Georgian food is built on a few things done very well: cheese breads, dumplings, grilled meat, and vegetables pounded with walnuts, garlic and fresh herbs. If you only try five dishes, make them khinkali, Imeretian khachapuri, badrijani, pkhali and mtsvadi. Below are fifteen dishes worth ordering, with how to eat the tricky ones, where they come from, and what to choose if you don't eat meat.
Breads and dumplings
1. Khinkali
Twisted dumplings of thin dough filled with spiced minced meat and a mouthful of hot broth. They come from the mountain valleys along the Georgian Military Highway, and Pasanauri on that road is a classic lunch stop for them [1]. Mushroom, potato and cheese fillings are common too [1].
How to eat them: with your hands. Pick one up by the knot of dough on top (the kudi), add black pepper, bite a small hole in the side and suck out the broth before eating the rest. Leave the knot on your plate [1][2]. Cutlery is frowned on, and a fork lets all the broth out.
2. Khachapuri, in three regional styles
Cheese bread, the dish you will see on every table. The style changes by region [1][2]:
- Imeretian (imeruli): round and flat with cheese baked inside; the everyday version from western Georgia.
- Megrelian (megruli): the same, with a second layer of cheese melted on top; from Samegrelo.
- Adjarian (adjaruli): a boat-shaped bread from Adjara on the Black Sea, filled with cheese and topped with an egg yolk and a cube of butter. Stir the yolk and butter into the cheese, then tear off the crust and dip it.
One Adjarian khachapuri is a meal for one; for a table of four, one Imeretian is plenty as a starter. In Svaneti look for kubdari, a thicker bread filled with spiced meat [1].
3. Lobiani
Bread filled with seasoned kidney beans, linked above all with Racha [1]. It is the traditional bread on fasting days, when cheese is off the menu [2].
Vegetable dishes
4. Badrijani nigvzit
Thin slices of fried aubergine rolled around a garlicky walnut paste, often topped with pomegranate seeds [1][2]. A good test of any restaurant.
5. Pkhali
Balls or patties of chopped spinach, beetroot, cabbage, beans or aubergine mixed with ground walnuts, garlic, vinegar and herbs [1][2]. Usually served as a colourful mixed plate.
6. Lobio
Kidney beans stewed with herbs and garlic and served in a clay pot [1], eaten with cornbread (mchadi) and pickles.
7. Ajapsandali
A vegetable stew of aubergine, tomatoes, peppers and potatoes, often eaten at room temperature [1]. Georgia's answer to ratatouille.
8. Jonjoli
Pickled flower buds of the Caucasian bladdernut, picked in spring before they open and kept in brine [2]. Dressed with oil and onion, they are slightly bitter and very Georgian; you will rarely find them outside the country.
Meat and stews
9. Mtsvadi
Georgian barbecue: chunks of pork, veal or lamb on skewers [1], ideally grilled over vine cuttings [2], and served with raw onion and pomegranate or tkemali.
10. Chakapuli
Lamb or veal stewed with a big handful of tarragon, sour plums or tkemali and white wine [1][2]. It is traditionally made in spring, when the tarragon is young [3].
11. Shkmeruli (chkmeruli)
Crisp-fried chicken finished in a sauce of garlic and milk or cream and served sizzling in a clay pan [1][2]. It comes from Racha [1]. Order bread to mop up the sauce, and don't plan anything close-up afterwards.
12. Kharcho
A thick, sour beef soup-stew with plum sauce, rice, walnuts, herbs and spices [1]. Warming in the cooler months.
13. Elarji
A Megrelian shepherd's dish of thick cornmeal porridge worked with lots of stretchy sulguni cheese [1].
Sauce and sweet
14. Tkemali
A sour sauce of wild plums with garlic, dill, coriander and chilli [1]. Red or green, it goes with grilled meat, potatoes and almost everything else. Bottles make an easy gift to take home.
15. Churchkhela
Walnuts or hazelnuts threaded on a string and dipped again and again in thickened grape juice, then dried [1][2]. You will see them hanging at every market and roadside stall, especially after the autumn harvest. They keep for weeks and pack well in a suitcase.
Vegetarians, vegans and Lent
Georgia is easier for vegetarians than its barbecue reputation suggests. On Orthodox fast days, including the weeks of Lent before Easter, the Church asks believers to avoid meat, milk and eggs [2], so there is a long tradition of dishes without them. Badrijani, pkhali, lobio, ajapsandali, jonjoli, lobiani and mushroom khinkali are all usually meat-free, and several are naturally vegan [3]. Churchkhela is essentially grape juice and nuts, although some cooks add honey.
Two things to watch: walnuts are in a very large number of dishes, so tell your guide or waiter clearly if you have a nut allergy; and cheese appears in most breads, so vegans should ask for lobiani rather than khachapuri. Menus in Tbilisi often have English translations; in villages, ask your guide to check for you.
A few eating tips
- Georgian meals are shared. Order several dishes for the table rather than one each.
- Portions are generous, and hosts may keep bringing food; it is fine to leave some on the plate.
- Bread is usually shoti, baked on the wall of a round clay tone oven. Buy it hot from a bakery.
- Wine is part of most meals. For what to order, read our guide to Georgian wine grapes and amber wine.
- A traditional feast (supra) is led by a toastmaster, the tamada; if you are invited to one, pace yourself. More in our guide to Georgian food tours, cooking classes and the supra.
Tours for this: eating and cooking in Georgia
The private Tbilisi food and wine walk starts at the Dezerter Bazaar with cheese, pickles and churchkhela, then moves on to a tone-oven bakery, khinkali at a local canteen and three glasses of wine in a natural-wine bar. In the private Georgian cooking class with a market tour you make khachapuri, khinkali and pkhali or badrijani yourself, with vegetarian and vegan menus possible. Out of town, the Kakheti village cooking day is spent with a host family baking bread, shaping khinkali and making churchkhela. See each tour page for the current price, or build your own trip around food and wine. Nothing to pay now.
Sources
- Caucasus Trekking, "Honest Guide to Georgian Cuisine": caucasus-trekking.com
- Wikivoyage, "Georgian cuisine": en.wikivoyage.org
- Journal of Nomads, "Traditional Georgian food guide": journalofnomads.com
Last checked: September 2026.
