Everyone knows khachapuri and khinkali, but a real Georgian meal also means hot meat dishes served in clay ketsi pans, cast-iron skillets and straight off the skewer. Menu names sound mysterious and translations are often short and confusing. This guide explains what each dish is made of, how spicy and filling it is and what to eat it with.
1. Mtsvadi — Georgian barbecue
Mtsvadi is meat grilled on skewers over vine-wood embers, usually pork, sometimes veal or lamb. It is barely marinated: Georgians believe good meat needs only salt, pepper and the right fire. It is served with thinly sliced onion, sometimes pomegranate seeds, tkemali and lavash.
Tip: ask whether it is grilled over vine cuttings (vazis mtsvadi) — the aroma is special. Plan on 300–400 g per person.
2. Chakapuli — the spring lamb stew
Chakapuli is young lamb or veal stewed with masses of tarragon, green cherry plums or tkemali, spring onion and white wine. It is tangy, fresh and very aromatic. It is cooked in spring, especially at Easter, when young tarragon and green plums appear; at other times not every restaurant serves it.
3. Ojakhuri — the "family" dish
Ojakhuri means "family-style". It is fried pork (sometimes veal) with potatoes, onion and spices, served sizzling in a clay ketsi. Simple, filling and easy to like. If you can't decide, order ojakhuri.
4. Shkmeruli — chicken in garlic sauce
Shkmeruli comes from Shkmeri village in Racha. A whole chicken is fried, then baked in a ketsi in a thick creamy garlic sauce. There is a lot of garlic, so save it for an evening rather than before an important meeting. Dip your bread in the sauce — it's the best part.
5. Chicken tabaka
Tabaka is a flattened chicken pan-fried under a press until crisp. The name comes from the "tapa" pan. It is served with garlic sauce or tkemali — a good choice if you want something simple and not too rich.
6. Chakhokhbili — chicken with tomatoes
Chakhokhbili is chicken stewed with tomatoes, onion, peppers, herbs and khmeli suneli. It was originally made with pheasant ("khokhobi" in Georgian), hence the name. Mild, fragrant and child-friendly.
7. Kharcho — soup or stew
Visitors know kharcho as a thick beef soup with rice, tkemali and walnuts — a Georgian classic. But in Samegrelo kharcho is a thick stew of beef or chicken in a spicy walnut sauce, eaten with ghomi cornmeal porridge. If the menu says "Megrelian kharcho", expect something very spicy and very filling.
8. Chashushuli — spicy stewed meat
Chashushuli is veal stewed with tomatoes, onion, hot pepper and garlic. Spicy and aromatic, best with shoti bread and red wine.
9. Kuchmachi — offal stew
Kuchmachi is made from chicken or pork offal — liver, heart, lungs — with onion, walnuts, spices and pomegranate, served in a ketsi. A dish for offal lovers, popular with Georgians and rarely on tourist menus.
10. Chanakhi — meat and vegetables in a pot
Chanakhi is lamb baked in a clay pot with aubergine, tomatoes, potatoes, onion and plenty of herbs. Slow-cooked, the meat becomes tender and the vegetables soak up the juices. Perfect on a cold evening.
11. Kupati
Kupati are Georgian pork sausages with spices, sometimes with pomegranate or barberry, fried in a pan or over coals and served with onion and tkemali. A good snack with beer.
12. Grilled fish and trout
Not meat, but also cooked over coals. In the mountains and by rivers trout is cooked on a ketsi with pomegranate or grilled. In Batumi and Adjara grilled Black Sea fish is popular. The best choice if you need a break from meat.
How spicy?
- Not spicy: ojakhuri, tabaka, mtsvadi, chakhokhbili, kupati.
- Medium: shkmeruli (garlicky but not hot), chakapuli (sour), chanakhi.
- Hot: chashushuli, Megrelian kharcho, kuchmachi.
If you don't like heat, say "ar minda tskhare" — "I don't want it spicy".
What comes with hot dishes
- Shoti bread from the tone oven — long, boat-shaped and crusty.
- Mchadi — cornbread, especially with lobio and Megrelian dishes.
- Ghomi — cornmeal porridge, sometimes with cheese.
- A plate of herbs — coriander, tarragon, basil, spring onion.
- Sauces — tkemali, adjika, satsebeli.
How to order
Georgian dishes are ordered for the whole table and shared. For four people, a good plan is two or three salads or pkhali, one khachapuri, two hot dishes and mtsvadi. Portions are large, so start small and order more if needed.
In short
On your first visit start with mtsvadi and ojakhuri. Then try shkmeruli and chashushuli, chakapuli in spring and chanakhi on a cold day. And don't forget shoti bread and tkemali — Georgian hot dishes aren't the same without them.
