My last night in Tbilisi.
A quiet neighbourhood with the charm of a bygone era, nestled on a hillside; an old building, candles on the stairs, first floor. The door opens. Chef @tekunia, from @littera_restaurant, welcomes us into her beautifully decorated flat with high ceilings.
A first room, where music plays softly, doors opening onto a superbly equipped kitchen, and to the right, the dining room, a central table with lit candles and small vases of flowers, a round pendant light on the ceiling, wine fridges lined up on the left.
We start with the Pkhali, bread and a paste of the spicy adjika which I love.
Next comes a sea bass tartare (usually it’s catfish, she tells us), with fresh coriander and a lime sauce, almost like a ceviche. Fresh, very good.
The ever-present chacha is already on the table and my shot is gone.
It’s so pleasant here, I think to myself. One can be made to feel welcome in a restaurant, but there’s always a different level of intimacy and informality when someone welcomes you into their own home.
We’re still only just getting started, and already several toasts have been made. That’s just how Georgians are. The next two dishes are particularly noteworthy.
Artichokes with a velvety Bazhe sauce containing walnuts, spices (including adjika :)) and vinegar. I loved it.
And a Georgian Tolma, with minced duck, rice and spices, wrapped in vine leaves and served with a foam of matsoni (fermented milk, almost like yoghurt) and mint.
Several good qvevri wines and toasts later, a wheat risotto with quail and local truffles, a dessert with feijoa, plus a final shot of Chacha, and I vaguely recall that we may have danced to the tune of ‘Mack the Knife’ at the end.
I took a long walk back to the hotel, on my own, so that I could soak up a little more of all that this city has to reveal.
Madloba.