What to eat in Georgia – an original guide to Georgian cuisine

Traveling through various regions of Georgia, we encountered various local variations of popular dishes, as well as those that we had not read about in any guidebooks. What to eat in Georgia so as not to miss the whole range of aromas and flavors offered by the local cuisine? I invite you to read this short guide, which I enriched with personal observations and photos.

I divided the Georgian cuisine into those that I managed to try during a week-long exploration of Caucasian restaurants, bazaars and shops, and those that had to remain in the plans for the next trip. Unfortunately, you can’t eat everything. Believe me – I tried…

Georgian cuisine – as an introduction

Georgian cuisine was created as a reflection of the local history and culture. You can find Russian, Turkish, Middle Eastern and Asian influences in it. Most classic Georgian dishes are characterized by easy availability of ingredients, their seasonality, ease of preparation and calorific value. Like Italian cuisine, Georgian cuisine is rather simple, based on variations on a few key ingredients, and at the same time nutritious and delicious.

Most Georgian dishes are high in fat and high in carbohydrates, designed to keep you full for hours. So what to do to not gain weight during such an expedition? First of all, stop asking yourself these questions! There are two key issues during trips: we do not count calories and we do not convert prices into zlotys. It is not easy – especially at the beginning of the road – but it can be worked out in the head. The time for dieting, training and belt-tightening will come when we return.

Due to the great popularity of Georgia in Poland, Georgian restaurants and bakeries operate in many Vistula cities. Thanks to this, a large part of the described dishes is probably not unfamiliar to you. Many elements of our culinary tastes have parts in common – such as our love of freshly baked bread, meat, cheese and…. alcohol. I notice the biggest difference in terms of sweets and desserts. In Georgia, strong Turkish and Mediterranean influences are clearly visible, although there will also be no shortage of classic Eastern European gingerbread in a Georgian confectionery.

While this entry will be about what you can eat in Georgia, it is also worth mentioning what is not there. Well, I haven’t met a single Western fast food attached to a gas station. I noticed the presence of KFC and McDonald’s in Kutaisi and Tbilisi. Meanwhile on the road – zero. However, what has come from America to Georgia is Wendy’s and Dunkin’ (without Donuts – because they also serve savoury and… local items!). They even have a shared app and are probably the only place where you can eat something hot at the airport in Kutaisi. I also saw two places along the way. However, if you dream of a Big Mac while tanking your car to the brim – forget it.

What did I eat in Georgia?

So let’s start this guide to Georgian cuisine with those dishes that we ate with my Beloved during the trip. We drove over a thousand kilometers by car, but we still didn’t visit all corners of the country. Certainly, there are other, very interesting dishes in less accessible areas, but the time will come for them another time. As far as possible, I will also try to answer not only the question of what to eat in Georgia – but also where to enjoy the best versions of local delicacies. So, make yourself a cup of coffee and let’s embark on this gastronomic journey together.

Khinkali

We spent the first two days of Georgian exploration in Kutaisi and the surrounding area, and ate the first course at El Depo, a place recommended on many blogs and foodies sites. This is a bistro you won’t meet in Poland, as it serves chinkali for…. 24 hours a day. I like it because in Poland places open at night usually serve kebabs. In El Depo, of course, you will get not only the famous Georgian dumplings, but that is what tourists and natives come here for. Prices range from 0.7 GEL to 1.3 GEL per piece with a minimum order of five khinkali of one type.

Khinkali are Georgian dumplings served in the form of characteristic wrapped dough pouches The stuffing depends both on the region and on the cook’s imagination. The most classic ones are filled with highly seasoned minced mutton (can also be beef or pork), which releases its juice during cooking and fills the inside of the pouch with delicious broth. Khinkali should be eaten with the hands, drinking the broth contained in them. We do not eat the upper part, for which we hold the dumplings, because due to the form of serving, the dough in this place is raw inside.

For vegetarians and people who do not feel like meat stuffing, khinkali are available with a different filling: mashed potatoes, local cheese or mushrooms.

Khachapuri

I could write a separate article on the subject of khachapuri (and it is not out of the question that I will do so), as it is one of the most diverse dishes in all of Georgia. Each region of the country has developed its own version of this classic Georgian dish. They all revolve around two ingredients: bread or yeast dough and cheese. Other additives and the form of serving – it’s a separate story.

Adjarian khachapuri

The most popular in Poland is the Ajarian khachapuri from the south of Georgia, which you can also easily get in most restaurants on the spot. They are served in the form of bread formed into the shape of a distinctive boat, with sulguni cheese, imeruli, or a mixture of both inside. Some Georgians also stuff the sides of the cake with cheese. Content At the end of baking, an egg is broken over the melted cheese and then the dish is served with a piece of butter.

The traditional way of eating Adjarian khachapuri is to mix the stuffing together, then tear off pieces of bread and dip them in the resulting sauce. If this way of eating doesn’t sound good to you – don’t worry. For tourists, cutlery is usually provided.

Other types of khachapuri

• Imeretian khachapuri (imeruli) – a round shape resembling a pizza, cheese stuffing (imeruli) in the middle of the dough, sometimes with the addition of an egg;
• Megrelian khachapuri (megruli) – similar to Imeretian, but slightly fluffier, cheese stuffing (more often sulguni than imeruli), served with a toasted mixture of beaten egg and cheese on top;
• Svaneti khachapuri (Svanuri), otherwise: kubdari – there are many types of khachapuri in Svaneti, and the stuffing may include, for example, minced meat, beets, nettle, hemp or chives. It also has a round form;
• Ossetian khachapuri (osuri), also: khabizgina – a yeast cake stuffed with cheese, potatoes and herbs, most often dill. Round form. A version popular in the Ossetia region and mountain towns near Kazbek;
• Gurian khachapuri (guruli) – a festive version of the crescent-shaped khachapuri. A previously cooked (and not raw as in other varieties) egg is added to the cheese stuffing;
• penovani khachapuri (penovani) – instead of yeast dough, puff pastry is used, folded many times in the form of an envelope. The stuffing is a mix of imeruli and sulguni cheeses and egg yolks;
• rachapuri (raczuli), or lobiani – available at any bakery. Instead of cheese stuffing, the yeast cake is filled with beans. There is also a meat version, enriched with bacon.

There are probably many other types of khachapuri, but these are the ones I encountered during my travels. Modern chefs also offer various variations on this traditional Georgian dish. In one of the restaurants, I saw, for example, khachapuri with pears, honey and gorgonzola, which is a local variation on a popular pizza composition.

We ate different types of chachapuri in many places, and we mostly ate lobiani for a second breakfast, stopping at bakeries along the way.

Mtsvadi

The Americans (and the Georgians who cater to them) call this dish simply Georgian barbecue. These are previously marinated in traditional Georgian spices pieces of meat (pork, lamb, mutton, veal), studded on metal skewers (sampura) in the form of skewers and grilled. There is also a version with minced meat, like kofta.

The marinade usually includes tarragon, Svaneti salt, pepper, as well as pomegranate and lemon juice, but this is not a necessary condition. The ingredients of the marinade often depend on the cook’s imagination. The dish is served with raw onions (like Kazakhs – Georgians love them) and one of the traditional sauces: plum tkemali, tomato sacebeli or paprika ajika.

In addition, the classic accompaniment is a Georgian salad consisting of tomatoes, cucumbers and even more onions, as well as traditional Georgian bread. Local red wine is served to wash it down.

Ojakhuri

The term ojakhuri is used to describe many one-pot dishes based on meat and vegetables, served in clay pots. Creativity is unlimited here, but the most important rule is to keep the dish simple and filling – just like Moroccan tazhin. After all, Georgia is traditionally a pastoral country, so a shepherd going to graze sheep had to eat his fill.

Most often, ojakhuri includes potatoes, pieces of pork, mutton, beef or chicken and vegetables such as carrots, peppers and onions. The whole thing is strengthened with traditional Georgian spices, decorated with coriander leaves and pickles, and next to the dish one of the Georgian sauces: adjika, tkemali or satsebeli. Of course, there are also vegetarian versions of ojakhuri, most often based on mushrooms (mushrooms).

Kharcho

The most popular soup that cannot be missed on a Georgian table is kharcho. Fat, thick, aromatic broth bursting with a multitude of local spices and herbs, enriched with pieces of delicious beef or mutton meat is a must-try during a trip to Georgia. There are also versions with chicken, wild boar or goat, but these are regional variations.

In Cafe Palermo (don’t let the name fool you – they serve Georgian and Armenian homemade, not Italian!) In Tbilisi, I ate a similar soup from the owner’s home recipe, with veal meatballs – just like I remember from my family home in Bialystok. It wasn’t a classic kharcho, but more a fusion of the same with kufta (and that’s what the lady serving us called it) – a soup popular in Armenia, Bulgaria, Azerbaijan and Turkey. If you are asking what to eat in Georgia – I definitely recommend that one! At Cafe Palermo we also got delicious koftas in tortillas sprinkled with barberry and a stew made of thick groats with mushrooms and fatty sauce.

I ate kharcho several times, but for the special version I went to the Salobe Bia restaurant in Tbilisi, recommended by many gourmets. The local interpretation, created by chef Giorgi Josawa, is more like a stew than a soup, and is served with ghomi. Although I personally prefer the traditional version of this dish, I wholeheartedly recommend a visit to the premises located in the basement of the Georgian National Opera building. If you like the characteristic decor of “artistic pubs”, then you can’t miss the pleasure of communing with the decor and decorations of Salobe Bia.

Gomi

Since I have already mentioned the ghomi that accompanied the goulash kharcho served in a bohemian restaurant on Rustaveli Street, it is worth mentioning what kind of dish it is. According to tradition, ghomi was made from chumiza, an endemic grain once growing in Georgia. Currently, corn (white variety) is used for the production of ghomi, which has displaced the cultivation of the formerly popular plant.

Ghomi is a dish created from long-term cooking of corn grits over a live fire, and then served with salty cheese, which slightly melts and gives flavor to the whole dish. Interestingly, the version I ate in Salobe Bia used traditional trichina ber (chumizy), so if you want to taste what a classic megrel gomi tastes like – you know where to go.

Chikhirtma

Poles have broth, and Georgians – chikhirtma. It is a soup that is said to be an excellent hangover cure after consuming too much chacha. This is quite good advice, so I recommend you remember it in case of the morning aftermath of Georgian hospitality.

The base of chichirtma is a broth based on chicken meat, onions, bay leaves and garlic. The consistency of the soup is thickened with flour. As in many other liquid dishes with Middle Eastern roots, raw egg yolk is also used here, which is poured into boiling broth at the end of cooking. To give the dish a perfect aroma, Georgians generously sprinkle it with fresh coriander leaves. Chikhirtma is served with wine or apple vinegar and fresh Georgian bread.

Badrijani

We ate them several times, and … we never took a picture. Apparently they were so tasty and quickly disappeared from the table. Badrijani, because we are talking about them, are wrapped slices of fried or grilled eggplant, stuffed with nut paste, garlic and coriander. They are usually served with pomegranate seeds.

It is an excellent proposition for breakfast or an appetizer, which you will find in most Georgian restaurants and houses.

Pkhali

Pkhali are hand-formed balls served, like badrijani, as an appetizer before the main course. Pkhali usually includes herbs such as spinach, young nettle, parsley, botwina or coriander. Their finely chopped leaves are mixed with crushed nuts, onions and garlic.

For this delicious dish, we went to the Sisters restaurant in Kutaisi, located right next to the park and the roundabout with the Colchis fountain. Located between a devotional store, banks and pawn shops, the establishment is quite hidden, so when passing by it originally we didn’t even notice the entrance. When we finally went up the stairs, we saw a spacious interior in which the main role is played not only by food, but also by art – specifically live music. Piano, good wine and delicious food. Recommended.

Chvishtari

But let’s get back to the bread. In addition to khachapuri, it is certainly worth trying chvishtari – corn bread stuffed with cheese. According to the waitress from Sisters, Georgians eat it with pkhali, so I made such a pairing. It fit like a scudetto gold medal on the chest of Chwiczy Kwaracchelia.

Tonis Puri

Tonis puri is a traditional bread typical of Georgian cuisine, baked in a round oven (ton), reminiscent of an Indian tandoor. Yeast or sourdough dough is formed into an oblong eye shape and stuck to the walls of the oven. The bread is baked at a very high temperature and then cooled on wood.

Tonis puri is incredibly crunchy and aerated inside, and you can get it very cheaply (even for 1 GEL) in any Georgian bakery. It goes perfectly with cheeses, spreads and dips.

Cheese

And cheese is what Georgia stands for! After all, it is one of the basic ingredients of the local cuisine – necessary for the preparation of most varieties of khachapuri, but also various delicacies stuffed with it. You can also order a cheese board in most restaurants. It usually consists of three items: imeruli, fresh sulguni and smoked sulguni.

The holy trinity of Georgian cheeses

However, don’t be surprised if you get… just sliced cheese! Forget about the rich decorations, grapes, nuts, olives or preserves known from Western tables. In slightly more modern places it probably looks a bit different, but the standard is simply cheese. Sometimes you can also find an addition in the form of honey, which Georgia is also famous for and you can buy it along the road almost everywhere.

Sulguni is a semi-hard cheese from Megrelia made from cow’s or buffalo milk, with an acidic, fresh and milky aftertaste. It melts perfectly, so is a sensational ingredient of many Georgian dishes. Very often, mature sulguni cheese is smoked, which results in an excellent, very intense product with a grainy and threadlike consistency. In its fresh form, it resembles mozzarella a bit.

Imeruli, on the other hand, comes from Imeretia, as the name suggests, and is a white cow cheese with a delicate flavor that gains character as it matures. It is often used for spring and summer meals, such as salads, but also stuffed with it, for example, in Imeretian khachapuri.

Other Georgian cheeses

In addition to the most popular two (counting smoked sulguni are actually three), which you will meet everywhere, Georgia has much more to offer when it comes to cheesemaking. For example, tenili is cheese in the form of long strands prepared for special occasions and aged for a year in clay vessels in the cellars of households in the Samtskhe-Javakheti region. In Tusheti, on the other hand, guda cheese (not to be confused with gouda) is made – a round white cheese made from the milk of only local cows and sheep living in the specific microclimate of this region. It is also here that kalti is produced, i.e. colorful curd balls wrapped in spices. In Svaneti, on the other hand, the sacred cheese is narchvi, made just after the Feast of the Dormition of the Virgin Mary (August 28) and kept until Saint Barbara (December 17). It is similar to imerula, but is made only from local products. For the Swans, it has an almost religious significance.

A separate story is dambalchacho cheese. These are lightly smoked balls of curd, aged for a month in clay or wood. It is the most expensive cheese available on the Georgian market, which is used to make, among others, fondue by melting it with butter. This cheese can be eaten seasonally at Cafe Tatin in Mtskheta, where I not only tried this delicacy, but also slept with a beautiful view of the Jvari Monastery on one side and the Temple of Sveti Tskhoveli on the other.

Desserts

As I wrote earlier, to Georgia the culture of eating desserts is quite different from ours. There is little Eastern or Central European influence here, and quite a bit of Mediterranean and Middle Eastern influence. At the Sanimusho bakery and cafe in Kutaisi, we ate delicious honeydew, but the main role on Georgia’s sweet side is played by churchela, tklapi, as well as dried fruits, nuts and Turkish baklava.

Czurczchela

Churchela is perhaps the sweet delicacy most associated with Georgia. It wouldn’t be Georgian cuisine without those distinctive “sausages” hanging from stalls, made from nuts dunked in grape juice. At the Kutaisi market, by the way, we also had the opportunity to try other flavors, such as cherry and kiwi.

These thread-linked bars are also popular in other post-Soviet countries and Turkey. You can also get them quite easily in Poland at various fairs. They store perfectly, and because of this, Georgian women are said to have once given them to their husbands who were going to war – so that if anything happened, they would always have something to give them energy to fight.

Tklapi

If you follow culinary YouTube, you have surely already come across videos whose authors use tools that evaporate all the water from food, creating unexpected dried sheets. This is how tklapi can be made today, although tradition dictates drying in the sun.

Various fruit purees are used – peach, apricot, grape, pomegranate – which are dried in the sun and then pressed into paper-thin sheets. By getting rid of the water, all the intensity of flavor remains in the tclap. Shaped by artists of gastronomic craftsmanship, the nibbled figures – birds, stars – perfectly decorate dessert plates after a hearty feast.

Gozinaki

To tell you the truth, I should put gozinaki in the next section, as unfortunately I was not given the opportunity to try them. So I can only take the word of Georgians who vouch for the deliciousness of these rhomboid snacks consisting of nuts dunked in honey.

Wine ice cream

Until I had to create a separate section for this delicacy. In an inconspicuous booth in Mccheta, right next to the Sveti Tsakhoveli Cathedral, they serve not only fruit juices that can be paid for with cryptocurrencies, but also…. ice cream made from wine! These are Italian ice creams from a vending machine, with local wine added. They taste absolutely delicious, even though they look like a classic tourist trap.

Sauces

Every cuisine in which meat occupies one of the highest places has developed a tradition of eating sauces designed to enhance the flavor of the meat. They are also added to salads, cheeses and vegetables. Americans have barbecue sauce, Argentines have chimichurri, and in Georgia adjika, tkemali and sacebeli lead the way.

Adjika

You think: what to eat in Georgia? You answer: adjica! This is because it is ubiquitous. It comes in two forms: sauce or loose seasoning. As a condiment, it consists of grated chili peppers, nuts, garlic and herbs. The most common are cilantro, dill and basil.

Adjica is easy to make, but you can also buy ready-made. Just don’t do it at the airport, or you’ll overpay three times. At a stall I paid 5 GEL for a half-liter bottle of Adjika.

Tkemali

While bell pepper sauces are quite popular in many national cuisines, serving prunes in dry form is rare. Georgians have mastered the art of taming the plum tree and use its fruit to make a delicious sauce called tkemali.

Tkemali comes in a variety of colors – from vibrant green to deep brown. This is because it all depends on the variety of plums used to make tkemali.

And what does tkemali taste like? This sauce should be sour, tart and spicy, as chili and garlic are also added. Like Adjika – for a fiver at the bazaar.

Sacebeli

Tomatoes in Georgia have a slightly thicker skin, but they are also more intense and sweeter in flavor. It is these, along with sweet peppers, that play first fiddle in sacebeli, or Georgian ketchup. It must also not lack garlic, ajika powder and a little sugar.

Spices

For spices, go to one of the local markets, preferably early in the morning. We enjoyed the benefits of the same in Kutaisi. The tables were strewn with spices and fresh vegetables. In places, cattle or pig legs dangled on hooks. In still other areas lurked stalls familiar from three decades ago in Poland with batteries, playing cards, cigarette cases and Kalashnikovs. Toy ones, of course.

Velvet and fenugreek blue

And returning to the spices, those are plentiful here. Muscat seed, star anise or blood threads that deceptively resemble real saffron – all at your fingertips. Ba, Georgians have not only “Georgian saffron”, but also Imeretian saffron! That’s what they call the grated velvet flowers here. They, along with blue fenugreek, are the spice symbols of Georgia.

Many blends are also consumed here, such as fruit salts (with fragments of dried fruit added – I recommend orange salt!), Adjika and chmeli suneli. This is perhaps the most famous Georgian spice blend, called local garam masala. It includes velvet, blue fenugreek, coriander, black pepper, dill, savory and bay leaves. However, the composition may vary slightly depending on the origin. Also popular spices in Georgian cuisine are barberry, which is used here similarly to sumac, and swain’s salt.

Swain’s salt

Svaneti is a peculiar region of Georgia, which unfortunately I was not able to be in. However, it is described as one of those wild and different ones, so it certainly sounds like an interesting destination to visit at the next opportunity. The cuisine of the Swans – an indigenous people living in the region – is based on meat and dairy products, but it is their local salt that gives Swan dishes their unique aroma and flavor.

Swain’s salt contains many spices identical to chmeli suneli, but is not green, but yellow-orange in color. It owes this – and how – to velvet flowers. In addition, blue fenugreek, chili, garlic, cilantro and… gicruli. Gicruli is a spice typical of Svaneti, which mass producers often replace with a mixture of thyme and Roman cumin or cumin. After all, gicruli is a wild-growing, mountain variety of cumin – but it has a unique aroma.

Beverages

Georgia is, of course, a country flowing with wine – I have tasted not a few of these as well. In fact, in Georgia you could drink a different wine every day for the rest of your life. In fact, every village, and perhaps every home, produces wine. And since wine, also chacha – that is, distillate, very often from the leftovers of wine production precisely.

Chacha

Chacha can be bought in the store, but the best and truest is homemade. You can get it virtually anywhere. It is sold by the largest monuments, in bazaars, and even… from the trunks of cars. Keep in mind that it is home distilled alcohol, so consume it only at your own risk. Those older people who read me probably remember the days of selling Russian spirit “Royal” in the bazaars of Bialystok. In Georgia, however, production has already reached the next level. Home moonshiners even know how to age the chacha in oak barrels, and color it with caramel to make it more like whiskey.

Wine

But back to wine – the capital of Georgian winemaking is the Kakheti region, located in the east of the country and boasting truly Tuscan landscapes, beautiful old churches and an incredible number of vineyards.

The most popular types of wines in Georgia seem to be saperavi (which makes a dry, red wine with a tart aftertaste), and kindzmarauli, which is a semi-sweet and more intense wine. Among white wines, the most commonly drunk is the rkaciteli strain – one of the oldest in the world, which has been growing in Georgia for several millennia! It makes up the bulk of the wines of the cinandals – phenomenal white nectars with a fruity and floral bouquet. The remainder is mcwane, also a popular white grape varietal.

Wines in Georgia are made in two ways: continental and traditional. Continental is the usual fermentation and aging in steel tanks, possibly finishing in wood. However, the traditional Georgian way of aging wine is in clay amphorae called quewri. They are buried underground, leaving only a hole on the surface, and then poured with wine. In this way, the beverage matures, acquiring color due to oxidation and penetration of minerals from the clay. Such wines are usually orange in color and have a distinctive lime flavor. Often grapes of the kisi strain are used in their production.

Other well-known Georgian wines are achasheni, tbilisuri, twiszi, alazani valley, napareuli, colikouri and chwanchkara.

Coffee, compote, juices and beer

As for coffee, it is usually drunk here in [Grecy proszę zamknąć oczy] Turkish [możecie otworzyć], that is, strong black coffee brewed in a pot. Usually sugar and spices are added to it, although this is not necessary. Of course, being in larger cities, you can easily find Italian-style coffee, and in Tbilisi I even drank specialty from a drip!

One drink that I would like to see return to Polish tables in gastronomy as well – is compote. Georgians serve compote with every dinner, and use a variety of seasonal fruits: quince, strawberries, peaches, apples and others. Importantly – the Georgian versions are not over-sweetened! A lot of sugar, on the other hand, is in the green tarragon-flavored orangeade, which Poles buy in large numbers and import to Poland. It tastes good, but it’s still a sweet colored drink of the “Three Lemons” class.

Squeezed pomegranate juice and orange juice are also easy to get in season. However, it is quite expensive if you want to buy them near the biggest monuments or in the center of Tbilisi. The best way is to drink freshly squeezed juice at the bazaar. At famous cathedrals, the price can exceed even 20 GEL per cup!

I would have forgotten about the beer. The stores are dominated by large plastic bottles of local eurolagers. These beers are also available in regular bottles and cans. Natachtari, Zedazeni, Kazbegi and Argo are leading the way. As for kraft, you can drink it mainly in Tbilisi. I came across a pretty good IPA from Underground Brewery called Triassic IPA. It was reminiscent of the ipkas drunk a decade ago – with a solid bitterness and caramel underpinning. I also bought an IPA from the Black Lion brewery, whose products (APA and IPA) are available in markets. Here, on the other hand, the notes typical of a homemade ipy, slightly floral and a tad oxidized, were clearly evident.

Dishes I didn’t manage to try

I’m not going to dim and write that I ate all the items on the list I prepared for myself. However, I decided to include in this article at the end those dishes that I was not able to taste during my first visit to Georgia. If you had a chance to taste them – let us know! Maybe you can suggest to others what to eat in Georgia.

Lobio is a type of thick bean stew usually served with mczadi bread, which I have also not tried. Georgians also have their own version of roast chicken called tabaka, which is said to be perfectly crispy on the top and juicy on the inside. Tolma, on the other hand, is Georgian stuffed cabbage – they have two versions! In cabbage from the Slavs and in vines from the Turks! And as if that wasn’t enough, they are stuffing other vegetables. Georgians also love a well-seasoned bent of grits, which they call kupati. Finally, there are three lunch meat dishes: szkmeruli, chakapuli and chashlama. The former consists of chicken meat cooked in a milky sauce with lots of garlic. The latter includes chunks of lamb cooked in wine for a long time, a tkemali sauce and a mass of aromatic herbs led by tarragon. Chashlama , on the other hand, is a dish in which meat – usually mutton – is simmered properly in its own sauce, with minimal water. Vegetables and spices are supposed to enhance the flavor of mutton.

Georgian cuisine may be based on a few simple ingredients, but for someone who, like me, loves meats, cheeses and anything fried and baked and fatty, he will feel like a fish in water here. Now I know that the correct answer to the question: what to eat in Georgia? is – everything!