Georgian Food Guide: 20 Dishes You Must Try (and How to Eat Them)

Georgian food runs on four things: walnuts, fresh herbs, bread baked against the wall of a clay oven, and wine made the same way for 8,000 years. Portions are big, prices are low, and almost everything is meant to be shared. Here is what to order, how to eat it, and where each dish comes from.

Khachapuri and khinkali: start here

Khachapuri is cheese bread, and every region bakes its own:

• Adjaruli: the open boat from Batumi, filled with melted cheese, a raw egg yolk, and a slab of butter. Stir the egg and butter into the cheese with a fork while it is hot, then tear off pieces of crust and dip. Around 15-25 GEL.
• Imeruli: a flat round with salty Imeretian cheese sealed inside. The everyday version.
• Megruli: like Imeruli but with extra sulguni melted on top. The richest of the three.

Khinkali are twisted soup dumplings, and technique matters. Hold one by its topknot, bite a small hole in the side, slurp the hot broth, then eat the rest. Never stab it with a fork (you lose the broth) and never eat the doughy knob; knobs stay on the plate as a tally. Classic fillings are kalakuri (pork and beef with herbs) and mtiuluri (meat only); mushroom, cheese, and potato versions are everywhere. Expect 1.50-2 GEL per dumpling and order at least five.

Hearty mains

• Mtsvadi: pork skewers grilled over grapevine embers, served with raw onion and tkemali plum sauce.
• Shkmeruli: chicken in garlic and milk, from the village of Shkmeri in Racha.
• Chakapuli: lamb or veal stewed with tarragon and sour green plums. A spring dish, best April to June.
• Ostri and kharcho: spiced beef stews; ostri is tomato-based and hot, Megrelian kharcho is thick with walnuts.

The walnut classics

• Badrijani nigvzit: fried eggplant rolled around garlicky walnut paste, topped with pomegranate seeds.
• Pkhali: spinach, beet, or leek pates bound with walnuts. Order the mixed plate.
• Satsivi: chicken or turkey in cold walnut sauce, the traditional New Year dish.

Comfort staples

Lobio is a clay pot of stewed beans eaten with mchadi (cornbread) and pickles, a full meal for under 15 GEL. Lobiani is the bean-filled bread version. Kubdari, spiced hand-cut meat baked inside bread, comes from Svaneti and tastes best up there.

Fresh, fermented, and cheese

Try the tomato and cucumber salad with walnut dressing, jonjoli (pickled bladdernut flowers, tart and crunchy), sulguni (the stretchy brined cheese from Samegrelo), and guda, a sharp sheep cheese aged in the mountains.

Sweets and street snacks

Churchkhela is a string of walnuts dipped in thickened grape juice, sold at every market for 3-7 GEL; the soft fresh ones appear in Kakheti in October, right after harvest. Pelamushi is the same grape must set as a pudding. And buy shotis puri, the canoe-shaped bread, straight from a bakery hatch for about 1.50 GEL.

What to eat where

• Adjara (Batumi): adjaruli khachapuri, borano (cheese fried in butter)
• Samegrelo: elarji (cornmeal with sulguni), spicy ajika, kharcho
• Imereti: imeruli khachapuri, pkhali
• Kakheti: mtsvadi, chakapuli, and most of the country's wine
• Svaneti: kubdari and Svan salt

The supra, briefly

A supra is a formal feast led by a tamada, the toastmaster, who sets the order of toasts: to God, to peace, to family, to the departed, to guests. As a guest: do not toast before the tamada, do not drain your glass unless someone calls "bolomde" (to the bottom), and keep eating between toasts. Toast with wine, never with beer.

Georgian wine 101

Georgians ferment grapes in qvevri, beeswax-lined clay vessels buried in the ground, a method on UNESCO's heritage list since 2013. White grapes fermented on their skins become amber wine; the two grape names to know are saperavi (dark red) and rkatsiteli (white and amber). The place to taste is Kakheti: Sighnaghi, Telavi, and the family cellars between them. Our Kakheti wine day trip includes two family wineries and a home lunch.

Vegetarian, vegan, and fasting menus

Because the Orthodox calendar has long fasting periods without meat or dairy, most restaurants keep a "samarkhvo" (fasting) menu, fullest during Lent in March and April. Pkhali, lobio, jonjoli, mushrooms baked on a ketsi pan, and lobiani are vegan by default. Vegetarians eat very well in Georgia.

Where we take people

In Tbilisi: Salobie Bia for updated classics, the Soviet-era basement canteens around the old town for lobio and draft beer, Shavi Lomi for modern Georgian. In Stepantsminda, khinkali after the Gergeti church hike on our Kazbegi day trip. In Sighnaghi, Pheasant's Tears for natural qvevri wine with a serious kitchen.

FAQ

• Is Georgian food spicy? Mostly no. Ajika and ostri are the exceptions.
• What is Svan salt? Salt pounded with garlic, fenugreek, and marigold in Svaneti. Bring a bag home.
• Can you drink tap water? Yes, in Tbilisi and the mountain regions it is safe.
• Tipping? Many restaurants add 10-15% service to the bill; if not, leave about 10%.

Want to eat all of this with someone who grew up on it? Traverse runs small-group and private tours with home-cooked supras and family winery visits. Tell us your dates on plan my trip or message us on WhatsApp.