What to eat in Tbilisi
The Georgian table in the capital: khinkali and khachapuri by region, pkhali and lobio, mtsvadi over vine cuttings, khashi after the sulphur baths and qvevri wine.

[ ] Eat khinkali
    Large dumplings of chopped meat and broth gathered into a thick topknot. Pick one up by hand, bite the side, drink the broth, and leave the knot on the plate; that is how the count is kept.
[ ] Eat adjaruli khachapuri
    A dough boat of molten cheese with a raw yolk and a knob of butter stirred into the hot filling at the table. You tear off the ends and dip; they are the cutlery.
[ ] Try imeruli khachapuri
    A round closed flatbread filled with imeruli cheese, the everyday khachapuri that people here eat as bread. The Megrelian version adds cheese on top as well.
[ ] Try pkhali
    A paste of boiled greens, beetroot or aubergine with crushed walnut, garlic and spices, served in balls topped with pomegranate seeds. The classic cold starter and entirely plant-based.
[ ] Try badrijani nigvzit
    Strips of fried aubergine rolled around a walnut and garlic paste and scattered with pomegranate. One of the most recognisable Georgian starters.
[ ] Try lobio in a clay pot
    Red beans stewed with onion, coriander and spices, served in a clay pot with mchadi cornbread and pickles. Filling, plant-based and a complete lunch.
[ ] Eat mtsvadi
    Georgian skewered pork or veal grilled over vine cuttings, which give it its particular smoke. Served on flatbread with onion and pomegranate narsharab sauce.
[ ] Try chakhokhbili
    Chicken stewed in tomatoes with an enormous quantity of fresh herbs — coriander, parsley, basil — and not a drop of added water. The name means pheasant, though there has been none in it for a long time.
[ ] Try shkmeruli
    Chicken fried and then drowned in a milk and garlic sauce, served in a clay ketsi dish straight from the heat. There is enough garlic in it to be noticeable the next day.
[ ] Try ostri or chashushuli
    Beef stewed in a spicy tomato sauce with chilli and garlic and served bubbling. One of the few genuinely hot dishes in Georgian cooking.
[ ] Try khashi after the baths
    A thick white broth of beef trotters and tripe, eaten early in the morning with garlic, salt and dried lavash. Traditionally after the sulphur baths, and as a cure for the night before.
[ ] Try churchkhela
    Walnuts strung on a thread and dipped repeatedly in thickened grape juice, then dried. No sugar at all; the sweetness is entirely from the grapes.
[ ] Try pelamushi
    A thick pudding of grape juice set with cornflour, chilled to a jelly and scattered with nuts. An autumn dessert made at harvest time.
[ ] Drink tarkhun and Georgian lemonade
    The bright green tarragon lemonade and its relatives: pear, cream soda and lemon. They have been made here since the start of the last century, and the taste is recognisably unlike ordinary fizzy drinks.
[ ] Try qvevri wine
    Wine fermented in a buried clay vessel together with skins and pips, which is where the amber colour and tannin of the whites come from. The method is over two thousand years old and listed by UNESCO.
[ ] Try chacha
    A strong grape spirit distilled from the pomace left after winemaking. Homemade versions vary widely in strength, and it is drunk in small glasses with food rather than in one go.

Checklist from Unload: https://unloads.me/c/food-tbilisi