Food tours in Tbilisi: the best ways to eat your way around the city

Tbilisi through its food: one of the world’s great food cities

Tbilisi is a serious food city. Not in the Michelin-star sense — though a handful of restaurants are doing genuinely sophisticated things — but in the sense that matters more: deeply embedded food traditions, ingredients of extraordinary quality, cooking techniques unchanged for centuries, and a culture that treats feeding guests as one of the most important things a human being can do.

The challenge for visitors is that Tbilisi’s best food is not always in the most obvious places. The tourist-facing restaurants on the main Old Town streets serve good food, but the extraordinary is often a few streets further into the residential neighbourhoods: the khinkali house that has been serving the same recipe since 1975 and does not have a sign in English, the cheese vendor in the Deserter Bazaar who has been maturing his own Sulguni for twenty years, the bread woman feeding flatbread into a tonii oven at 7am.

A good food tour bridges that gap. This guide covers the best organised options and the dishes you must hunt down independently.

The best street food and market tour option

For a comprehensive introduction to Tbilisi’s street food, local markets, and neighbourhood food culture, a street food and sightseeing tour with local markets combines eating at the city’s best street food spots with visits to the markets and neighbourhoods that supply them. This format — moving through the city, tasting as you go, with a guide who knows the vendors personally — is the most immersive way to understand Tbilisi’s food landscape.

What the best food tours include:

• The Deserter Bazaar (Vagtslinis Bazroba): Tbilisi’s most atmospheric food market, selling everything from Kakhetian amber wine in unlabelled bottles to dried herbs, fresh cheeses, fermented vegetables, churchkhela, spices, and live poultry
• Street food stalls: Freshly baked shoti bread from a tonii oven; khinkali from a neighbourhood khinkali house; lobiani (bean bread) and mchadi (cornbread) from market stalls
• Wine: A stop at a wine bar serving natural Georgian wines with explanation of the different styles
• Sweet finishing: Pelamushi (grape must jelly), gozinaki (honey-walnut brittle), or churchkhela as a sweet finale

The Deserter Bazaar: Tbilisi’s essential market

The Vagzalis Bazroba (Deserter Bazaar), located near the central train station, is Tbilisi’s largest and most diverse food market. Unlike the tourist-facing covered market in the Old Town, this is a working neighbourhood market serving the city’s population. It is busiest in the morning (7am–1pm) and on weekends.

Key sections to visit:

• The cheese hall: Dozens of vendors selling fresh and aged Sulguni, Imeruli cheese, Tenili (a string cheese unique to the Tusheti region), fresh cottage-style cheeses, and smoked varieties. Tasting before buying is expected.
• The spice section: Vendors sell pre-mixed Georgian spice blends (khmeli-suneli, adjika paste, dried herbs) alongside individual spices. The scent is extraordinary.
• The bread stalls: Shoti, puri (round loaves), and regional flatbreads baked fresh throughout the morning.
• The wine section: Bottles and 5-litre plastic containers of family-made wine from Kakheti and other regions, often significantly better than their informal packaging suggests.
• The meat section: Whole lambs, pork, fresh offal, and prepared meats. Not for the faint-hearted but fascinating.
• The produce section: Seasonal vegetables, wild herbs, dried fruits, and the pickled and fermented preparations (jonjoli, tkemali, ajika) that appear on every Georgian table.

The Narikala bazaar and Old Town food spots

The smaller bazaar area below Narikala fortress is the most accessible market for visitors based in the Old Town. More tourist-oriented than the Deserter Bazaar, it nonetheless has good vendors selling churchkhela, dried fruit and nuts, local honey, and craft wine.

The streets of the Old Town itself — particularly around the Shardeni pedestrian zone and the lanes south toward Abanotubani — have a concentration of traditional restaurants and wine bars that represent the accessible face of Tbilisi’s food scene. Quality varies; the best advice is to walk further from the main tourist drag before choosing.

Essential Tbilisi food experiences by neighbourhood

Chugureti and Fabrika area

The neighbourhood around the Fabrika creative hub has become Tbilisi’s most interesting contemporary food zone. Natural wine bars, craft coffee shops, concept restaurants doing creative interpretations of Georgian classics, and independent bakeries all cluster here. Best for: wine bars, modern Georgian cuisine, Sunday brunch.

Vera district

A residential neighbourhood with several of Tbilisi’s best traditional Georgian restaurants, mostly serving the local population rather than tourists. Quieter, more authentic, and the food is often better value than the Old Town equivalents. Best for: traditional Georgian lunch, neighbourhood restaurants.

Vake

The leafy upper neighbourhood where Tbilisi’s upper-middle-class lives. Has excellent café and restaurant infrastructure, including some of the city’s best bakeries and specialty coffee shops. Best for: breakfast, speciality coffee, upscale Georgian dining.

Abanotubani and Old Town

The most concentrated tourist food area but also home to some genuinely good traditional restaurants and wine bars. Post-sulfur-bath dining here is a Tbilisi ritual. Best for: wine bars, traditional restaurants, atmospheric dining setting.

The cooking class option

If you want to move beyond eating Georgian food to understanding how it is made, a cooking class with a local Tbilisi family is the deepest food experience available. You shop at a market with your host, cook 4–6 traditional dishes, and eat the results together. The cooking classes guide covers this in full detail.

The must-eat Tbilisi food list

Khinkali (soup dumplings)

The defining Tbilisi food experience. Go to a dedicated khinkali house (there are several excellent ones in the Vera and Chugureti districts) and order by the kilo. The technique: hold by the dough knob, bite a small hole in the side, drink the broth, eat the filling and dough. Leave the knob on the plate (a tallying system). Do not use a fork and knife.

Khachapuri Adjaruli

The boat-shaped bread from Adjara. Find a traditional bakery that makes it fresh — the dough should be light and slightly crispy on the outside, the cheese interior molten and stringy, the egg on top just set from the residual heat. The version served 5 minutes out of the oven is a different dish from one that has been sitting.

Lobiani

Bean-stuffed flatbread: one of the great vegetarian street foods in Georgia. A lobiani from a market stall in the morning, still warm, is deeply satisfying. The bean filling is seasoned with coriander, onion, and adjika; the bread is slightly flaky from being baked in a tonii oven.

Badrijani nigvzit

Aubergine slices grilled or fried, then rolled around a paste of walnut, garlic, onion, marigold, and coriander. A staple of every Georgian table, excellent as a starter or side. At its best when made fresh rather than prepared in advance.

Georgian cheese (Sulguni)

Fresh Sulguni (a brined, mildly acidic, slightly elastic white cheese) is the most important dairy product in Georgian cooking. It appears fried, baked into khachapuri, melted in elarji, or simply eaten with bread and wine. Visit the cheese section of the Deserter Bazaar for the best selection.

Churchkhela

The ubiquitous street snack — walnut or hazelnut strings dipped in thickened grape must and dried into a sausage-like form. The texture is chewy, the flavour intensely grapey with a waxy bitterness from the walnuts. Good churchkhela should be neither too dry nor too sticky.

Georgian wine

Not food, technically, but inseparable from the food experience. Tbilisi’s wine bars are among the best in the world for exploring the country’s indigenous varieties. A glass of skin-contact Rkatsiteli with a plate of pkhali, or a tannic young Saperavi with a plate of mtsvadi, is a combination that makes sense in the way that great regional food and wine pairings always do.

Regional Georgian cuisines in Tbilisi

Tbilisi is the best city in Georgia for sampling all of the country’s regional cuisines in one place. Restaurants specialising in Megrelian, Adjarian, Svan, and Kakhetian food are distributed throughout the city. Our first-time visitors guide has tips on finding the best regional food options.

Frequently asked questions about Tbilisi food tours

How much does a food tour in Tbilisi cost?

Organised food tours range from $25–45 per person for a 2–3 hour walk covering multiple stops and food tastings. Cooking classes run $40–60 per person for a 3–4 hour session including a full meal. Both represent excellent value given the quantity and quality of food included.

Are food tours suitable for vegetarians?

Yes — Georgian food has excellent vegetarian options and any good food tour guide will be able to navigate vegetarian-friendly stops throughout. Pkhali, lobiani, khachapuri, badrijani nigvzit, and many other dishes are naturally vegetarian. Let your guide know your preferences when booking.

What time of day is best for a food tour in Tbilisi?

Morning food tours (starting 9–10am) offer the freshest market produce and the best activity at bakeries and cheese vendors. Afternoon tours (starting 3–5pm) are better for wine bar stops and evening-oriented experiences. Avoid the midday heat of summer for active walking tours.

Is it possible to do a food tour in Tbilisi without a guide?

Yes — the Deserter Bazaar and the Narikala bazaar are accessible independently. The Old Town restaurants are easy to navigate. But a guide adds enormously to the experience: knowing which vendors to go to, understanding what you are tasting, having access to the neighbourhood places that are not signed in English, and getting stories and context that turn eating into a cultural experience.

How spicy is Georgian food?

Traditional Georgian food from central and eastern Georgia (Tbilisi, Kakheti, Kartli) is mildly spiced — garlic, coriander, fenugreek, and marigold dominate rather than chilli. Adjara and Samegrelo have spicier food cultures where adjika (chilli paste) is used more liberally. Ask your guide or the restaurant to indicate which dishes contain significant heat.

Self-guided food tour: the essential Tbilisi food route

If you prefer to explore independently, here is a self-guided route covering the essential Tbilisi food experiences:

Start: Dezerter Bazaar (Vagzali Metro) — Allow 1–2 hours for a thorough walk. Do the full circuit of the market before buying anything: the cheese section (different styles of sulguni, fresh imeruli, aged varieties), the spice vendors (where khmeli suneli and utskho suneli are explained by the vendor in Georgian but understood by pointing and sniffing), the churchkhela sellers (buy multiple varieties for comparison), the bread section (fresh shoti, lavash, mchadi), and the produce section (seasonal and reliable).

Buy: a piece of sulguni from the cheese section, a bag of khmeli suneli from the spice section, a churchkhela in two different flavours, and a piece of fresh shoti bread. Eat the bread and cheese on the walk.

Second stop: A neighbourhood tone bakery — Most Old Town side streets have a tone bakery where you can watch bread being baked against the interior of the clay oven. Buy imeruli khachapuri (the flat cheese bread) directly from the oven for 2–3 GEL. This is Georgia’s most common breakfast.

Third stop: Fabrika courtyard for lunch — Multiple food options including excellent khinkali at dedicated dumpling restaurants. Order 6–8 khinkali per person. Eat them correctly: hold by the dough knob at the top, bite a small hole in the side, drink the broth first, then eat the dumpling (leave the knob).

Fourth stop: Vino Underground (early evening) — The Old Town wine bar for the essential amber wine introduction. Order a flight of three wines: one Kakhetian amber (full-maceration, tannic), one Imeretian amber (lighter, aromatic), and one Saperavi red (Georgia’s great red grape). Ask for the staff’s recommendation on current standout bottles.

Fifth stop: Dinner at G.Vino or Pheasant’s Tears — End the food tour with a proper sit-down dinner at one of the Old Town’s best wine bar-restaurants. Order the full Georgian spread: pkhali, badrijani nigvzit, a khachapuri, and a main of your choice. Ask for the wine pairing suggestion.

This route takes approximately 8 hours if you do all stops thoroughly. It covers the full spectrum of Tbilisi food culture from market to restaurant.

The seasonal dimension of Tbilisi food tours

Georgian food changes significantly by season. What you eat on a tour in April is genuinely different from August:

Spring (April–May): Chakapuli (spring lamb with tarragon) appears on menus — do not miss it. Fresh jonjoli (pickled bladder campion flowers) arrives from Colchis. The Dezerter Bazaar has new-season herbs in abundance: fresh tarragon, dill, coriander, and nettles.

Summer (June–August): Fresh tomatoes and cucumbers from Kakheti are at their best — the combination of ripe tomato, fresh sulguni, and good bread is a perfect summer lunch. Matsoni (Georgian yogurt) is consumed heavily in the heat.

Autumn (September–October): Fresh walnuts arrive in September — new-crop walnuts for walnut paste are noticeably sweeter and less astringent than stored ones. Fresh pomegranates appear in October. The Dezerter Bazaar has its greatest variety of the year.

Winter (November–March): The best season for gozinaki (honey-walnut brittle), badagi (thickened grape must candy), and the heavier winter dishes. Chikhirtma soup (the egg-thickened chicken soup) is particularly good in winter.

Related guides

• Cooking classes in Tbilisi — making Georgian food rather than just eating it
• Street food in Tbilisi — a deeper guide to the Dezerter Bazaar and informal food scene
• Supra feast guide — understanding the Georgian table and supra culture
• Khinkali guide — everything about Georgia’s defining dumpling
• Khachapuri guide — the regional varieties of Georgia’s bread-and-cheese staple

FAQ

Are Tbilisi food tours worth it? For first-time visitors who want a structured introduction to Georgian cuisine, an organised food tour provides excellent value — you taste 8–12 dishes across 4–6 stops in 3–4 hours with a guide who explains context and history. For experienced independent travellers who prefer to explore at their own pace, the self-guided route in this guide achieves similar results at lower cost.

How much does an organised food tour in Tbilisi cost? Organised food tours typically run €30–60 per person including all tastings. Private tours cost more; group tours are at the lower end. The best-rated operators on GetYourGuide provide English-speaking guides with genuine knowledge of Georgian food culture.

Book a Tbilisi local food tasting tour

What is the best area in Tbilisi for food? Abanotubani and the surrounding Old Town streets have the highest density of good restaurants and wine bars. The Vera neighbourhood (around Kostava Street) has the best independent cafes and wine-focused restaurants. The Dezerter Bazaar (Samgori district) is essential for market food and fresh ingredient shopping.

What foods should I try in Tbilisi? The essential list: khinkali (one order of 5, eaten standing at the counter of a good khinkali house), khachapuri Adjaruli (the boat-shaped egg and cheese bread), badrijani nigvzit (walnut-stuffed fried aubergine), pkhali (walnut-herb cold vegetables), churchkhela (walnut candy sold at the bazaar), and a glass of amber wine with the meal. Everything else is a bonus.