After finding a place to stay the night, and having a short rest, we asked the lovely homeowner for a recommendation of a stroll we can take before nightfall. She pointed us to a nearby grove and a hill-side church.
It was more than a short stroll, but given the chill weather and crisp air, is suited us just right.
When we returned, we were offered tea and cakes (the later we passed) and after grabbing some warmer clothes, proceeded to go out to the town.
It's a quite place, the short main street mostly populated by restaurants and a few grocers with cozy stores.
We found a pleasant restaurant to eat dinner at.
We ordered a decent dry Saperavi wine, and a refreshing local lager.
Khinkali, flavored with aromatic herbs, but I was told the filling wasn't as pleasantly soupy as some we had before.
Pkhali plate.
- Spinach and walnuts pkhali is a classic, mildly garlicky and not very creamy.
- Nadugi is made of farmers cheese and mint. It could have been more strongly flavored, overall our least favored.
- Eggplant pkhali was made of coarsely chopped fried eggplant, which seemed not to work as well in this form (compared to a smoother texture). But was otherwise delicious, very toasty and flavorful.
- Pepper wrapped pkhali had a mildly sweet filling of walnuts with garlic and either a small amount of tomato, or juices from the peppers soaked into it. Very reminiscent of muhammara. The sweetness of the fries/roasted pepper and tartness from some wine vinegar, worked great with the creamy nutty filling. This was one of the tastiest things I had on the trip.
- Crisp and warm mchadi (corn bread), was tender from the inside and much more pleasant than the one we had yesterday.
Chakhragina, which I missunderstood as a khachapuri-like pastry, filled with beetroot, tarragon and cheese, turned out to be filled with chard instead of beets. The dough, somewhat pale, wasn't as flaky or crisp as the lobiani we had earlier this day. The filling was also a bit disappointing, I'm OK with chard, but doesn't love it. The cheese and tarragon both being mild and muted. I still think that a pastry filled with beetroots, cheese and tarragon will surely be a winner, I might give it a chance, tough I might opt for filo dough.
The portions were so big. We took with us the leftover pkhali. They were too tasty to toss, and won't require reheating.
