Georgian Cuisine: 30 Traditional Foods to Try in Georgia

While Travel the World isn’t a food blog per se, food is a very important part of our travels, so we write about it – a lot.  Sometimes food is even the reason we travel.  For instance, we have a restaurant in San Diego called Pomegranate that serves Russian and Georgian cuisine.  I was so taken by the Georgian dishes I tried, those alone made me decide that I had to go visit the country that makes such delicious food.  So travel to Georgia we did.  Georgian cuisine is different from any other I’ve experienced.  There are so many traditional Georgian foods and dishes unique to Georgia, and you have to order them all while traveling through Georgia because odds are you aren’t going to be able to get them at home.

Puri - პური (Georgian Bread)

Georgian food starts with bread.  Bread is an essential component of the meal.  Georgian bread is special.  Georgian bread is baked in traditional bread baking ovens called tones.  Tones are made of clay and look like the top half of clay pots.  A fire burns at the bottom which heats up the sides of the oven.  The bread dough is sectioned off and slapped onto the side walls of the oven to bake, turning brown and bubbly.  Shotis puri (შოთის პური) is the most recognizable of the Georgia breads because of its oblong shape with pointy ends.

Khachapuri - სულგუნი (Georgian Cheese Bread)

Khachapuri, Georgian cheese bread or cheese pie, is another staple of the Georgian diet.  There are multiple versions of this tasty treat, as they are region specific, and we wish we had been able to try them all.  But we did try as many as possible.  

Imeruli khachapuri (იმერული ხაჭაპური) is circular and has cheese on the inside.  

Megruli khachapuri (მეგრული ხაჭაპური) is similar to imeruli, but has cheese and butter both inside and out.  

Acharuli khachapuri (აჭარული ხაჭაპური) is shaped like a boat and filled with melted cheese, a raw egg, and a slab or two of butter.  It’s served piping hot and you whisk the cheese, egg, and butter with a fork before ripping off the horns and edges and dipping them into the cheesy mixture.  

And then there’s khachapuri on a spit, khachapuri shampurze (ხაჭაპური შამფურზე), where the dough and cheese gets wrapped around a metal skewer and gets cooked on the barbecue.  

Another type of Georgian cheese pie we didn’t get a chance to try is guruli khachapuri (გურული ხაჭაპური).  This type of cheese pie is specific to the region of Guria, has hard-boiled eggs inside, and is popular for Christmas.  

Nazuki - ნაზუქი (Georgian Spice Bread)

Nazuki is a very special Georgian bread that is not available everywhere.  Nazuki is specific to the town of Surami, a small town in west Georgia.  As soon as you approach Surami there are individual roadside bakeries lining both sides of the street.  Nazuki is a fragrant clove, cinnamon, and raisin bread which is baked just like other Georgian breads, in a tone oven.  Each baker hut has a stand outside displaying the bread, usually plastic versions, and a woman stands outside waiting for a customer to stop.  We chose our stand and the woman brought us inside her little roadside bakery and gave us nazuki still warm from the oven.

Chvishtari – ჭვიშტარი (Georgian Corn Bread)

Chvishtari is a Georgian corn bread from the Svaneti region.  Chvishtari is filled with cheese.  We’ve decided the US should toss out the fried cheese sticks and serve the delectable chvishtari instead.

Sulguni - სულგუნის (Cheese)

Sulguni is a Georgian cheese.  It is similar to mozzarella in texture.  It’s salty and it is stringy, so you can unwrap it in sections.  Sulguni can be ordered on its own as an appetizer.  It is also used as an ingredient in Georgian dishes like khachapuri.

Nadugi – ნადუღი

Nadugi is a Georgian appetizer consisting of fresh cheese mixed with mint and wrapped, cone-like, in a thin layer of Sulguni cheese.  At first I thought it was cheese wrapped in a crepe rather than in more cheese. 

Jonjoli - ჯონჯოლი

Jonjoli is an interesting appetizer traditional to Georgia.  Jonjoli is pickled sprouts.  They’re not very pretty to look at, and they’re a bit of an acquired taste too.  They taste most similarly to salty olives.

Kitris da Pomidvris Salata Nigvzit - კიტრი და პომიდვრის სალათი ნიგვზით (Tomato Cucumber Salad with Walnuts)

Salad is a term used loosely to mean an appetizer.  A standard salad offered at Georgian restaurants is made with cucumbers and tomatoes, kind of similar to Greek salad but without the feta cheese.  These salads vary depending on the restaurant.  Our favorite was the salad with walnut dressing.  Walnuts are one of the staples of Georgia and the walnut dressing is thick and creamy.

Qatmis Salati - ქათმის სალათი (Georgian Chicken Salad)

Another salad that is commonly on Georgian menus is qatmis salati, a simple chicken salad with chopped chicken, onions, mayonnaise, and seasonings.

Salata Olivie – ოლივიე (Russian Potato Salad)

Salata olivie is technically a Russian dish, but since Georgia once was part of the Soviet Union, Russian and Georgian cuisines have combined and some Russian-based dishes are popular on Georgian menus.  The salad is a chicken and potato salad dressed with mayonnaise and is traditionally made for the New Year.

Badrijai Nigvzit - ბადრიჯანი ნიგვზით (Eggplant Walnut Rolls)

Another popular appetizer is badrijai nigvzit.  Thin, long slices of eggplant (or aubergine) are cooked until brown and soft, then a paste of walnuts, vinegar, and spices is spread on the eggplant slices, which are then rolled.

Georgian Pkhali Board - ფხალი (Walnut Salad)

A pkhali board is a selection of different appetizers.  Pkhali is another dish that translates as a salad, but is more of a small appetizer.  Pkhali is a patty of minced greens and ground walnuts.  Popular choices include spinach pkhali and beetroot pkhali.  Pkhali boards also come with appetizers you can order on their own, like the badrijai nigvzit, but others, like the similar and most delicious red pepper stuffed with walnut paste, are not usually menu items that can be ordered alone.  

Tolma - ტოლმა (Stuffed Vine Leaves)

Tolma is a dish that is made in many countries, usually under the name dolma, including Turkey, Armenia, and Greece.  A mixture of meat and rice is wrapped in cabbage or vine leaves.  In Georgia these little green packages are topped with a garlicy sauce made with matsoni.

Khinkali - ხინკალი (Soup Dumplings)

Khinkali are what you eat when you’re looking for a cheap, casual meal or a hangover cure.  Khinkali are somewhat similar to xiaolongbao, or Chinese soup dumplings, but there are differences too.  Khinkali are made with flour dumpling wrappers.  They are folded in such a way that they have little dough handles at the top.  To eat khinkali, hold the dumpling by the handle, flip it bottom side up, and take a small bite out of the dough just large enough to slurp the soup before devouring the rest of the dumpling.  The handles aren’t meant to be eaten, though we were told that caused quite a problem during the Russian occupation as the Russians thought this was wasteful and prohibited the import of flour, which meant a lot of sad Georgians with no khinkali.  While in China you enhance the flavor of soup dumplings with vinegar; in Georgia you douse them with a lot of black pepper.  If your dumplings get cold because you are eating too slow or talking too much, you can ask the waiter to have them reheated and they won’t think less of you for it.

Chikhirtma - ჩიხირთმა (Chicken Soup)

Chikhirtma is a brothy chicken soup, but if it’s made right it is extremely flavorful.  The secret is the vinegar, egg, and flour.  The vinegar gives the soup a delightful tang and the egg and flour makes it a little bit thicker and heartier than your standard chicken soup.

Mtsvadi & Tkemali - მწვადის & ტყემალი (Kebab with Sour Plum Sauce)

Georgian kebab (mtsvadi) and sour plum sauce (tkemali) are where Rome’s and my food tastes meet.  He loves all meat, especially pork, and especially kebab.  I’m just okay with it on its own, but add a delicious sauce, and I am on board!  Plum sauce may sound like it’s going to be sweet, but Georgian plum sauce is sour.  It comes in red, which is a little sweeter, or green, which is the more sour of the two.  The green plum sauce is my favorite.  It is delectably tart and is somewhat similar to chimichurri as it is herby as well.  Apparently I’m not the only one who could eat all day just for the plum sauce.  There is a Georgian saying that roughly translates to, 'the plum sauce was so good we ate the whole piglet.'  If the kebab is served on a spit, the Georgian way is to slide it off using puri.

Fried Potatoes with Tkemali Sauce – შემწვარი კარტოფილი ტყემლით

A common side dish is salty fried potatoes.  These provide yet another excuse to eat sour plum sauce.

Lobio - ლობიო (Beans)

Another common side dish is beans, called lobio, made with beans, onions, and herbs.  Each recipe we tried was a little different.  Some are thick and creamy (our favorite).  Some are soupy.  Lobio is usually served in a traditional small clay jar.  

Chashushuli - ჩაშუშული (Veal Stew)

Veal chashushuli is a traditional Georgian dish, a tomato-based stew with onions and red peppers and a lot of flavor.

Chakapuli – ჩაქაფული (Stew with White Wine and Tarragon)

Another stew-like Georgian dish is chakapuli, and this one was one of my favorites.  Chakapuli is traditionally made with lamb, but it can also be ordered with veal.  This tasty dish gets its layers of flavor from white wine, tarragon, sour green plums, and coriander.   

Kharcho - ხარჩო

Yet another traditional Georgian soup is kharcho.  This soup is made with beef or chicken and can be served with or without rice.  The version we had was vegetarian and contained eggplants, zucchini, walnuts, and pomegranate and was served on hominy.

Trout with Pomegranate Sauce - კალმახი ბროწეულის სოუსში 

Even though Georgia has a sea coast along with tons of rivers and lakes, seafood is not very common on Georgian menus.  However, we did find trout on a couple menus.  A popular Georgian seafood dish is trout with pomegranate sauce.  The trout is fried whole, nice and crispy, and served with a sweet and savory pomegranate sauce. 

Matsoni - მაწონი (Georgian Yogurt)

Matsoni, or Georgian yogurt, was my favorite breakfast item.  Matsoni is a fermented dairy product that is served at room temperature.  It’s nicely sour.  It is thinner than Greek yogurt.  It is served in the morning, but is also used as a marinade and in sauces.  Note that if you are looking for matsoni in the morning, you’ll need to ask for it by name.  If you ask for yogurt, you’ll be given packaged yogurt like Yoplait.

Churchkhela - ჩურჩხელა

If you watched The Amazing Race this season, then you’ve seen churchkhela.  One of the challenges involved teams making churchkhela, a popular Georgian candy.  Toasted nuts, walnuts in the east and hazelnuts in the west, are strung on a string and dipped into a flour, sugar, and grape juice mixture.  The result is a reddish or brownish sausage-shaped candy with a pointy end.

Karaliokis Chiri – კარალიოკის ჩირი (Dried Persimmons)

While churchkela is the most popular Georgian sweet, another Georgian sweet that evokes childhood memories in the minds of many Georgians is karaliokis chiri, dried persimmons.  Hard persimmons are cleaned, peeled, strung together by the stems, and dried in the sun for a couple weeks until they are completely dried.  The result is a pruney looking item that is sweet, soft, and delicious.

Borjomi - ბორჯომი (Mineral Water)

Borjomi is Georgia’s favorite mineral water.  You can find bottled Borjomi everywhere, and you can visit Borjomi-Kharagauli National Park and drink the water straight from a fountain.  Borjomi is also so popular in Russia, Russians travel to Georgia to visit the town of Borjomi so they can visit the place from which their favorite water comes.

Limonati - ლიმონათი (Georgian Lemonade)

When Georgians aren’t drinking Borjomi, wine, or beer, they drink lemonade.  It seems to be the non-alcoholic beverage of choice, more popular than soda.  Georgian lemonade comes in all sorts of fun flavors and, despite what the name implies, isn’t made from lemons.  Georgian lemonade is made with water, sugar, carbonation, and natural flavoring.  Popular flavors include tarragon (which is radioactive green yet really delicious with a licorice flavor), pear, and vanilla (which tastes kind of like a cream soda or orange creamsicle).

Lagidze Water - ლაღიძის წყალი (Georgian Soda)

Lagidze water is a fizzy flavored soda which will make you feel like you traveled back in time to the 1950s, the time of soda fountains.  However, Lagidze water was developed long before then.  It was invented by the Georgian pharmacist Mitrofan Lagidze in the late 1800s.  Lagidze came up with the idea to use natural syrups with soda and created unique flavors like cherry, tarragon, pear, and more.  You can also order flavors like grape and chocolate.

Qvevri Wine - ქვევრის ღვინო

The wine of Georgia is so special, the process of making it is a UNESCO World Heritage tradition.  Georgians have been making wine for 8,000 years in qvevris, huge clay jars that have pointed bottoms and are buried in the ground.  Grapes are crushed and the juice with skins and stems pours into the qvevri where it ferments.  Georgian white wine is a deep amber color and Georgian red wine is so dark they call it black wine.

Chacha - ჭაჭა (Vine Vodka)

If there’s wine, there’s going to be hard alcohol made with the wine leftovers.  Georgian chacha is a strong spirit made with the grape residue from winemaking.  It is sometimes called vine vodka and is pretty potent stuff.

Thank you to the Georgian National Tourism Administration for hosting our trip to Georgia and making this post possible.  As always, all opinions are my own.

Read More

Munich in a Day: Things to See on a Long Layover

We’ve heard of people having long layovers and taking advantage of that time to see a new city, but we’d never had that opportunity for ourselves.  Our longest layover previously had probably been five hours at the most, and I am much too nervous of a traveler to try to leave the airport and see something with that amount of time.  However, when booking our airfare to Georgia, we had the unique opportunity to either take a three-segment flight or take a two-segment flight, with the same departure and arrival times and with a seven-plus-hour layover in Munich.  While such a long layover sounds like a potential nightmare, we were incredibly excited as we knew this would allow us enough time to actually leave the airport and experience some of the things to see in Munich in a day, a city we had never visited before, and not have to worry about missing our flight.

The city center of Munich is approximately 40 minutes away from the Munich Airport.  The two easiest ways to get to Munich from the airport are by taxi or by using the S-Bahn, for which there are station entrances right inside the Munich Airport Center.  If your budget allows, you can even hire a guide/driver from Taxi Guide München for the entirety of your Munich layover.  A Munich taxi driver who is also a licensed guide will pick you up from the airport, drive you around Munich to any sites you want to see (or put together a suggested itinerary for you based on your interests), and get you back to the airport in time to catch your connecting flight.  Talk about no stress!

We were really surprised by how much we were able to see in Munich during our layover.  While we didn’t have time to visit multiple museums, we were able to get a good overview of Munich as a city, see some fun and important spots, and get enough of a taste to want to go back and stay for longer someday.

We were met at the airport by our taxi guide Werner Hillermann.  During our drive into the city center, Werner gave us a little history lesson about Munich so we could have a better understanding of the city we were visiting.  Spending the afternoon with Werner also gave us a little insight into the life of a Münchner.

Munich was founded in 1158.  Munich is situated on the River Isar, which was an important trade route.  Munich made its money from widening the river, building a bridge, and charging tolls.  Munich went from being nothing more than a bridge next to a little village to the capital of Bavaria, the largest state in Germany.

Our first stop in Munich was the BMW Welt, Museum and Munich Plant.  BMW is obviously a huge German car company and is the biggest employer in Munich.  The BMW company was started 100 years ago, in 1916, building airplane engines.  Car lovers will enjoy walking around the BMW Welt, which is free, and looking at the range of BMW vehicles, both old and new.  The architecture of the building is pretty stunning too.

Unlike some cities that build huge buildings for the Olympics which never get used again, Munich made sure that their Olympic structures continued to be used for years after the 1972 Olympics left.  We visited Olympiapark, which has a beautiful outdoor park and lake, an Olympic pool where Mark Spitz won a record-breaking seven gold medals and which is still in use today, and the Olympic Tower which oversees it all.  If you have the time, you can even climb the Olympic roof and repel or zip-line off.  The Olympic Stadium is still used for conferences, concerts, and other performances.  This is, Werner explained, the German way; no waste.

We continued on towards Munich’s city center with a quick stop at Nymphenburg Palace.  This is one of Munich’s two castles and was the summer residence of the Bavarian royal family.  The castle was completed in 1679.  Ludwig II was born at Nymphenburg Palace in 1845.  He is responsible for building some of Bavaria’s most important castles including Neuschwanstein Castle, one of the castles used as a model by Disney for Cinderella’s castle.  A descendant of the royal family still lives in one of the buildings on the castle grounds.  There is also a Nymphenburg Porcelain Manufactory on the grounds where travelers can visit and purchase porcelain made in the old style.  Behind the castle are large gardens which used to be stocked with deer for hunting.  An artificial canal leads to the castle, which used to be a type of reservoir for the city.  The canal freezes in the winter and is used for ice skating and curling.

Continuing towards the city we drove along Aldringen Street, a street with 150-year-old buildings that miraculously were not destroyed in the war.

We peered in the windows of Spaten-Franziskaner-Bräu GmbH, one of Munich’s many breweries.  We learned that in 1516, the Reinheitsgebot, or the German Beer Purity Law, was passed which decrees that beer can only contain water, hops, and barley.  If there is anything else in it, it cannot be called beer.  Therefore, forget your coffee stouts and your chocolate porters while in Germany.

Across the street from the brewery is Circus Krone, one of the largest circuses in Europe.  The Beatles performed in the same building in the 1960s.

We also passed by the Löwenbräukeller Biergarten, where you can bring your own food, relax, and drink beer.  We learned that Oktoberfest did indeed start as an October celebration, but was changed to September to take advantage of the better weather.  Oktoberfest started as horse races; beer was added later. 

We arrived at Königsplatz, King’s Square or Royal Square.  This square was inspired by Ludwig I, the grandfather of Ludwig II, who wanted culture and administration all together in a green setting.  The gate is modeled after the Parthenon and the towers after the Lighthouse of Alexandria.

A number of Munich’s museums can be found in this area.  Since we only had a few hours for our Munich layover, we decided the Munich museum we would visit would be the Munich Documentation Centre for the History of National Socialism.  During our time in Nuremberg, we had a chance to visit a documentation center and a few old Nazi sites.  The Nazi period is such a tragic black mark on the history of Germany.  It took until the 1980s to do so, but Germany has created places like the Documentation Centre as reminders of this dark time in history so that it will never happen again.  The Documentation Centre documents how Hitler was able to come to power, a man that stood trial and was sent to prison, was kept from speaking, and yet still was voted by the people into power because he found an audience willing to listen, preyed on their fears, and convinced them the Jews were responsible for the Great Depression, taking all their jobs, and taking all their money.  It’s rather fitting that the consulate for Israel recently opened next door to this old Nazi building. 

One of the unique things to see in Munich is river surfing.  Munich has its own perpetual wave that is always available for surfing.  This unusual spot is found on Prinzregentstrase near Bruderstrase.  Surfers come to the Eisbach, a small man-made river that runs through the Englischer Garden.  In true German fashion, surfers wait patiently in an orderly line along the bank of the river.  A surfer jumps in with his or her board and rides the wave for as long as they can.  As soon as they fall, that surfer moves to the side as the next surfer in line jumps in.  Even in the cold of winter, surfers get in line while crowds watch from the banks and the bridge above.

Our next stop was the Promenadeplatz, Promenade Square, which was built in the late 17th century for people to literally promenade on Sunday.  In this square is a monument to Maximilian, who conquered the Turkish army.  There is also a monument to the musician Orlando di Lasso, a musician from the time of Mozart.  The monument is known as a double monument because now the base of Lasso’s monument is dedicated to Michael Jackson.  The monument is in front of the Hotel Bayerischer Hof, Michael Jackson’s favorite place to stay while in Munich.

For a rest and a panoramic view of the Munich city skyline, enter the Hotel Bayerischer Hof and head upstairs to the Roof Terrace and Roof Terrace Lounge. 

The towers of Frauenkirche, Munich’s Cathedral Church of Our Lady, tower over the city.  The cathedral was built in the 15th century and took only 30 years to build.  No building in Munich can be higher than the roofline of Frauenkirche.  The popularly used name of the church is onion towers because the domes on top of the towers look like bulbous green onions.

After a coffee and a look at the view, we visited Marienplatz, Munich’s most famous central city square with its city hall and clock tower.  At certain times of day (11:00 and 12:00 in the winter and additionally at 5:00 in the summer) the clock puts on a show.  The top portion of the Glockenspiel features a jousting match between Bavaria and France.  The Bavarian knight wins every time.  The bottom half is dedicated to beer with a dance performed by coopers, or barrel makers.

Another place that must be visited while in Munich is the Hofbrauhaus, the biggest and most important beer hall in Munich.  We got to take a peek at the beer stein lockers, as Werner is a proud key holder to one of them.  It only costs three Euros a year for a beer stein locker and there is a long waiting list.  When Werner wants to drink beer but doesn’t want to talk, Hofbrauhaus is the place he goes.  If he wants his beer filled, he leaves the lid up, if it's closed, it means he has enough.  The only time he needs to speak is when he wants his bill.  Hofbrauhaus is touristy, but it is also an important and easy place for locals.

On the route between the Munich Airport and the city center, we passed the Allianz Arena, Munich's soccer stadium.  The people of Munich are big soccer fans.  The stadium seats 75,000 and games are always sold out.  Season tickets are impossible to acquire, so Werner was very proud to be able to tell us that he holds a pair of season tickets with a friend.  At night, the stadium is lit up in different colors depending on the season or events.

If it looks like you’re going to have a long layover in Munich that’s over six hours, get out and see Munich.  At the very least, jump on the S-Bahn and head into Marienplatz for a wander and a beer.  If you want to get a more in-depth tour of Munich, book with Taxi Guide München for two hours or more.  They can put together a tour like they did for us, or any tour you prefer, with themes such as beer, museums, castles, or churches, or even a visit to the nearby Dachau Concentration Camp.  You can also contact our driver, Werner, directly by email at wrhillermann@t-online.de.

We were so excited to have a chance to spend half a day in Munich during our long Munich layover, and we were surprised by how much we were able to see in such a short period of time.  Plus getting out and about during our layover also helped us avoid some jet lag as well. 

Thank you to the Munich Tourist Office for hosting our long layover in Munich and making this post possible. As always, all opinions are our own.

Read More