Tbilisi

Tony and Zamir met up at this bar on the top floor of the Radisson to drink chacha, a traditional Georgian moonshine

Tony and Zamir gambled (and lost) at this casino. They played blackjack and roulette.

Tony and Zamir went to this strip club after they lost money at gambling.

"One of the city's older, more traditional joints" Tony said. Tony and Zamir are both hungover from the previous evening's shenanigans. They had a hangover cure, khashi which Zamir explained is made of beef broth from bones and joints. Tony did not think it worked. He did enjoy the chashushuli, "a stew of slow-cooked veal with onion and tomato, heavily seasoned with coriander, fennel, garlic, and chilies."

Tony ate here with Paul Rimple, Tbilisi bureau chief for Culinary Backstreets. They had "salad with orange, almonds, and honey; grilled lamb ribs with pomegranate sauce; slices of fried eggplant wrapped around a walnut filling; chkmeruli, chicken slow-baked in an oven and then simmered in garlic and milk."

Tony had a meal with activist and journalist Tamara Chergoleishvili, founding director of Georgia’s Tabula Media. They had khinkali which Tony describes as “big, fat, juicy soup dumplings filled with spicy cumin-jacked minced beef in a hot, rich, potentially scalding broth”.

Tony ate here with chef Tekuna Gachechiladze, who is trying to modernize Georgian cuisine.

New site of chef Tekuna Gachechiladze's restaurant.

Tony headed out to this border agrarian town of only 9 families, to have a traditional supra. A supra is a Georgian feast. Tony ate with journalist Dima Bit-Suleiman, and Ushangi & Makvala Kokashvili. They had three varieties of khachapuri, a traditional cheese-filled bread, stuffed here with potato, beet leaves, or stewed cabbage; korma made from a roasted pig; homemade bread.

The chef, Gia Rokashvili, uses local ingredients and serves the food with local wines. Tony had boiled beets in wild plum sauce, freshly foraged mushrooms with chili pepper, mint, and tarragon; baby lamb stewed with cumin, cooked with wild rice; fresh tonis puri, bread made in a tandoor-like clay oven. He ate with Keti Bochorishvili, former Deputy Minister of Economy and Sustainable Development, and Tamuna Gvaberidze, gallery owner.

Tony had a meal prepared by Meriko Gubeladze, a star chef at Tbilisi’s Black Lion Restaurant. They had spinach with walnuts and wild capers; pickled carrots; cheese curds with roasted hazelnuts and mint; roasted eggplant seasoned with coriander; kharcho, a stewed chicken cooked slow with ajika chili sauce, onions, marigold flower powder, and blue fenugreek, and cooked & served in a pumpkin.