Best Khinkali Restaurants in Tbilisi
When you visit Georgia you have to eat Khinkali, a national dish which tastes fantastic. Khinkali are dumplings which are stuffed with meat or vegetables (usually mushrooms or potatoes). In Tbilisi there are a lot of restaurants where you can eat tasty traditional handmade Khinkali (and other georgian dishes). I wanted to find the best ones and visited top rated Khinkali restaurants. Here are my reviews.
Klike’s Khinkali
From outside the Klike’s Khinkali looks like an entrance to a nightclub with its red neon sign on top of the door. Like a lot of restaurants in Tbilisi, Klike’s Khinkali is in a cellar. You go down and enter a small but well decorated room with a bunch of tables and a counter. When I was there there were not a lot of guests so the service staff served me friendly and very fast.
Order - In this Khinkali restaurant it is possible to order less than 5 pieces of one type. That's great, because I could try a lot of different dumplings. What I ordered: 2x beef, 2x mushrooms, 1 potato and sulguni cheese. Every filling has a different shape so it is easy to know which one it is. They were served hot and all of them tasted really good. The beef was very flavorful and the mushrooms were a little bit spicy.
Price - The restaurant is cheap. Most of the dumplings cost 0,99 Lari (just the beef one is 1,20 Lari). I ate 5 Khinkali and had one georgian beer. It was enough for me. If you are very hungry you can order of course more pieces. My bill was 12 Lari including the beer.
Review - It’s a cozy small place in Tbilisi which specializes in serving Khinkali. I liked the flavor of all the dumplings. I could order less than 5 pieces of one type and the staff was very friendly. I can highly recommend this restaurant.
| Address | 1 Shio Chitadze St, Tbilisi 0108, Georgia (➤ view on Google Maps) |
| Opening hours | Daily 11 AM – 11 PM (Tuesday 11 AM – 10 PM) |
| Minimum Khinkali of one type | starts from 1 piece per type |
| Price | starts from 0,99 Lari |
How to eat a Khinkali
If you order the dumplings they will bring you a knife and fork, especially when you are a tourist. But actually you eat Khinkali with your hands. You grab it where the dough is knotted and make a small bite. Then you suck the juice out of Khinkali. After that you eat the rest of it, besides the dough knot where you hold it. It’s kind of tricky not to spill the juice everywhere when you do it the first time, but once you figure it out you don’t want to use a knife and fork anymore. When you eat it with your hands you won’t lose the yummy juice.
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Zodiaqo
The restaurant offers some tables to sit outside but most of the places are inside. Compared to Klike’s Khinkali this place is bigger and offers much more tables. The interior contains some art paintings which is nice. It was well visited, also from locals. But it was kind of a loud atmosphere.
Order - Besides the Khinkalis the Zodiaqo restaurant offers other georgian dishes. But the Khinkali are the most popular. I was a little bit disappointed that you can not mix the different dumplings. You have to take at least 5 pieces of one type. As a “solo eater” I just ordered one type. I chose the specialty, the “branded Khinkali”. They are not cooked like the usual ones but fried (or just cooked in the oven, I’m not sure) . They were filled with traditional beef and tasted fantastic. It was also easy to eat them with the hand because the dough was “stable”.
Price - For the branded Khinkalis I paid 1,45 Lari. These dumplings are the most expensive on the menu but totally worth it. In total with a glass of beer my bill was 13,48 Lari.
Review - If you don’t mind a bit louder surrounding and if you are curious about the “branded Khinkali” you should definitely visit this restaurant.
| Address | 6 Gia Chanturia St, Tbilisi, Georgia (➤ view on Google Maps) |
| Opening hours | Daily 11 AM – 12 PM |
| Minimum Khinkali of one type | starts from 5 piece per type |
| Price | starts from 1 Lari |
Pasanauri
If you google Khinkali Tbilisi you will find for sure the Pasanauri restaurants. They are very popular and have a lot of positive ratings. Enough reason for me to check it out by myself.
In Tbilisi there are 4 Pasanauri Restaurants. I visited the one at Rustaveli Avenue for lunch. When you enter the restaurant the first impression is “wow that’s a lot of wood”. Every table is separated with semi transparent wood walls. For those who love privacy for sure highly appreciated.
Order - I ordered 5 Khinkali and a local beer. Also this time I could not choose a variation of a different fillings, I had to take at least 5 pieces of one type. I choose the “Exclusive Khinkali”. They are meat Khinkali with special spices I assume. Really yummy, no complaints. Service and friendliness of the waitress could have been better. But I know this depends on individual persons and moods of the day, so it will not affect my review results.
Price - The Pasanauri restaurant is one of the cheapest Khinkali restaurants. Every piece costs 1 Lari, even for the ones with beef, which are usually a bit more expensive. In total I paid 9,79 Lari, including again a glass of local beer.
Review - very tasty and cheap, but maybe depending on which restaurant you go, there could be some improvements in service.
| Address | Alexander Griboedov St, Tbilisi, Georgia (➤ view on Google Maps) |
| Opening hours | Daily 12 AM – 11 PM |
| Minimum Khinkali of one type | starts from 5 piece per type |
| Price | starts from 0,80 Lari |
How to make Khinkali
Do you want to cook Khinkali by yourself? Watch this video and make your own dumpings!
Khinkali House on Rustaveli
When I arrived with my motorbike at the Khinkali House at Rustaveli I was first wondering if they are open. All the windows are covered with curtains so you can’t see inside. But lucky me, it seems like it is part of the concept and the restaurant was open. When I entered the room I was surprised by the atmosphere. All windows covert with curtains, big chandeliers hanging from the ceiling and just big round tables with round grey fabric benches. Very different from the restaurants I visited so far. Definitely not made for “solo eaters” like me. I assume usually you come here as a big group.
Order - On the menu you can find all famous georgian dishes and of course Khinkalis. The minimum of one type is 3 pieces. That’s good. At the last two restaurants it was 5, so I’m happy to order two different types. Khinkali “kalakuri” and Khinkali with mushrooms. Order did take about 10 mins and they were served at different plates. The dumplings have different shapes depending on the filling like in the Klike’s Khinkali restaurant.
Price - The price is 1 Lari for the dumplings with meat, vegetarian ones are really cheap,starting from 0,60 Lari for the potatoe filling. Together with a glass of water (true, ne beer this time ;-)) I paid 6,88 Lari.
Review - The taste was good but I had the feeling that there was less filling than in the other restaurants where I have been. Also the atmosphere I liked more at the other places.
| Address | 37 Shota Rustaveli Ave, Tbilisi 0150, Georgia (➤ view on Google Maps) |
| Opening hours | Google says 24h but I’m not sure of that… |
| Minimum Khinkali of one type | starts from 3 piece per type |
| Price | starts from 0,60 Lari |
Hinkali Factory
The Hinkali Factory is a very modern restaurant (I’m not sure if it’s even a restaurant chain) which is located between 9 April Garden and Orbeliani Square in Tbilisi. It’s very nice that they offer a lot of tables outside, so you enjoy the sun while eating very delicious Khinkali dumplings.
Order - The Hinkali Factory is the only restaurant so far where you can build your own Khinkali. That is very cool. First you choose your dough (white or whole grain), than the filling and finally the cook type (boiled, pan fried, deep fried). I chose the usual white dough. I was afraid that the whole grain one would taste like whole grain noodles, which I don’t like much (does anyone do?!). My filling was Tushuri (Lamb & Beef, Mountain Savory), cooking type “boiled”. Also at this restaurant you have to pick at least 5 pieces, I was hungry so I ordered 6.
Price - The prices at Hinkali Factory are more expensive than at the other restaurants I have been. I paid 1,40 Lari for a piece. But that is ok considering that you can build your own one and this is kind of special.
Review - The taste and the filling volume of the dumplings were good. If you don’t mind the higher prices and want to try some new “Khinkali style” then it’s the place to go.
| Address | 2 Pkhovi St T’bilisi, 0102, Georgia (➤ view on Google Maps) |
| Opening hours | Daily 11 AM – 11.30 PM |
| Minimum Khinkali of one type | starts from 5 piece per type |
| Price | starts from 0,85 Lari |
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