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Georgia has an array of fantastic, unique dishes. Some, like khachapuri and khinkali, have become known outside of the country. Others are lesser-known but are every bit as noteworthy. One of my favorite dishes in Georgia is kubdari, which is from the Svaneti region.
What is Kubdari?
Kubdari is a meat pie. The dish consists of risen dough filled with beef or pork (or a combination of the two), onion, garlic, and spices. The meat is pounded to tenderize it, and then it is chopped, not ground.
The spice mixture is the sort of thing that is a closely guarded secret in family recipes. It often contains some combination of cumin, coriander, dill, pepper, blue fenugreek, and Svanetian salt. Svanetian salt itself contains many of the above herbs & spices and is also a family secret. I brought some home with me since it was so good.
Once baked, the pie is cut into slices, like a pizza.
While there are some restaurants in Tbilisi that serve kubdari, the best place to find it is in its homeland of Svaneti, a mountainous region in northern Georgia.
This national dish of the Svans is included on the Intangible cultural heritage of Georgia list.
Kubdari Making Demo in Svaneti
On our Svaneti tour, we had the opportunity to see a cooking demonstration at Guesthouse Lali. The guesthouse is a short drive outside of the town of Mestia, nestled in the beautiful mountains.
Our host, Lali Nikoloziani, teaches cooking masterclasses & welcomes visitors to her home. All of their products are natural, organic, and family-produced.
Lali showed us the steps for making kubdari. It’s actually pretty simple.
First, she takes fresh beef with a bit of fat on it & cuts it into small pieces. She adds onion, garlic, and local herbs from Svaneti to the beef. The smell from all of these combined got me hungry, even though, at this point, it was just raw meat.
The mixture also includes two types of paprika (one red, one yellow), red pepper, and homemade Svanetian salt.
This mixture is then formed into large balls.
Lali combines flour, water, salt, and yeast for the dough.
The next step was a bit of a surprise. Since kubdari is round and flat, I had assumed that it was made by taking a layer of dough, topping it with the meat filling, and then putting another layer of dough on top.
Instead, balls of dough are rolled and flattened, then topped with meat. The edges of the dough are pulled around the meat and pinched at the top. The finished product is then flattened out to become kubdari. The process for some varieties of khachapuri is similar but with cheese instead of meat.
After Lali gave us a cooking demonstration of kubdari and several other Georgian dishes, it was time to head into the guesthouse for the feast that was awaiting us, of course, including the kubdari we’d just seen prepared. For the next couple of hours, we enjoyed a Georgian supra, complete with several chacha toasts.
Eating Kubdari in Svaneti
I was lucky enough to eat kubdari several times in Svaneti. While all were excellent (how can you go wrong with meat stuffed inside bread?), I quickly learned that kubdari fresh out of the oven is best. Freshly baked kubdari has dough that is both pillowy and crusty, and the chunks of meat provide just enough fat and chew without being soggy. As the dish cools, it loses some of these best qualities.
On my first night, we arrived at the Hotel Gistola, famished after the arduous journey on snowy roads from Tbilisi. I ordered kubdari as well as chvishtari, a dish made from cornmeal stuffed with cheese and fried.
Both were every bit as good as they sound. Hearty dishes like these are perfect for a cold, snowy night.
On our final full day in Svaneti, we took a day trip to Ushguli, one of the highest settlements in Europe.
Given the elevation, it was even snowier than Mestia. After spending some time walking around and taking in the views, we headed to a local restaurant for lunch.
As is typical in Georgia, we had another feast, including kubdari. Their fresh-out-of-the-oven kubdari was one of my favorites, thanks to its excellent spice mixture.
Kubdari might seem like a straightforward dish, but the touches of the custom spice mixes make each one special.
If you visit Georgia, it’s impossible not to eat well. While dishes like khachapuri & khinkali should be on your radar, be sure to also find some kubdari.
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Here are some other great Tbilisi tours & activities.
For Georgian wine experiences, I recommend taking a day trip to Kakheti from Tbilisi. Also, you can visit the many wine bars in Tbilisi.
If wine isn’t your thing, Tbilisi also has excellent cocktail bars & craft beer bars & breweries. Be sure to try the local spirit known as chacha!
Need a place to stay? Check out these Tbilisi hotel options. I enjoyed my stay at the Moxy Tbilisi, and the Radisson Blu Iveria Hotel is another excellent option.
Note: My visit to Mestia was part of a Traverse press trip sponsored by Visit Georgia. All opinions are 100% my own.
