Georgian Cuisine: 10 Dishes You Must Try

Georgian cuisine is one of the few that can win your heart at first bite. Rich in spices, generous with cheese and walnuts, it caters equally to vegetarians and meat lovers.

Khinkali are large dumplings filled with spiced meat and broth. Eat them by hand: bite from the bottom and sip the juices. Leave the doughy top-knot on the plate. Adjarian khachapuri is a bread boat loaded with melted sulguni cheese, a raw egg and a pat of butter. Stir with a fork and dip the bread in.

Mtsvadi (shashlik) is tender pork or lamb grilled over coals, always served with satsebeli sauce. Lobiani is a flatbread stuffed with spiced kidney beans — the best winter breakfast. Pkhali are little rolls of cooked spinach or beetroot with crushed walnuts and spices.

Sweet things: churchkhela — walnuts threaded on a string and dipped in grape juice. Pelamushi — thick grape pudding. Drinks: Kakhetian wine aged in qvevri clay vessels, chacha grape brandy, and tarragon lemonade — the taste of childhood for every Georgian.