A guide to Georgian national cuisine! The most delicious review: first, second courses, snacks and drinks!

There are many other pastries in Georgia. Among the most popular flour products, of course, khachapuri. If you translate literally, you get two words — cottage cheese and bread (khacho and puri). Traditional khachapuri is a cheese tortilla.

Khachapuri is baked in different ways in different regions of the country:

• Adjarian is always oblong, similar to a boat stuffed with cheese and egg.
• imereti — in the form of a round tortilla with cheese filling;
• khachapuri on a spit or skewer — dough and cheese are wrapped around a spit and fried;
• rachinsky — square flatbread, greased with egg;
• Megrelian khachapuri is a flatbread stuffed and topped with cheese;
• guriysky (gvezeli) is a pie in the shape of a crescent; it is stuffed with a mixture of boiled eggs and cheese;
• kotori is also a flatbread, inside of which is cheese with melted butter;
• penovani — puff pastry with cheese;
• achma, somewhat similar to lasagna — a filling of butter and cheese is placed between several layers of partially boiled dough, and then all this is baked until ready.

Kubdari is a cake in the form of a flatbread. It is baked round or in the shape of a triangle and stuffed with chopped meat with spicy seasonings. Sometimes such a pie is called Svan khachapuri. It is believed that kubdari appeared in Svaneti.

Lobiani is the main difference of such a pie in the filling. It is made from boiled beans, fresh herbs and spices. Lobiani are round and rectangular in shape. In Rachin lobiani, bacon is added to the beans.

Habisgini is a round—shaped tortilla with a filling of potatoes and cheese. This pie is also called Ossetian khachapuri.

Chikhirtma. This soup is made from chicken. Egg, corn flour, vinegar, herbs and spices are added to it. The egg does not curl here, but dissolves. The soup is not spicy, but slightly sour. Some advise eating it for breakfast if a lot of wine was drunk the day before.

Hashi is a thick, rich soup, a little like liquid jelly, only hot. It is cooked for a long time, about eight hours. Beef legs and offal are used for cooking, adding garlic and herbs. They say it's good as a hangover cure.

Matzoni soup is prepared on the basis of the fermented milk product of the same name. The composition also includes potatoes, eggs, spices, dill, mint, sometimes rice is added.

Shechamands are also cooked in Georgia — soups for vegetarians, on a nutty, fruit-sour or lactic acid basis, without the use of cereals and vegetables. Flour dressing is used for thickening.

Mtsvadi or shish kebab is also popular. The meat is not pre-soaked in the marinade, so it turns out a little dry. Mtsvadi is fried on firewood from a vine, and served with sauce.

Chashushuli is stewed beef or veal. Vegetables are put in it, which give the dish juiciness: tomatoes, sweet peppers, onions, as well as national spices and herbs. Also add a little hot pepper to add piquancy.

Ojahuri ("family") is a dish made of juicy meat (more often pork) and potatoes fried in a special ketsi dish, which resembles a frying pan. Tomatoes, peppers, onions and Georgian aromatic seasonings are added to the main products. Ojahuri is served on ketsi. Sometimes, instead of meat, mushrooms are used, it turns out almost a vegetarian dish.

Chakapuli is young meat, most often lamb, sometimes veal, stewed with tarragon greens and spices. To give a special taste, wine and cherry plum are added.

Chakhokhbili is chicken stewed with vegetables. Translated from Georgian, "khokhobi" is a pheasant. Previously, chakhokhbili was prepared from pheasant, but now chicken meat is used. It is stewed in tomato sauce with onions and traditional Georgian spices. Use cilantro, parsley, basil. Occasionally wine is added.

Shkmeruli or chkmeruli is a dish made of tender chicken meat or chicken meat. It is fried on ketsi, then stewed until cooked in a creamy sauce with spices. It turns out very fragrant and appetizing.

Tobacco chicken has been a popular dish in all Georgian restaurants since Soviet times. This is a chicken fried under pressure until it gets a golden crust. Traditionally, Georgian spices are added.

The name of this dish is associated with a kind of frying pan with a heavy lid — tapaka. Gradually, the word was transformed, and such a slightly unusual position appeared in the menu.

Kupaty — raw sausages, similar to homemade. They are boiled for one minute, and then fried. Especially delicious are the kupats cooked on the grill. They are served with spices or sauce. Often this snack is taken when going on a picnic, because it is convenient to cook sausages on an open fire and it takes very little time for this.

The vats are cooked in pots. This is a Caucasian lamb dish with the addition of vegetables and herbs. It turns out a very appetizing and satisfying dish with fragrant broth. Tomatoes, potatoes, eggplants, peppers and spices are used.

Fish dishes are rarely found in Georgian cuisine, but trout is served in many restaurants. It is fried whole and served with pomegranate sauce, which gives the dish a special piquant taste with a slight sourness.

Salad of ordinary vegetables, such as cucumbers and tomatoes, acquires an unusual piquant taste in Georgia. Chopped nuts, basil are added to it and seasoned with Kakheti oil.

Another kind of salad is "Glehurad" (in peasant). It is made from sweet peppers, tomatoes, radishes, onions, lettuce leaves. The dressing is made from olive oil and wine vinegar, sprinkled with chopped nuts.

Satsivi is so popular that it is necessarily present at the New Year's feast. Sometimes this is called nut sauce with spices. But more often it means chicken or turkey fillet with spicy nut sauce. It is used as an appetizer or as an independent hot dish.

Lobio (beans) is another dish that is often served not only in restaurants in Georgia, but also in other countries. Lobio is prepared in clay pots, green string beans, red or black beans are used. Add red pepper and spices. In different establishments there are different versions of this dish, which differ in consistency and composition. Lobio can be a hot dish or a snack.

Badrijani — eggplant rolls, sliced and fried. The filling consists of a cheese-nut mixture with spices, sometimes carrots or beets are added to it.

Eggplants are generally often used in Georgian cuisine, alone or in combination with other vegetables. They are fried or stewed, but it always turns out very tasty!

The basis of the original phali snack is vegetables and herbs, most often spinach and beetroot. Eggplants, young cabbage are also used, garlic and hot pepper are added. The structure of the dish is similar to vegetable pate, it is made in the form of a flatbread, decorated with pomegranate seeds. It is served as an independent dish or a side dish to meat.

Ajapsandali is a popular vegetable snack similar to saute or stew. Eggplants, tomatoes, sweet peppers are fried separately. Then mix everything together and stew, adding fresh herbs and spices. The dish turns out to be incredibly tasty and satisfying. Sometimes the composition of ajapsandal includes potatoes and carrots.

Mushrooms on ketsi are champignons fried in a pan made of clay called "ketsi". Sometimes cheese is added. Served in the same pan, pre-seasoned with pepper.

Suluguni cheese is also prepared on ketsi. Envelopes are made from thinly sliced suluguni, stuffed with soft cheese and mint — these are nadugi. Sometimes the filling is cottage cheese with cream sauce.

Elarji is a Megrelian porridge made of corn groats with suluguni cheese. It is often served with gebzhalia. This is a dish of young cheese with mint in a sauce of matzoni or cottage cheese originally from Mingrelia. Cheese is added to the porridge, everything is mixed and you can enjoy a unique taste.

These and other dishes are cooked very tasty in the Chemtan Sakhlshi restaurant, in the Saburtalo district of Tbilisi. Tourists do not come here often, although the Tbilisi zoo is located nearby. It is convenient to get here from the city center by metro.

Dolma oriental cabbage rolls are a mixture of rice and minced meat wrapped in grape leaves. They often argue about where the homeland of this dish is. It is considered that in Armenia. Dolma in Georgia is quite spicy and spicy, with traditional spices. It goes well with red wine.

Svaneti is considered to be the birthplace of corn bread or chvishtari tortillas. They come in different shapes, but more often they are made oblong. They include suluguni cheese. Such loaves are served with sauce.

One of the most original snacks is jonjoli or pickled inflorescences of the Colchian cabbage. They don't look very attractive, but they have an unusual taste. A bit like salted olives or sauerkraut.

Pelamushi is made from grape juice with the addition of corn flour. This is a kind of pudding, similar to the mass in which nuts are dipped in the manufacture of churchkhela.

Tklapi is a dessert resembling a pastille or a Russian fig. These are sun-dried sweet and sour tortillas made of fruit puree.

In autumn, when some types of fruits ripen, quince stuffed with walnuts appears on the menu of restaurants and cafes. When serving, they are cut into slices. Gourmets and connoisseurs of Caucasian sweets recommend trying this delicacy.

There are many mineral springs in Georgia, water from which is bottled and sold. Everyone knows the mineral water called "Borjomi", but it is no worse than "Bakuriani", "Sairme", "Bakhmaro", "Nabeglavi" and others. When buying such water, you need to carefully read the label, which indicates the degree of mineralization.

There is always a large selection of delicious lemonades in Georgian stores. Among the most popular are "Natakhtari", "Kazbegi", "Zedazeni", "Lagidze". The last of these is rare in stores. There is a chain of cafes "Lagidze Waters", where you will be offered lemonades with different flavors. In Tbilisi, one of the establishments is located near the Tsminda Sameba Cathedral.