World Food Thursdays

Country No. 1: Georgia

 

Date: 09/12/2013

 

Venue: Mimino, Kensington High Street

 

Attendees: Lee, Kimberley, Ben, Ellen, Poppy, Maor

 

Cost: £28 a head

 

Dining on a Monday, flagrantly flaunting the very Thursdayness of World Food Thursdays, proved to be a tricky start to this particular culinary adventure. Surprisingly there are several Georgian restaurants in London, unfortunately the Georgians have clearly taken a strong disliking to Mondays and therefore the majority of them were closed to punters/ adventurers/ people with an insatiable appetite for organised dining.

 

Mimino got the nod by default, perhaps a sign that this wasn’t a true Georgian establishment (a concern that was swiftly allayed when it was clear that only one member of staff could speak English).

 

Mimino is an unassuming underground venue just off High Street Kensington. The décor is simple, with grapes hanging from the ceiling, clearly an open advertisement to try the wine.

 

We swiftly settled into our table. Sadly we were not offered the spectacular King Arthur style round table in the centre of the room. It didn’t take long for Maor to reveal the ace up his sleeve. Not only has there been a large migration of Georgians to Israel (his native country) so he has spent many a night in their company but he had actually visited Georgia fairly recently.

 

Taking Maor as our lead, our Tamada if you like, decisions were made and food and wine was ordered.

 

The Georgians are famous for their wine, purportedly producing wine long before any other country (dating back over 8000 years), and to this day Georgians still make their own wine in cellars underneath their houses. Letting our Georgian expert take the lead a bottle of Kindzarauli – a semi-sweet dark-ruby colour wine with blackberry and dark cherry aromas – was chosen. When the wine arrived our resident Olly Smith cautioned the group that this particular vintage would be quite different from the typical red wine grapes we are used to and different it was. The wine was sweet and almost spicy, a bit like mulled wine, and delicious to boot.

 

Encouraged by Lee to go all out we ordered a hefty amount of starters; the mixed meze platter contained Adjapsandali (aubergines with sweet pepper and tomatoes), Badrifiani (roasted aubergines with walnut sauce), Pkhali (spinach and leek mashed with walnuts and spices which resembled a small falafel), Lobia (red bean salad with walnuts), Georgian Salad (cucumber and tomato) and Imeruli Khachapuri (round bread stuffed with cheese).

 

As if that wasn’t enough we also ordered Suluguni (cheese), Adjaruli (boat shaped bread with cheese and egg), more Imeruli, and some Lobio (red beans steamed with Georgian spices)

 

The starters arrived in waves, first the cold then the hot. The bread was the uncontested winner, doughy like a pizza and covered in the delicious cheese. Most special was the Adjaruli which positively oozed with cheese and the egg that was baked on top.

 

Having dived into the starters with unabated enthusiasm members of the party were clearly flagging, fearing that Lee’s encouragement to go large on starters could come back to bite them when the mains arrived.

 

Having failed to heed the mumbled warning that there was no beef we were pretty surprised when the waitress arrived with three plates of pork Khinkali (giant steamed dumplings) but after a bit of confusion one helping was sent back – for the best given the cries of “no more” from some of the group.

 

The other mains ordered were Borsht (beetroot soup), Chakhokbili (chicken stew with mash) and Mtsvadi (chicken skewers). Mimino is not a vegetarian-friendly restaurant.

 

We dug into the mains with renewed vigour, and it’s safe to say they were all delicious, if a bit basic.

 

Georgian Facts:

 

• The Georgians have been producing wine for over 8000 years

• Joseph Stalin was born in Georgia

• The Georgian alphabet is unique to Georgia, and does not distinguish between upper and lower case

• Georgian meals are communal affairs; the host takes the role of the Tamada and is responsible for making toasts for each round of drinks. The toasts are typically used to give thanks for things that are positive in the lives of the guests and are intended to be as sincere and sentimental as possible