
Yes we were following Rene’s exploits after we left with envy. Gia at Pheasant’s Tears gave us a hint of different things too. An excuse to go back and discover more 🙂
Wow Sally that is an impressive post. I was intrigued to see what the food look like as my brother had said it was fabulous. It does indeed live up to my expectations. Sounds as if you were really well fed and water. Such a fascinating trip.
Loved reading this post. At one point, my husband was travelling to Georgia quite a lot and whenever he came home after a trip he would say, ‘You will not believe how good Georgian food is.’ I look forward to sharing this post with him!
Wow, that is a feast indeed!!! Never been to Georgia but seeing all these images I’m very tempted. Such an abundance!
Really been reading and researching Georgia for a few years and find it creeping up the ladder to top list. Throughout last year I was just dying to have the time to go… Now that I read this, I am wondering why I haven’t already!! Absolutely enjoyed devouring every word you wrote and somehow wishing I was there with you 🙂
What I find very interesting is in Arabic the word Sofra also means a feast and also derived from table cover. I am finding many similarities between the foods you have mentioned and many that I have tried in Turkey, besides some that are Arabic. Could Arabic & Georgian had been influenced by Turkish cuisine and terminology somehow? Interesting!
Good job Sally, taking this post with me as reference when I finally make it there 😉
i can answer that for you, Supra is the word for Georgian feast, Georgia was historically fighting off neighbouring muslim countries for centuries, few times Arabs, mongols, Turkish managed to come into Georgia and reign so they have left some influences and some turkish/arabic words are still used in Georgia. like word Salami like Arabic word salam aleikum, means “greetings”, hello. many other words too.
Thanks Maka – couldn’t have put it better. Dima – you have to visit Georgia.
What grand & festive feasts! All of the food dishes look fantastic, Sally! I wish I was there with you exploring the many different foods & trying to eat them too, of course! 🙂
A fabulous food post! xxx
Sally your account of the trip to georgia is so interesting. Tiblisi looks stunning along with some amazing food it seems. My grand mother is Circassian which is an area in the Caucus mountains close to Georgia, so some of the dishes seems familiar… especially the walnuts (a lot of sauces are cooked with walnuts, garlic and hot chilli oil), I recognise the cheeses and ofcourse the costumes and dancing,,,, I would love to do a blog post on her national dish ‘ships was basta’ and see what you make of it… Wonderful travel post!
that was Lara!
You must write that post… would love to read (and taste) it.
wow, beautiful photos, I am Georgian and i get so excited to see foreigners loving our food. i
live abroad and this photos made me miss the food even more, a question thougn, did you only travel to Eastern Georgia, cause I don’t see dishes called “knarcho” or “bazha”‘ (meat based curry like dishes) or “gomi” or think in English Homini?
We mainly visited Tbilisi and Kaheti Maka. Would love to explore further. Most of the major restaurants seem to concentrate on this menu of well known dishes from across the country but I hope more will start to feature some of the regional variations too. I need to return to eat knarcho don’t I… 🙂
yep, definitely visit Western georgia, we have bazha and kharcho, delicious, again with walnuts, also ghomi, which looks like white porridge, you put suluguni in it and melts and it’s delicious, ask for elarji is the same thing but much cheesier, also fish called Kepali which you can only get in Poti, black sea town. Delicious with cranberry sauce.hope helps
Helped a lot – in making me want to revisit even more!
Great information on the Georgian cuisine and pictures… my mouth is watering! Thanks for following my blog.
Oh wow.. the photos are stunning! You have captured the food so well- and now I am hungry and jealous! Beautiful work- felt like I was there. Thank you for sharing them all 🙂
What a fantastically comprehensive post. I am going to Tbilisi in a month and can’t wait to try it all!
Lucky you – I really NEED to go back.
Thank you Sally for a very nice overview of a Georgian cuisine and amazing photos. I have to admit, after eating a dinner, your post still got me hungry here:) I’ll definitely forward this post as a quick guide to my foreign friends who are always requesting additional info about our food and drinks. Hope you come back. Gaumarjos!
Hope I do too Giorgi – Gaumarjos to you and thanks for visiting.
My husband is from georgia and I am british, we live in the UK. Food in georgia is so beautiful. The experience of eating in a family home is so amazing and although at home (UK) it can feel a little false when we try to have a supra in Georgia it is amazing. The passion and love that goes into the food is amazing. I too admit that we have visited a numbet of Georgian restaurants around the world but it doesn’t taste the same. The restaurants not only have the correct ingredients, they also have the true spirit of georgian people that want you to have a fantastic experience and feel very special. Try the dishes they are all a bit different. I live msvadi, khachapuri and khinkali. They are trully gorgeous!
I totally agree with your comment that ‘the passion and love that goes into the food is amazing” in fact I’d extend that to wine and singing too. Really glad you stopped by and left this comment Karen.
You do not know how delicious Kupati is. You must come here and try it. We love guests and we love have a sufra with our guests. Welcome to Georgia, in the old and beautiful country.