What to eat in Yerevan
The Armenian table in Yerevan: khorovats over vine wood, tolma, khash at dawn, zhingyalov hats, lavash from the tonir, gata and apricot spirit.

[ ] Eat khorovats
    Large pieces of pork or lamb over vine-wood coals, barely marinated: salt, pepper and onion only. Served on lavash, which catches the juices.
[ ] Try tolma
    Vine leaves stuffed with mince and rice, served with garlic matsun. Fresh leaves in summer, brined in winter; the fasting version with lentils and grain is a dish of its own.
[ ] Try khash at dawn
    A thick white broth of beef trotters, eaten early in the morning with crushed garlic, salt and dried lavash. Winter food and the occasion for a long meal.
[ ] Try zhingyalov hats
    A thin flatbread packed with twenty kinds of wild greens and cooked on a dry griddle. A Karabakh dish, entirely plant-based and genuinely herbal.
[ ] Get lavash from the tonir
    Thin unleavened bread baked on the wall of an earth oven in half a minute. Fresh, it is soft and pliable; dried, it keeps for months and is sprinkled with water before use.
[ ] Try spas
    A soup made on matsun with dzavar wheat and dried mint, stirred constantly while it cooks. Eaten hot in winter and cold in summer.
[ ] Try ghapama
    A whole pumpkin baked with rice, dried fruit, nuts and honey, cut open at the table. A celebratory dish, mostly autumn and winter.
[ ] Try harissa porridge
    Wheat cooked down with chicken into a smooth, sticky mass and finished with butter. A ritual dish, made in a communal cauldron on feast days.
[ ] Try Echmiadzin kyufta
    A large ball of beef beaten to a paste, boiled and served with melted butter. The meat is worked for hours, which makes the texture springy and light.
[ ] Try basturma and sujukh
    Air-dried beef coated in chaman, a fenugreek, garlic and paprika paste, and the dense sujukh sausage. Sliced thin and eaten with lavash and herbs.
[ ] Try gata
    A layered pastry with a khoriz filling of flour, sugar and butter, marked with a pattern on top. Every region makes it differently, and the differences show.
[ ] Try sweet sujukh and alani
    Sweet sujukh is walnuts on a thread dipped in thickened grape juice; alani is a dried peach stuffed with ground walnut and sugar. Both are made without colouring and with little added sugar.
[ ] Buy apricots and dried fruit
    The apricot is a national symbol here, and its season is June and July. Out of season, take dried apricots, dried peach, figs and fruit-purée sheets.
[ ] Drink tan
    Diluted salted matsun, the fermented milk drink that goes with meat and against the heat. Thicker and sharper than ayran.
[ ] Drink Armenian coffee
    Finely ground coffee brewed in a jezve and served with the grounds settled at the bottom. Sweetness is stated when ordering and cannot be changed later.
[ ] Try apricot spirit and brandy
    A spirit distilled from apricot or cornelian cherry: fruity, strong and unsweetened, plus long-aged Armenian brandy. Drunk in small glasses with food.

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