Mixed bag

Georgia // 18 Voznesensky Propekt // Tel: 571 7839 // Menu in Russian and English // Dinner for three without alcohol 1,920 ($60)

By Matt Brown

Staff Writer

Published: January 16, 2009 (Issue # 1440)

Russia’s fractious political and economic relations with its former Soviet territories are much in the news with the ongoing gas dispute with Ukraine and, most bitterly, last summer’s war with the tiny Caucasus nation of Georgia. But while such disputes threaten conflict between Russia and its neighbors, ordinary people are bound by a shared cultural heritage — and nowhere is this clearer than when it comes to food.

An unassuming new Georgian cafe-bistro that opened last June, before the Russia-Georgia War in August, proves the point — although with mixed results. Packed over the Christmas and New Year holidays, the place — simply called Georgia — attracts customers with its low-key interior and straightforward menu of Georgian cuisine’s greatest hits.

A dark pink, burgundy and beige decor is a little shabby and the manner of setting tables with shot glasses is old-fashioned but this is a place where lapses like a television on the wall and the ghost of a wine-stain on the carpet will be forgiven if the food and service is good.

The waiter, though hesitant and confused sometimes by the names of Georgian dishes — a bit of a mouthful in all ways — was polite and friendly, without being cloying. The meal, however, showed an astonishing range from the quite excellent to the almost inedible. Wandering into this culinary minefield is not for the feint-hearted.

Georgian cuisine’s most famous and perhaps simplest dish — shashlyk, a shish kebab grilled on coals — was inexcusably prepared at Georgia. A small amount of tough and possibly out-of-date pieces of chicken (220 rubles, $7) seemed to have been, shockingly, deep-fried in cheap oil and served bone dry with a minimum of garnish. A lobio salad of red beans of onion (160 rubles, $5), another famed dish, was disappointingly bland. Odzhahuri, an often hearty mix of roast meat and potatoes served with lemon wedges (290 rubles, $9), was nothing special here.

So far, so bad. But other dishes were pleasing enough: a large, well-toasted khatchapuri po-Adzharsky cheese bread (250 rubles, $7) was as good as any in the city. A satsivi — cold chicken served in a nutty cream sauce — was refreshing and well made (200 rubles, $6). And there was nothing wrong with the plump, floury lavash bread served on the side.

How odd then that Georgia suddenly springs surprises with dishes so delicious that it is hard to believe they were made in the same kitchen by the same hands. Two attractively served khinkali, deep-fried meat parcels, were crunchy and packed with tasty morsels (100 rubles, $3.15). A chilled stew of carrots, eggplant and onion called Adjapsandali was spicy and almost South Asian in presentation — covered in fresh parsly and served in a clay dish. Finally, eggplant slices, fried to almost melting point and wrapped around dollops of creamy, walnut pate, balanced and toyed with their flavors and avoided the trap that often befalls this dish — overdoing the oil (160 rubles, $5).

At Georgia, whose large street-sign proudly announces the restaurant in a design that features the Georgian flag (white with a red cross), a strange and contradictory picture emerges — much like Russia and its relationship to its former subjects.