Almost every visitor to Georgia arrives knowing one khachapuri: the boat of dough filled with molten cheese, with a raw egg yolk and a lump of butter dropped in at the table. It is genuinely magnificent and it is a regional speciality from one corner of the country, not the national dish. Georgia has at least eight versions of cheese bread, each belonging somewhere, and the everyday ones that Georgians actually eat are flatter, plainer and considerably better as food.
The regional versions
Imeruli, from Imereti: round, flat, cheese sealed inside, and the everyday standard.
Megruli, from Samegrelo: the same with more cheese melted on top, richer and the restaurant favourite.
Adjaruli, from Adjara: the open boat with the egg and butter, from the Black Sea coast.
Guruli, from Guria: folded into a crescent with egg inside, traditional around Christmas.
Ossuri or khabizgina: filled with potato and cheese together, heavy and excellent in cold weather.
Penovani: made with puff pastry, square, sold as a street snack in the cities.
The close relatives
Lobiani, filled with spiced beans instead of cheese, which is vegetarian and superb.
Kubdari, from Svaneti, filled with spiced meat, which is a different dish that sits on the same shelf.
Mchadi, cornbread, served alongside cheese rather than with it inside.
Achma, layered like a lasagne of pasta and cheese, from the coast.
Tonis puri, plain bread baked on the wall of a clay oven, which is the base of everything.
Where to eat which
Adjaruli, on the coast in and around Batumi, where it belongs and where it is best.
Imeruli and Megruli, everywhere, and best from a bakery rather than a restaurant.
Lobiani, from bakeries, hot, and one of the cheapest good meals in the country.
Ossuri, in the mountains and in the east, particularly in cold weather.
Penovani, from street counters in Tbilisi as a walking snack.
Kubdari, in Svaneti, where it is the local speciality.
Practical notes
Bakeries beat restaurants on price and freshness for the flat versions.
They sell out and bake again; the afternoon batch is as good as the morning one.
Cash at small bakery counters.
Cheese is salty, so drink water and order something green alongside.
One Adjaruli between two, without exception.
Reheating does not work; eat it the day it is baked.
Where this fits in a Georgia trip
Daily, in one form or another, and it will be cheaper than anything else you eat.
For how a Georgian meal is structured and what else to order, our guide to Georgian food covers the ground.
For the other dish with a method attached, our guide to eating khinkali covers the technique.
And for the coast where the boat version comes from and how it compares with the capital, our Batumi and Tbilisi comparison covers the choice.
The short version
Eat the flat Imeruli and Megruli versions from bakeries rather than restaurants, hot, wrapped in paper, for a fraction of the price. Try lobiani, the bean filled one, which is at least as good and vegetarian. Save Adjaruli for the coast where it belongs, order one between two people, and stir the egg and butter in the moment it lands rather than after the photograph. Then order something green, because none of this is a vegetable.
