Georgian food is one of the great surprises of travel in the Caucasus. It draws on Persian, Turkish, and Russian influences but is unmistakably its own: walnut pastes, fresh herbs, sour plum sauces, pomegranate, and an abundance of cheese appear in combinations that are unlike anything to the west or east.
Khachapuri is the national dish — a flatbread filled with melted sulguni cheese, baked in various regional styles. The Adjaran version (adjaruli khachapuri) is boat-shaped, filled with cheese and topped with a raw egg and butter stirred in at the table. It is rich, filling, and very good.
Khinkali are large soup dumplings, pleated at the top. The traditional filling is spiced meat; vegetarian versions exist. The correct technique is to pick one up by the knot, bite a small hole in the side, slurp the hot broth, then eat the rest. The knot is left on the plate — how many you leave is counted. Eating khinkali without making a mess takes practice.
Mtsvadi (shashlik) — skewered grilled meat, usually pork or lamb — is everywhere, especially at outdoor restaurants in summer.
Badrijani nigvzit — slices of fried aubergine rolled around a walnut-garlic paste — is one of the best of Georgia's many cold appetisers (pkhali).
Churchkhela — walnuts strung on a thread and dipped repeatedly in grape must until they form a waxy sausage shape — are sold everywhere and make a good snack for the road.
Wine
Georgia's claim to be the birthplace of wine is backed up by 8,000-year-old pottery residue. The traditional method — fermenting grape juice with skins and seeds in a buried clay qvevri — produces amber-coloured wines with tannins and complexity quite unlike conventional whites. Rkatsiteli (white) and Saperavi (red) are the main grape varieties worth knowing. Both are good.
Cheap wine from a local store will be very cheap and often very drinkable. The craft wine revival has produced some excellent small producers, especially in Kakheti. Restaurants in Tbilisi now have serious wine lists.
Chacha is the Georgian grape marc spirit, roughly equivalent to grappa. It is strong and often homemade. You will be offered it. Refusing repeatedly is acceptable.
Eating out
Outside Tbilisi, most restaurants serve straightforward Georgian food: khachapuri, khinkali, salads, grilled meat. This is rarely a disappointment. In Tbilisi there are good options covering most cuisines.
Eating in a family home or guesthouse (homestay) is often the best meal you will have — abundant, generous, and accompanied by wine from the family's own vineyard.