GEORGIA

Unknown Diversity of Georgian Cuisine

2011-07-21T08:29:00.000+04:00

Last summer chef Malkhaz Maisashvili travelled to nearly all corners of Georgia and studied recipes of Georgian traditional dishes directly from the locals. The chef whose experience counts many years and whose professionalism is second to none, was astonished by what he saw and tasted. His stories convinced us that Georgian dishes are the real treasure, which must be collected by visiting all regions of the country.
Malkhaz Maisashvili: We visited various parts of Georgia, searching for recipes of old Georgian dishes. So far we visited only small part of Georgian regions. And there is still some work to be done including processing of recipes. When we are over, we will include these old dishes in the menu of restaurants.
Our visits took place last summer. First we called in Achara (western Georgia, Black Sea coastal region). We were especially interested in the highland Achara. We wanted to collect survived old recipes from the locals. When we visited the villages, we told the villagers the purpose of our travel. They were eager to share their knowledge with us. Almost all Georgians know about Acharian dish called Borano. But it turns out there is another variation of Borano in Achara called Naghmibora. It is made of Kaimaghi (milk cream) and cheese. Another interesting dish is Iakhni. We also wrote down Kezhera Pkhali and Malakhto Lobio (green haricot) recipes. In the highland Achara, dishes are mostly made using dairy products. We collected several recipes of Sinori which is made of matsoni and cheese. There is an interesting dish made of dried plum. It is called Kaisagh. Dried plum is boiled in sugar syrup. During boiling we add butter or boiled butter. In Achara all dishes have butter or boiled butter as their ingredients. As the locals explained, in old days at the breakfast, people used to consume huge quantities of boiled butter with sweets, meat or anything else before going to work.
Q: What did locals make of your initiative?
A: The word spread instantly in villages about Tbilisi people who came for old recipes. They were approaching us to narrate their stories, told to them by their grand moms. We were preparing the dishes and tasting them together. Of course, we could not cook all the dishes there. With some dishes, we had to limit ourselves to writing down the recipes. In certain cases, we had to watch the preparations of certain specific dishes. Without visual knowledge, we would not be able to prepare them by ourselves only according to the recipes.
Q: Could you tell us about some of them?
A: For example, there is this dish Naghmibora made of naghebi and cheese. Naghebi is heated to a certain level and then twisted cheese is added. If you do not know and reach the specific temperature, either cheese will crumble or the dish itself won’t be tasty or “appealing”. More to it, if you add cheese before the right moment, the dish will become watery. Likewise, during Kaisaghi preparations, dried plum should not be left in water too long or else it will become viscous. So, we should take out plum and add fat in time.
Q: Where did you go next?
A: Samtskhe-Javakheti. As you know, it is a highland region too. So dishes there are similarly made of dairy products mainly. There I tasted Apokhti Khinkali. It was very delicious. It is made of large pieces of beef. Every piece is folded in dough like a pelmen and boiled. In Samtskhe-Javakheti they eat ordinary snail dishes too but only in the certain period of the year. I was lucky that it was exactly the period of snail eating during my visit.
Q: Did you find dishes unknown to you in Racha?
A: Yes, just imagine, I came upon a number of such dishes, about which I had never heard of before. I learnt how to prepare all of them. Take for example, a dish made of wild hare. They call it Tabutsuni. They make satsivi from the hare meat fried in tone (satsivi is a national Georgian dish usually prepared for the New Year celebrations). Mamisoni from beef is also very mouth-watering. It is seasoned with onion and pomegranate. Everyone knows about the potato fried in ham. Yet, we learnt a different method of preparing this dish. Finally, we wrote down recipes for green haricot dishes such as Chachriula, Shetsurula, pkhali soup. In Racha they call Chadi-Khachapuri the cheese staffed inside Chadi. Hmm, it’s delicious!
Q: Did Kakheti (eastern Georgia) surprise you with anything?
A: In Kakheti we penned down cornel dish recipe. The Kakhetian table constituents such as Khashlama, Dedali and Mtsvadi are extensively explored dishes in Georgian restaurants. There are much less unknown dishes than, say, in Achara or Svaneti. In Svaneti there are really so many unknown dishes that I was gaping in amazement. For instance, take Zinhora. It is a type of Kupati (meat staffed inside animal gut and prepared in this form) which is made of bull blood seasoned with a variety of flavors. They pierce the bull in its heart with a dagger and kill it in this way. Then they collect the blood in a special vessel, season it and staff inside the guts. Well, this may sound somewhat scary but tastes good at least. They also make dish from cattle or bull meat. They call it Naldzihora.
In Svaneti we learnt to make Khachapuri with Onions, Lukme with Millet (same as Petvnaari – grinded millet mixed in Khachapuri). I did not hear about any other recipe of making Kupdari (dish from the Svanetian cuisine) in Saventi, nonetheless I learnt how to do real Kupdari. In the past, one of its necessary ingredients was cannabis seed, i.e. cannabis seed was used as a seasoning. In Svaneti I tasted real Chvishtari (cheese baked in corn flour). It’s a miracle. Everything acquires a different taste after having been baked in a Svan oven.
When we went to Samegrelo, I told to Megrelians that while they added cheese to chadi flour (corn flour), Svans add chadi flour to cheese.
Q: Did Imereti surprise you too?
A: In Imereti we learnt how to make calf Chashushuli. It turned out that they are doing this famous dish in an utterly different way.
All the dishes that we have collected recipes for are mostly eaten with hands. They are prepared in wood basins and offered to guests with hands. Finally, everything prepared there has unique taste because of air, water and grass (which provides flavorings)… - because all these have their bearing on the taste of dishes. For example, you cannot make anywhere else as good Lori as the one made in Racha. I used to be going crazy about haricots made by my grandma. You would bite your fingers at then taste of it. When she would visit me, I would ask her to prepare her style of haricots – but here it did not have the kind of taste as in Racha.
P.S. The story of Mr Malkhaz boosted our interest in Georgian dishes and culinary tourism. Frankly, it was a tremendous appetizer too. So, our dear readers, we promise you that as a follow-up the Georgian Journal will also travel around every Georgian region and wire tasty

reports to you.

Ema Tukhiashvili

Low price Hotel in Georgia

2010-08-10T17:17:00.000+04:00

Really if you compare prices of hotels in Georgia to hotels in Turkey or Cyprus, you'll consider that Georgian prices are expensive. But now I want to introduce you a low price hotel in Tbilisi.

DKD hotel is situated in the northwest of city. It's not a full three stars hotel but nice and comfortable. You can see the photo and the address map in the blog of hotel. For reservation you need to contact them. These are the prices:

Single room for one night 40$

Double room for one night 50$

You can't find any more hotel in this price & quality.

Happy a good stay

Travel Agencies in Georgia

2009-09-06T10:43:00.004+04:00

There are several hundreds Georgian tour operators .Really, it's not easy to find a professional tour & travel agency in Georgia. Here are my suggestions but of course this list is not exact and complete

Caucasus Trekking Company
- Specialized in Trekking (hiking and riding), in Tusheti and Kevsureti. We are keen on showing you and sharing with you the beautiful landscapes and the very old traditions of the Tusheti region where Gia is coming from. Audrey and Gia -- (ENG, FRE, GER)
URL: http://www.caucasus-trek.com - (1.1k; 2007-03-05)

CGTT VOYAGES
- French travel agency present in Tbilisi since 2000. Many offices through CIS countries and head quarters in Paris -- (ENG, RUS, FRE, GEO)
URL: http://www.cgtt-tbilissi.ge - (2007-01-17)

Club Mountain Traveller -
Guided treks and climbing expeditions in the Caucasus and Central Asia -- (ENG)
URL: http://www.cmt.org.ge - (17.5k; 2006-02-14)

Concord Travel -
Incoming and outgoing company of Georgia -- (GEO, ENG)
URL: http://www.concordtravel.ge - (160.7k)

Dila +
- Hotel reservation: Tbilisi, Batumi, Kobuleti, Ureki, Sarpi, Kvariati, Gonio, Green Cape,Tsikhisdziri, Chakvi, Borjomi, Gudauri, Bakuriani for special prices! Cultural tours in every region; Rafting; Biketour; Speleotour; Trekking; Alpinism; Jeep-tour -- (ENG, RUS)
URL: http://www.dilaplus.ge - (2.0k; 2009-08-03)

Explore Georgia
- Professional incoming tour operator company in Georgia providing with all kind of adventure, eco and cultural tours to groups and individual travelers. -- (ENG, FRE)
URL: http://www.exploregeorgia.com - (2.9k; 2009-05-14)

Fortuna Travel -
Full service travel agency offers local and international tour booking, air/hotel reservations, visa assistance. The agency is specialized in Educational Tourism. -- (GEO, ENG)
URL: http://www.fortunatravel.ge - (14.5k; 2009-03-30)

Georgian Discovery Tours
- Tour operator -- (ENG)
URL: http://www.gdt.ge - (15.3k; 2007-07-02)

GeorgiCa Travel
- Sightseeing and adventurous tours and travel services in Georgia, Caucasus and on the Silk Road. -- (ENG)
URL: http://www.georgica.caucasus.net - (19.3k; 2008-11-10)

GeoTourism.ge
- Tourist agency -- (GEO, ENG)
URL: http://geotourism.ge

Info-Tbilisi Travel
- Info-Tbilisi Travel-Guided Tours, Vacation Specials, Car rental, Airport Transfer and other travel related services throughout Georgia -- (GEO, ENG)
URL: http://www.travel.info-tbilisi.com - (49.1k)

International travel company "Intertour"
- Airtickets, Hotels, Tourism, Insurance, car rent and etc. -- (GEO, ENG, RUS)
URL: http://www.intertour.ge - (0.1k; 2009-04-10)
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International Union "Georgian Travel Guide"
- Offer Cultural, gourmet, wine, adventure, ski and othe tours in Georgia and Caucasus -- (ENG)
URL: http://www.travelguide.ge - (35.1k; 2009-03-31)

Intourist-Caucasia Ltd
- "Intourist-Caucasia" is a licensed Georgian travel agency, based in Tbilisi. We offer in Georgia as well as in Our neighboring Countries,Armenia and Azerbaijan -- (ENG)
URL: http://intourist.dsl.ge - (4.6k; 2005-06-08)

IRIDIUM Travel - Discover Georgia with us!
- Travel to Georgia, Caucasus. We offer Professional Alpine Tours, Adventure Tours, Hiking Tours, Cultural Tours in Georgia. -- (ENG)
URL: http://www.iridium-travel.com - (18.6k)

Leda ltd.
- Travel agency -- (ENG)
URL: http://www.leda.com.ge - (2.7k; 2002-05-12)

M E G Z U R I tours
- Tours and excursions in Georgia and outside its borders following the ancient history of Georgia. Tours in Turkey. Full service. Hotel. Security. Leisure. Traditional Georgian supra (party). -- (GEO, ENG, RUS)
URL: http://www.megzuri.com.ge - (4.6k; 2009-02-12)

Metropol Travel
- Incoming fascinating tours in Georgia. Extremal tourizm, Cultural and adventurous tours throuought Georgia. Week -ends and day trips. -- (ENG)
URL: http://www.metropoltravel.ge - (2.3k; 2006-03-28)

N.Tour
- International tour operator -- (GEO)
URL: http://www.ntour.ge/ - (1.0k; 2008-07-02)

Profkurort Ltd
- Holidays and travel in Georgia -- (GEO, ENG)
URL: http://www.profkurort.ge - (34.0k; 2009-09-06)
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Travel agency "exotour"
- All Holliday and travel services in georgia: cultural, adventure, business tours and vacations, air tickets -- (GEO, ENG)
URL: http://www.exotour.ge - (45.8k; 2008-05-05)

Travel agency in Georgia
- Tourist agency GEODISCOVERY provides tours to different parts in Georgia all the year round. -- (GEO, ENG, RUS)
URL: http://www.geodiscovery.ge/ - (33.3k; 2009-07-26)

Travel Company
- Travel Company, Hotels, Vip Tours, Luxery Tours, European Tours, Cruises & Much More -- (RUS)
URL: http://www.asa.ge - (1.3k; 2005-08-29)

Travel Company Georgian Holidays L.T.D.
- Incoming tours to Georgia: cultural, adventure, special, family, eco, tailor-made, business travel. Guide service, interpreter service, folklore shows and feast dinner arrangements, transfers, hotel reservations -- (ENG)
URL: http://www.georgianholidays.com - (4.3k)

Travel in Caucasus
- Explore new destination, new but very old country, with oldest monuments in the world, with Georgia's foremost Tour operator. We offer holiday travel and soft adventure tours for people over 50's -- (ENG)
URL: http://travelgeorgia.gol.ge - (36.9k; 2009-06-26)

Visit Georgia
- Tourist Agency -- (ENG)
URL: http://www.visitgeorgia.ge - (4.5k; 2008-11-26)