Cultural Backstreets Tbilisi Food Tour

The top three things to do when you’re in a new place are: exploring the sights, soaking in the history and trying new food. And one of the best ways to sample new food in an unfamiliar place is by doing a food tour! I tell you, once you do one of these, you’ll start booking one in every place you go. Who doesn’t like spending the day eating? 

So, as natural foodies, one of the first things we did when we got to Tbilisi was schedule a food tour. We went with Culinary Backstreets, which was recommended by a friend of ours and has a 5 star rating on both Viator and Tripadvisor. Maka was our guide, and she did not disappoint. Even if you’re not going to Tbilisi, it’s still worth checking them out because they have tours in 16 major cities around the globe. You can check out more on their website here: www.culinarybackstreets.com.

The great thing about this tour that was a little different from other food tours we’ve done is that it wasn’t just food. We also got to see quite a bit of the city and learn about Georgia’s history, as well.  

Make sure not to eat beforehand, because it’s a full day of sampling local cuisine. Our tour started at 10:00 AM near the sulfur baths and ended at our last stop around 5:30 PM. We left stuffed and very satisfied! 

Note: We took this tour on our own and received no compensation for posting this article. This is our honest opinion of the experience.

The tour included 7 food and drink stops:

Our first stop was Sabir’s Chaikhana, where we had Azerbaijani tea. The café is on a little back alley street near the sulfur baths. It’s definitely a local place. If we weren’t led there, we wouldn’t even know it existed. It’s not marked at all and you go down a few stairs to a basement shop. Apparently, it’s a good spot for local gossip too!  

Our second stop was a literal hole in the wall in Old Tbilisi, where we tried shotis puri, a traditional Georgian bread that’s shaped like a canoe and made in a clay oven called a tone, similar to a tandoor. The bread gets its curved canoe shame because the dough is stuck to and cooked on the side of the circular oven. It’s nothing crazy, but it’s good fresh bread. Our guide told us when her mother sent her to get bread she always told her to get two because she would eat one on the way home. 

Next we made our way to Ioane Shavteli Street and had starters at Cafe Leila. We had a variety of pkhali served in a gobi (a large wooden bowl). Pkhali are spreads made from minced vegetables, walnuts, and herbs. Our gobi included 5 kinds of pkhali: eggplant, carrot, beetroot, spinach, and cheese, as well as cornbread, three types of cheese (salted and smoked), and pickled vegetables (cucumber, beetroot, peppers, and jonjoli). Jonjoli are pickled flowers made from the staphylea or bladdernut plant. It doesn’t look super appetizing, but is actually tasty and apparently loaded with vitamins. This was one of our larger meals during the day and the pkhali looked delicious, but I will say most of the spreads are made with nuts. So, if you happen to have a nut allergy like me you’ll be SOL for this stop 🙁 

After starters, we were taken to Georgian Kalata – Aristaeus, a wine and cheese shop near 9 April Park. We got to try 3 kinds of cheese, one made with charcoal which I thought was interesting, chestnut honey, and churchkhela. Churchkhela is a traditional Georgian candy that looks like a candle and is made from grape must, nuts (usually walnuts), and flour. We also bought some tkemali (plum sauce) and raspberry rose jam.

Our next stop was Sophia Melnikova’s Fantastic Douqan, a hidden courtyard restaurant with a grape vine covered pergola, where we tried shkmeruli (chicken in garlic sauce). This was absolutely delicious! Hands down my favorite stop! The creamy garlic sauce was perfection. Plus, they had homemade bread to dip in it, as well as homemade mint lemonade, which was also great. The restaurant is also home to several furry friends. So if you like the idea of playing with some cats while you enjoy a bit to eat, you’ll love this place!

After garlic chicken we journeyed to Klike’s Khinkali, where we had one of the quintessential dishes, khinkali. Khinkali are Georgian dumplings that look like a giant version of Chinese soup dumplings. They were originally made with sheep and were a hearty warm meal for shepherds up in the mountains. Today, it’s usually made with a mixture of beef and pork. But locals don’t usually eat the whole thing. The proper way is to hold the knot, bite a small hole in in the bottom, drink the juices, then devour the rest except for the knot. Then at the end, you count up your knots to see who has eaten the most! Our guide ordered two kinds for us to try, one with beef and pork and one with mushroom and ajika (a seasoning or paste made from chili peppers, garlic, and other spices). Tony preferred the meat one, but I really liked the spice of the mushroom one!

And finally, we capped off the day with wine tasting at ღvino Underground, a cute little brick wine cellar in Old Tbilisi. We tried 4 kinds of wine: white, rosé, amber, and red. The amber and red wines were our favorites. We also learned a lot about the 8,000 year history of wine in Georgia along with how the Soviet and later Russian occupation affected the wine industry. 

We also stopped at a couple other attractions:

1. Anchiskhati Basilica is right across from Cafe Leila where we had the starters. You have to have your head, shoulders, and legs covered to enter, which seems similar across most churches we’ve come across in Tbilisi. But they have scarves you can borrow to cover your head.  
2. We visited the Leaning Clock Tower, where we got to see the angel come out and strike the bell to mark the hour and a puppet show. The angel comes out every hour on the hour, but the puppet show is only at 12:00 PM and 7:00 PM. They change out the puppets throughout the year depicting different stories. The current story is about the Cycle of Life and depicts a young couple as they move through life, starting with marriage and ending when they pass away. 

A few other recommendations from our guide: 

• A dish we did not try that our guide told us about is khashi (a tripe and garlic soup), which is apparently a great hangover cure along with a shot of chacha (a strong Georgian brandy similar to Italian grappa).  
• We were also recommended to eat at Culinarium Khasheria before or after visiting the sulfur baths. It’s literally right next to the baths and is a pretty light blue 4-story building with white trim and balconies on all of the upper floors. We were told the chef there is very good and has one several culinary awards. 
• Another restaurant recommendation was Rachis Ubani, which is outside the main touristy areas on the west side of the city. It’s a bit of a trek to get out there, about a 30-40 minute drive from Old Town, but would be a good stop for lunch if you plan to visit the Open Air Museum of Ethnography or do a hike nearby. It has kind of a rustic feel with home cooked Georgian food. And since it’s up in the mountains a bit it has a great view of the city. 

Summary

One of the best parts of the tour wasn’t just what we ate. We learned all kinds of stories and historical contexts for the places we visited and walked by. Honestly, with the number of sights we passed and how awesome our guide was, we basically got a walking tour filled with historical sights combined with a food tour. Really, the foods you try and the places we included are just a small part of the overall experience. We can’t recommend this tour enough to get a real sense of Tbilisi. If you’re short on time while visiting the city, the Culinary Backstreets Tour is a great way to both try a lot of great food, talk to some cool people, and get a wonderful primer on Georgia.

Final Tips

• Wear comfortable shoes since you’ll be walking from place to place.
• Bring cash for a tip. You don’t have to tip, but we think it’s a nice thing to do. Especially if you enjoyed the experience. Tipping culture around here is about 10%, but not expected. We tipped our guide 15%, since it was a full day and we had such a nice time. 
• If you have a nut allergy, be cautious. Georgians use walnuts in a lot of their dishes. Everything from sweets and pastries to sauces and spreads.