We had lots of fun in Tbilisi, but one of the things we loved most was the food. The exchange rate was very much in our favor (roughly 3 lari to 1 usd) and we took advantage by eating out as much as possible. We were staying in the centrally-located Freedom Square, which gave us easy access to lots of restaurants. While we didn’t exclusively eat traditional Georgian food, we did eat a lot of it. I had never had it before and I was blown away by how delicious everything was. And as an added bonus, it was also extremely easy maintain a vegetarian diet (although Chad did cheat a few times).

There is a real emphasis on freshness in Georgian cooking. Fresh fruits and vegetables are the stars of the show and everything tastes better for it. The fruit in Georgia was the best I had anywhere and a wide variety of fresh pressed juices were available at nearly every restaurant and could easily be found on street corners as well. Homemade lemonade was also popular and I started ordering it everywhere to compare and contrast. I definitely ate too much while we were in Tbilisi, but every bite was worth it.

It seems like Georgian food may be slowly but surely making headway in the states as well. Eater wrote a piece earlier this year about the cuisine popping up in New York restaurants and khachapuri has become its own kind of Instagram celebrity. If you plan on visiting Georgia or even just a Georgian restaurant, here’s a handy list of a few of our favorite specialities that you may find on the menu:

• Ajika: A spicy paste or sauce seasoned with hot chili peppers.

• Chacha: A very boozy local liquor. Don’t sip it – drink it all in one shot.

• Chikhirtma: A creamy chicken stew. Comfort food at its finest.

• Churchkhela: A string of nuts (usually walnuts) cased in dried grape juice. You can find them being sold on pretty much every street. They make a tasty snack or a nice addition to a cheese plate.

• Jonjoli/bladdernut: A typical addition to pickle plates. Bladdernut doesn’t sound particularly appetizing, but these little shrubs are very tasty.

• Khachapuri: An umbrella term for bread stuffed with cheese. Adjarian Khachapuri is the most recognizable: a large boat-shaped bread stuffed with cheese and then served with a hunk of butter and an egg yolk cracked on top.

• Khinkali: Georgian soup dumplings. Eat them with you hands, take a small bit to drink the broth, then eat the filling. You can ditch the little dough handle.

• Lobiani: Bread stuffed with bean paste. It’s like khachapuri, but with beans instead of cheese.

• Lobio: Traditional dish of beans cooked in a clay pot. It is heavily spiced and often served with a slice of mchadi (cornbread).

• Medok: Georgian-style honey cake. You can expect several layers of soft cake separated by cream.

• Nigzviani Badrijani: Chad’s favorite; eggplant rolls served with walnut sauce and fresh red currants.

• Orange Wine: A speciality of Georgia, one of the oldest wine-producing regions in the world. This wine is made with white wine grapes, but the skins are left on during fermentation, resulting in the amber hue.

• Pkhali: A vegetable pate that might be made with spinach, eggplant, cabbage, beets, etc., mixed with walnuts, garlic, and herbs.

• Satsivi/Bazhe: Walnut sauce. Great on chicken tabaka.

• Sulguni: One of the most popular local cheeses.

• Tabaka: Pan-friend, pressed chicken. Chad broke vegetarianism to try this and he said it was probably the best thing he ate the whole trip.

• Tomato and cucumber salad: A staple of Georgian meals. Sometimes it is served with ajika, sometimes with sulguni, sometimes with walnuts, but it’s always fresh and delicious. We ate it with pretty much every meal.