Khachapuri, Khinkhali and Calories

Georgia is not a good place to be counting calories.  Luckily as I begin my long weekend getaway in Tbilisi, I have no such illusions of a diet.  As I walk down the streets of the old town on my first night here, the restaurants and cafes are full and it’s clear that it’s not only Georgians that love the food.  There are people from all over enjoying hot cheesy khachapuri, khinkhali and other delicious smelling and no doubt calorie loaded delights, the names of which I cannot pronounce.

Let’s start with khachapuri.  This rather simple looking cheesy pie/pizza, when done properly, is like your own personal cheesy fondue kind of heaven on a plate.  I learn that you’re supposed to mix the egg in with a fork and then scoop out the middle, catching the cheese and bread together as you go.  Even though I want to, eating the whole thing by yourself is optional as, calories aside, you’ll want to leave enough room for some other delights.  The cheese khachapuri you can pick up and eat like a pizza

Khinkali are large Georgian dumplings filled with fragrant meat, cheese or sometimes mushroom fillings.  Our tour guide, Sergo, indicates that meat is really the only acceptable option when we order some mushroom filled khinkali for lunch during our tour of the Kakheti Region.  In this case, I tend to agree.  The mushroom ones are nice but the don’t have quite the same delicious flavor as the others.  Beware though, they come fresh and hot.  When they have cooled enough to pick one up by the ‘stem’, bite a little hole in the dough at the top to let out some steam.  Then, carefully suck out the juice before biting into the rest of the dumpling.  If you don’t suck the soup out first you’re likely to wear a good deal of it instead.

The minimum order of khinkali is generally 5 but you can certainly order more.  I saw some big bowls of 20 or 30 being delivered to a group.  If you don’t get through them all, linger for long enough and they can be deep fried later (more calories!) on to enjoy when you’ve had a chance to digest the first helping.

The next Georgian delight is badrijani.  Slices of toasted eggplant (aubergine), spread with walnut paste and rolled into little parcels.  These are delicious and appear to be served for any occasion – everything from breakfast right through to bar time snacks – I don’t even try to guess at the calories!

If you do want to balance the calories with something lighter, the salads are incredible.  There is nothing particularly exciting about them, except for their absolute freshness.  The lettuce is crisp and crunchy, tomatoes are red (real, deep, sun ripened red) and taste like they should, full of juicy flavor.  Cucumbers are green and watery and everything is flavored with fresh lemon slices and herbs.

Vine leaves (dolma) an all time favorite, are served stuffed with flavorful rice.  They’re slim and the vine leaves are juicy and oily (rather than dry).  I manage quite a few of these as an entree but am happy eating them through to mains as well.

Next is the barbecue.  But beware!  This comes right at the end when you’ve had second helpings of everything else because you think they have forgotten about it.  Big chunks of meat are served slightly blackened by the wood fire.  The pieces are fat and tender and we sample a mixed grill of beef, chicken and lamb.  All are equally good.

For a quick but equally filling meal, you can pick up a quick pie from the bakery.  These have a range of fillings, generally meat or cheese and come in different shapes and sizes.  I choose mine randomly one afternoon, simply by pointing.  The result is a flavorful meat filled flaky pastry, certainly enough to count as a meal (especially in between a hotel buffet breakfast in the morning and khachapuri and khinkali at dinner time!).

Another day, after my tour to Uplistsikhe, we pick up a phichini for lunch.  The bakeries here are numerous and the hearty (read: many calories) fare is cheap and delicious.  My phichini is a sandwich/pie/quiche like creation.  It looks a bit like a very thin quiche and as I take a bite I expect it to be pastry on the outside and eggy in the middle.  On the contrary, rather than pastry with a rich filling I find the dough to be more bread like.  The filling is a richly spiced meat filling, very fragrant and quite dry (as opposed to saucy, not unpleasantly) and rather delicious.  My only criticism is that this particular one would be improved served hot (or at least hotter than mine was), though I guess you can’t win them all.

Next, procured from the same bakery is a sweet, flaky pastry delight.  The top crumbles as I bit in but the middle is dense and the flaky pastry, is filled with something nut like, similar to baklava but not as sweet.  It’s about ten times bigger than a normal piece of baklava though and after a few bites, I put the rest away for later.

Somewhat lighter and much more calorie friendly as a little snack, if indeed you find yourself at all peckish in between this rather hearty and plentiful fare, is the fruit.  It is summer and the cherries, raspberries, blackberries, strawberries and mulberries are in full swing, not to mention the little yellow cherry plums (which are often made into a sauce or chutney).  Street vendors sell cups of summer fruit all over the place and I was lucky enough to sample some freshly picked raspberries and some of the yummiest sun-kissed homegrown cherries I’ve had for years.

Another snack is the Georgian snickers.  These salami like looking creations are made with nuts (usually walnuts) covered in a hard caramel looking substance that is made from grape juice.  In reality the gelatinous grape juice is nothing like the gooey sweet centre of a snickers bar, nor is there any chocolate in sight.  However, they’re still a satisfying snack and I’d be way more likely to let the boys indulge in these regularly than too many of the usual sort. Calorie management at its finest.

The Georgian wine is also pretty good.  Usually I’m a Shiraz drinker.  I like something big and bold, full bodied with blackberry or chocolate notes and some lingering tannin.

Georgian red wine is generally sweeter and lighter, which I find I quite like too.  Over the last century or so, Georgian wine making has catered to a primarily Russian market, much of which is catered to the market for religious services and hence the tendency for sweetness.

Nowadays, while these sweet wines are still available in abundance, there is also a movement towards more traditional Georgian style.  This is much less sweet and there is also a preference for organic wine where no sugar, sulfites or other preservatives have been added.  Whatever they’re doing, they must be doing it well – the restaurants are full with people enjoying the wine in all colors and sweetnesses and the duty free shops are doing a roaring trade.

The beer isn’t bad either after a long hot day.  Although I’m no beer connoisseur, my pint goes down pretty well with that khachapuri.  And if that’s not enough, we saw chacha being made by hand and a fine selection of hand made whisky on sale.  I try not to think about the calories, the diet can come later!

Would I Return?

Yes.  Remind me to eat salad for the week before I go!