T'bilisi, Tbilisi

cafe

Gabriadze

Bourdain said here: "I’m quickly finding that the cuisine here is really good—really complex with sweet, sour notes that are reminiscent of, I don’t know. I just know that it feels hauntingly familiar yet, utterly new and delicious.” Bourdain 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. Lunch date: Paul Rimple, Tbilisi bureau chief for Culinary Backstreets.

T'bilisi, Tbilisi

restaurants

Culinarium Khasheria

Bourdain had: wine, queen’s soup (another hangover cure, with caramelized onion); a shot of chacha; wild trout tartare; mussels; more chacha. Dinner date: iconoclastic chef Tekuna Gachechiladze.

T'bilisi, Tbilisi

restaurants

Sofia Melnikovas Fantastiuri Duqani

Bourdain ate: khinkali (per Bourdain’s description: “big, fat, juicy soup dumplings filled with spicy cumin-jacked minced beef in a hot, rich, potentially scalding broth”). Dinner date: activist and journalist Tamara Chergoleishvili, founding director of Georgia’s Tabula Media.

Sighnaghi, Kakheti

experience

Pheasant's Tears Winery

Bourdain had: chacha, Georgian wine, boiled beets in wild plum sauce, freshly foraged mushrooms with meat and tarragon, baby lamb with rice, fresh bread. Lunch dates: Keti Bochorishvili, former Deputy Minister of Economy and Sustainable Development, currently an executive at Anaklia Development Consortium; and Tamuna Gvaberidze, gallery owner.

T'bilisi, Tbilisi

bar

Drama Bar

Bourdain had: chacha (Georgian moonshine). Drinks date: Zamir Gotta, Russian producer and frequent Parts Unknown guest.