This Georgian food tour is a private, guided way to eat your way into one of the world's most generous cuisines. You will sample the classics, including khinkali, khachapuri and churchkhela, browse local markets stacked with spices, cheeses and fruit, and sit down at family-run eateries where Georgian hospitality is part of the meal. Your guide explains what you are eating, where it comes from and how locals actually eat it.
It suits curious eaters of every kind: couples on a city break, families who want a relaxed day, and travellers who want to understand Georgia through its table rather than its museums. Georgian food is regional, seasonal and deeply bound up with history, faith and wine, so a guide who grew up with it turns a good lunch into a story. Tell us where you are staying and we will plan the tour there, whether that is Tbilisi or somewhere along a longer trip.
Highlights of the route
Georgian Cuisine Table
At the centre of the day is the Georgian table itself. You will learn the right way to eat khinkali, the pleated dumplings from the mountains: hold them by the knot, bite a small hole, sip the hot broth, then eat the rest, leaving the knot on your plate. Then there is khachapuri, the cheese bread that every region makes differently, from the round Imeretian version to the boat-shaped Adjarian one topped with egg and butter. Around them come dishes such as pkhali (vegetable and walnut pastes), badrijani (aubergine rolled with walnut paste), bubbling lobio beans, and tkemali, a sour plum sauce. Your guide will also explain the supra, the Georgian feast, and the role of the tamada, who leads the toasts.
Local markets
A Georgian market is the best place to see what people really cook with. Expect stalls piled with herbs and seasonal fruit, wheels of sulguni and other cheeses, jars of pickles, dried fruit leather called tklapi, and long strings of churchkhela: walnuts threaded on string and dipped again and again in thickened grape juice. The spice stalls are a highlight, with blends such as khmeli suneli, blue fenugreek and the famous salt of Svaneti. Your guide will help you taste as you go and translate for you, and this is the place to buy edible souvenirs to take home. If you are in Tbilisi, ask us about including the Dezerter Bazaar, the city's big central market. Bring cash in lari.
Family-run eateries
Some of the best food in Georgia is cooked in small, family-run places, where the recipes have been handed down and the welcome is as important as the menu. These are the meals where you taste the difference between home cooking and restaurant food: bread fresh from the round clay tone oven, slow-cooked stews, and homemade wine poured without ceremony. Winemaking in Georgia goes back around 8,000 years, and the traditional method of fermenting wine in buried clay vessels called qvevri is on UNESCO's list of intangible cultural heritage. Your guide will explain how the dishes are made and how Georgians eat together, and you may well leave with an invitation to come back.
Make it your own
This tour is a starting point, and food is the easiest thing in the world to tailor. If you love wine, add a tasting with your meals or a day in Kakheti; our Georgia wine tours and our article on the Kakheti wine region are good places to start. If you would like to cook, ask us about adding a hands-on session making khinkali or khachapuri. Food lovers often pair this day with our Tbilisi city tour, mixing Old Town walks with tastings.
Travelling around the country? We can work food stops into a longer route: Adjarian khachapuri in Batumi, spicy Megrelian dishes in Samegrelo, kubdari in Svaneti and bean-filled lobiani in Racha. Vegetarians, vegans and children are easy to cater for, and guides speak English, Russian and Georgian. For a preview of what to order, read our guide to the best Georgian dishes.
Good to know
- Come hungry and pace yourself. Georgian hospitality means there is usually more food than you expect.
- Walnuts appear in a great many dishes. Tell us in advance about any nut or other allergies.
- Carry cash in lari for markets and small stalls, where cards are often not accepted.
- If you would like to join the toasts, follow the tamada's lead. Nobody minds if you sip rather than drain your glass.
Message us on WhatsApp with your dates, group size, where you are staying and any dietary needs, and we will send you a plan and a quote for your Georgian food tour.
