Start With the Staples

Georgian cooking is not a cuisine you graze at — it is a cuisine you submit to. In Tbilisi the essentials are khachapuri (cheese bread), khinkali (soup dumplings), and the vegetable plates that arrive first and never stop: badrijani nigvzit (aubergine rolls with walnut), pkhali (beetroot, spinach or bean pâté bound with ground walnut), lobio (slow-cooked beans in a clay pot) and mtsvadi (charcoal-grilled pork or lamb). Learn those five words and you can eat extremely well anywhere in the city for the price of a London sandwich.

Eat your main meal at lunch. Tbilisi kitchens do their best work between noon and three, when the bread is still coming out of the tone oven and the family running the place is in the room rather than in a hurry to close.

Khinkali: The Dumpling You Must Learn to Eat

Khinkali arrive by the plate, counted rather than portioned, and cost roughly one to one and a half lari each — five or six makes a solid serving. Hold the topknot, bite a small hole in the side, drink the broth, then eat the rest. Leave the thick doughy knot on the rim of your plate; locals do, and it is not an insult.

Order kalakuri (city style, heavy with herbs) for your first round, then branch out into mushroom, cheese and lamb versions. The best khinkali houses are cellar-like places with tiled floors and no décor to speak of: look along the side streets off the old town and around the Marjanishvili end of town, and on the roads leading north out of the city, where mountain-style kitchens do a coarser, meatier dumpling. Turn up before eight in the evening or expect to wait.

Khachapuri, Region by Region

There is no single khachapuri. Imeretian is the round everyday loaf, cheese baked inside. Mingrelian is the same idea in a rectangle, with considerably more cheese. Adjarian is the famous boat shape, filled with molten sulguni, topped with a raw egg yolk and a slab of butter that you stir in at the table with a fork. One Adjarian boat will comfortably feed two people.

Look for bakeries with a visible clay oven and a queue of locals at eleven in the morning. Ask for it hot, eat it within ten minutes, and order a bowl of matsoni (thin, tangy yoghurt) alongside to cut the richness. If you see achma — layered, buttery, somewhere between khachapuri and lasagne — order it immediately.

Markets and Bakeries: The Everyday Route

The covered bazaar near the railway station is the city's best introduction to what Georgians actually cook with. Go before eleven, ideally on a weekday, and work through:

• Spices: blue fenugreek, dried marigold, ground coriander, red pepper — the backbone of every stew you have eaten this week.
• Sauces: tkemali (sour plum), ajika (chilli and garlic), satsebeli (tomato and walnut). Buy small jars.
• Dairy: sulguni and imeruli cheese, fresh matsoni, and smoked cheese sold by the string.
• Sweet things: churchkhela — walnut or hazelnut strands dipped in thickened grape must — and fresh fruit leather.

Alongside, buy shotis puri, the canoe-shaped white bread, still warm from the bakery shelves, or lavash if you prefer something flatter. Both cost pennies and both are the correct thing to carry back to your guesthouse.

Natural Wine and the Qvevri Tradition

Georgia has been fermenting wine in buried clay vessels called qvevri for around eight thousand years, and the amber whites — skin-contact rkatsiteli, mtsvane, kisi, chinuri — are the reason many travellers come at all. Reds such as saperavi are deep, tannic and built for grilled meat.

You do not need a formal tasting. Wine bars tucked into Sololaki courtyards and along the Abanotubani backstreets pour by the glass or in 500ml carafes, usually for fifteen to twenty-five lari, and most will let you taste before committing. Order a plate of pickles and some sulguni to go with it. If someone raises a glass and says gaumarjos, that means "to victory" — meet their eyes and drink.

Practical Notes for Eating Well

• Timing: lunch noon to three, dinner from seven. Many family kitchens shut one day a week, often Monday.
• Cash: keep small lari notes. Markets and older bakeries are cash-only.
• Portions: Georgian plates are shared and enormous. Two dishes per person is plenty; three is excess.
• Vegetarians: you will eat brilliantly — pkhali, lobio, badrijani, mushroom khinkali, ajapsandali — but always confirm that the lobio has no pork fat.
• Language: gamarjoba (hello), madloba (thank you), kidev erti (one more) will get you a long way and usually a free chacha.
• Tipping: around ten per cent is generous and appreciated, though many places add a service charge.

Say yes if a family invites you to a supra. You will be fed for four hours, toasted at relentlessly, and sent home with leftovers. It is the best meal you will have in the city, and it will not be on any menu.