It does not take long in most casual conversations here in Georgia for the topic to turn to food. Georgians are very proud of their culinary tradition, and many expats would easily rate Georgian food as one of the best things about the country.
One of the most surprising things about Georgia is for the size of the country, how diverse its regions are in terms of language, culture, scenery, and food.
Corie, our friend Giorgi, and I were leaving Borjomi on our way to Akhaltsikhe to see the historic castle in the city and talking about lunch. Giorgi recommended a restaurant that excelled at the Samtskhe-Javakheti region’s fare.
As much as Giorgi gets around his native country, we knew we’d be crazy not to follow his suggestion.
Our first stop in Akhaltsikhe was the Rabati Castle, a historic landmark, originally built in the 9thcentury, perched above the city.
Looking at the diverse architectural styles of the castle, one could imagine it was assembled by a giant child with mismatched playsets. The early stone towers and citadel loom over later additions, including an eighteenth-century mosque surrounded by well-tended gardens and pools.
The castle’s mish-mash of styles represents the area’s occupation by Georgians, Armenians, Mongols and Ottomans, the latter of which transformed the castle into a complex in the 17thcentury, adding the mosque, a prison, and a Turkish bath.
While no longer active, the Sultan Ahmad Mosque was active for 76 years until it was consecrated in the name of the Virgin Mary and functioned as an Orthodox church until 1920 during the Soviet occupation.
As we strolled through the grounds, which were restored in 2011, Corie and I could imagine what the castle must look like in the summer when the gardens are at their fullest, and the pools filled with water. But visiting in February meant we had the place almost to ourselves, occasionally seeing other visitors.
While we ambled around the castle, Giorgi called his favorite restaurant in Akhaltsikhe to pre-order our lunch as we were on a schedule to get everything we wanted to see and didn’t want to rush our way through our meal.
The Old Bar is a favorite spot for locals in Akhaltsikhe, and it didn’t take long to figure out why. Our waitress brought out three bowls of apokhti khinkali, filled dumplings, and Meskheti khachapuri, a cheese-filled bread. While khinkali and khachapuri are staples throughout Georgia, the dishes are quite different in the Samtskhe-Javakheti region.
While most restaurants in Tbilisi serve khinkali filled with cheese, pork, beef, or mushroom, apokhti khinkali are filled with smoked goose.
Our waitress brought us three bowls–a caramelized onion sauce, Georgian yoghurt, and a garlic sauce–to drizzle on the khinkali.
I’m sure a food critic would pen a better write-up to describe the wonderful taste than my two-word review: holy moley!
Like khinkali, khachapuri is also a favorite Georgian dish with each region offering different verities. Most start with a dough enriched with eggs and butter. The dough for Meskheti khachapuri is enriched with lard and produces, what Giorgi described, a khachapuri that melts in your mouth. It was the biggest understatement of the day.
Corie and I didn’t think about all the calories we happily consumed for our lunch. We knew we would burn them off at our next destination, a cave monastery near the Turkish and Armenian borders. Eat up, because I’m taking you there next week.
Images: Sultan Ahmad Mosque, Rabati Castle, Akhaltsikhe, Georgia (left); Madrasa, Rabati Castle, Akhaltsikhe, Georgia (center); Arch, Rabati Castle, Akhaltsikhe, Georgia (right)
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