Gudauri.
Later that day, we looked for a place to eat something light and some drink some wine. Gudauri, being a beautiful but sleepy village, had little to suggest in term of restaurants open late. We found a cozy looking place to sit at.
We ordered two glasses of red Saperavi wine, which turned out decent, but sweeter than I prefer.
Baked mushrooms with sulguni cheese served in ketsi (clay bowl) - I had doubts about this traditional dish, while I sure love baked cheeses and mushrooms at any form, the dish sounded one dimensional. At least this rendition of the dish profed me right, the mushroom, baked enough to be meaty but not browned, where OK, the melted sulguni cheese, chewy and salty, somewhere between halloumi, feta and fresh mozzarella, didn't provide complexity of flavor or difference in texture to make this into an interesting dish. I couldn't help but to compare it to a dish that I like, made of portobello mushrooms, filled with ricotta blended with toasted nuts (usually walnuts or hazelnuts), then baked on a tray so that moisture evaporates and they can brown. Thinking about it, it whould fit well in a Georgian meal.
Nigvzit Badrijani - fried eggplants stuffed with a semi-coarse, yet creamy, walnut paste, flavored with garlic. It was sadly served near freezing, which I found muted all the flavors, other than the eggplants inherent bitterness, and made it unpalatable. A little creativity was in order and the eggplants found their way directly into the hot mushroom dish to take a sauna. They shortly became warm and mostly enjoyable, if a little moist with mushroom juice.
So while the food wasn't impressive, we still enjoyed the atmosphere and the view.
