Khachapuri!

Khachapuri is the most common Georgian snack or meal. It is essentially a cheese pie, made in many different ways. You can buy these cheese pies for less than a dollor from street vendors, or can get them for 4-6 US dollars in a restaurant.

Georgian cuisine, including Khachapuri, is made with Sulgani cheese. It is a cheese you cannot find in the states. It is a unique, pickled cheese, and a staple of Georgian cuisine. Very salty and served in wedges for breakfast and fried in many dinner dishes. It is part of every continental hotel breakfast as well.

Hotel Continental breakfast: Assorted cheeses featuring varieties of Sulgani. Assorted meats and sausages. Breads. Hard boiled eggs, or (perhaps) some other variety of eggs. Jams made with fresh fruits, sour cream, some other cottage cheese-like cheese or ricotta-like cheese - excellent. Yogurt. OJ. Occasionally some water. Sometimes, bottles of vodka available at breakfast - whoa! Too early for me, but at no extra cost. Fresh vegetables - cucumbers and tomatoes, usually with a vinegrette on top. Fruits - Kiwi, citrus, apples, parsimmons.

If you don't know your khachapuris before you venture to Georgia, it's not a big deal. Any one that you order will be yummy. If you are ordering from a street vendor, you can just point to one, and surprise! You'll love it.

The following pics are all from the web, since I did not, to my regret, have any Khachapuri pics.

Khachapuri Acharuli. This is a large boat shaped bread dish filled with cheese and butter, then baked. After baking, an egg is cracked on top, and then the raw egg is covered with cool slices of butter. The butter topping is supposed to cover the egg and cook the egg (a tiny bit). If you would like to have a heart attack, eat these every day. Delicious, but very rich. I found it hard to eat 1/3 of a serving!


Khachapuri Megruli. Looks like a pizza, but has cheese on the inside too! The cheese is saltier than cheese you would find on an american pizza.



Khachapuri Penovani. This is my favorite. It is a flaky, croissant like dough with cheese in the middle. Yumm! Get these from street vendors, it will cost you about .60 cents for a large portion.



Another Khachapuri Penovani. Yum!

Khachapuri Lobiani. Same thing, but with beans inside. I never got around to trying one of these, but I'm sure they are yummy.

Many more Khachapuris are available. Try as many as possible if you are visiting Georgia.

Georgian Food

Restaurants in Georgia will often have an English (transliteration) name underneath the Georgian script, but often there is no description. It is wise to know your Georgian dishes before dining, so you don't accidentally order cold river fish, fried brains, or cold cattle tongue by accident. Many restaurnts have a semi-english menu, if you ask for it.

Be prepared for a feast when you go out for dinner. Order a bottle of wine (not common to order by the glass), pick a couple of Cold Dishes, and one hot dish to share for two. If you are with a larger group you may want to choose two or three hot dishes.


Georgian wine is lovely and very common. We met people with their own vinyards who shared unlabled bottles with us. Semi-sweet, many are a kind of pinkish hue. I don't know a lot about wine, but Georgia is known for it, and it was wonderful.


Chicken BBQ (Shashlik). BBQ is a common dish in Georia. The meat is on skewer over a flame. It is very tender and delicious. No sauces, like we are used to here in the states, but no way does it need anything else. It tastes great all on its own.


Bread Stuffed with cheese over an open flame. YUM! Georgian cuisine is big on bread and cheese.



Tomatoes stuffed with cheese and garlic. This dish was absolutely fabulous at ALALI restaurant. This restaurant is a little hard to find. It is in Tblisi, just outside of Abano Tubani (where the bathhouses are). As we were walking from Abano Tubani towards Tblisi Old Town, we stumbled across a building that had a sign in English: Restaurant. So we went in. It looked vacant from the outside, but we went in, spiraled down some dark stairway, and ended up in a huge, traditional Georgian restaurant. They had excellent food for very cheap prices, and the stuffed tomatoes there were the best I had had in Georgia.

Ojakhuri. Meat with potatoes, onion and garlic. Topped with herbs and pomegranate seeds. Wonderful! I cannot describe the difference between fried potoes here in the states, and the ones in Georgia. It is obvious, from the taste, that oil is not used. We tried some "fried potatoes" at Tsiskvili and they were the best I've ever had in my life. They looked like french fries, but tasted so much better. I was very surprised! No need at all for ketchup, they tasted wonderful on their own. You can get ketchup at some restaurants, but you have to request it, and it might cost a little bit extra. You'll also be immediately spotted as a tourist if you ask for it.

Khinkali. Large dumplings stuffed with item of your choice: meats, potatoes, cheese, etc. Similar to potstickers, only much bigger and not crunchy. Tip: You don't eat the knots at the top. Very yummy. If you want to explore good Khinkali, there is a whole khinkali district in town, where every restaurant has tons of khinkali options. This district is called Khinkali World and you can find it in Lonley Planet Guidebook. It is just off of Gorgasalis Moedani (St. George Square).

Assorted pickles (Mzhavi). This is on every Georgian "Cold Dish" menu. A yummy assortment of pickled cabbage, garlic, peppers, cucumber, tomatoes, and something else that I could not place.

You will get a large basket of bread with every meal. The bread is made (much like Indian Naan), dough is spread in a clay, circular pit, over an open fire, and peeled off when ready to serve.

Stuffed eggplant with walnuts (Badrijani). Topped with pomegranate seeds. On every menu and very tasty.

Mushrooms with cheese and butter (Ojaxuri). Very yummy, made in a shallow clay pot, which many dishes are made it.

Assorted meats and sausages. Not sure what they all are called, but very tasty.

Borjomi is a sparkling water made in the city of Borjomi in Georgia. It is a little bit salty, so it takes some getting used to, but you will find it anywhere and everywhere.

Yumm

Amy's sparkly tomato

Baseball Fury

A Bike Messenger

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