Tbilisi is a city of bread. This staple food has a permanent residency on every kitchen sideboard and a space on every modern table, and has been consumed in Georgia since the beginning of the 6th millennium BC. The demand for fresh bread has produced bakeries throughout the city; multiple in each area and sometimes as many as three along one street. A Tibilsian walking down the street carrying puri (bread) tucked under their arm should really be as emblematic as the baguette-bearing Parisian.
When on the hunt for a fresh loaf, looking out for the sign თონე (tone), pronounced tone-ay, which is the name for the traditional clay ovens used, or following your nose can lead you to any number of sliding windows exuding a warm rush of fermented air. Some bakeries are subterranean, their small windows down at street level, while others have tantalizing displays to catch the eye of passersby. But not all bread is created equal in Tbilisi, where each baker has their own take on tradition and some versions are more successful than others. There are many puri that emerge dense, floppy, or flavorless. The bakeries we’ve shared below offer the best chance of buying a small slice of heaven.
The Most Flavor: Deda’s Puri
Opened in 2021, Deda’s Puri, which means “Mother’s Bread,” is a tone in the Marjanishvili neighborhood which produces a puri with a perfectly salt-flecked crust in the traditional rounded oblong shape. The delicate touch of salt comes from the salted water flicked onto the walls of the oven to keep the dough from sticking while it bakes. The balance of salt in the water gives these puri more flavor than the average loaf and combined with a fluffy interior, they are the perfect accompaniment to mop up the juices of a Georgian salad. And that’s not all that the shop offers. “We make bread, lobiani with beans, and everything is prepared here in this oven,” explains baker Irina Dadiani. “We also make nazuki, a sweet bread. It’s usually an Easter bread.” The nazuki is made with cinnamon, sugar, milk and raisins, producing a dense, bean-shaped loaf with a flavor reminiscent of a British hot-cross bun. If you’re lucky enough to pass by the village of Surami in western Georgia you can have your pick of fresh nazuki from any one of the roadside stands, but it is hard to find in Tbilisi outside of the Easter season.
Timing your visit to Deda’s Puri can be a little tricky. “Sometimes we’re open twenty-four hours per day, sometimes nine a.m. to nine p.m.; it just depends,” says Irina. Either way, while you’re there, we also suggest popping into the Ilia Chavchavadze museum across the street to learn more about one of the most important literary figures in Georgia.
The Most Indulgent: Leila’s Tone
For a puri that’s a little bigger or a little cheesier, Leila Tshiashvili’s tone near Saarbrucken Square boasts soft shoti and the flakiest layered khachapuri. Shoti are the large, eye-shaped loaves that are often seen being transported in generous stacks across the city. Run by Leila herself, the tone has been there for over two decades. “When the Soviet Union collapsed it became difficult to live here, so we decided to open up the tone to make money and do business,” she says. “It’s been here for twenty-three years and Zaza, our baker, has worked here for twenty years!” Customers who peep through the little window while waiting in line may even see Zaza expertly flicking baked goods out of the tone oven.
The layered khachapuri are substantial square packages of puff pastry encasing gooey Imeretian cheese. “Layered khachapuri is our specialty. We use an Imeretian cheese in our khachapuri and make the dough in the bakery,” says Leila. Using puff pastry instead of dough, and a very lightly salted Imeretian cheese makes this layered Khachapuri flakier and less salty than the typical stuffed khachapuri. Each of these carbohydrate-and-dairy delights costs only 3.80 gel, the equivalent of US $1.43.
The Most Unique: Nino’s Tone
Hidden on a side street in Mtatsminda is one of the most unusual tone in Tbilisi. The bakery has been there for 20 years and the exterior is covered in a three-dimensional stucco mural of Tbilisi architecture and landmarks rising through twisting vines laden with grapes. “The stucco inside and outside was done by the owner, Nino,” explains baker Zura Gikorashvili. “It is a traditional decoration, which is why there are grapes.” If you ask politely, you may be able to peep down through the window to see the grape-covered vines spreading across the walls of the bakery itself. Far in the back corner is a self portrait of the illustrious artist.
Nino’s specializes in just one type of shoti: the elongated crescent traditionally from Kakheti, and, luckily for anyone hungry after their climb up Mtatsminda hill, it costs only 1.50 gel, the equivalent of US $0.57. Luckier still: the tone is open 24 hours a day, with the exception of a small break at 4 p.m. to distribute bread to local customers.
The Most Ideological: Graminea
Graminea, a unique project focused on using exclusively Georgian wheat to bake their selection of loaves and cakes, opened its physical location in November 2023 in Sololaki. In 2022, 78 percent of wheat flour in Georgia came from Russia, so using native Georgian wheat is an unusual approach. Head baker and co-founder Salome Zakaraia, like so many around the world, started baking sourdough during the Covid-19 pandemic and launched a business in February 2023, catering to restaurants.
At the shop, the team now makes a wide variety of breads with options that change almost every day. “We have twenty-two types of bread we sell regularly, but including the types we rarely bake it’s twenty-eight [in total]. Whole grain, white bread, wheat, buckwheat, chia, oat…In all of these mixed [breads], like buckwheat, [we still use] thirty percent Georgian wheat,” explains co-founder Natia Kaladarishvili. Graminea is a bakery with a purpose. “Think globally, act locally is kind of what we do,” Natia tells us. “So the main goal behind all of this is very specific – to remove Russian wheat from the market. So we are only using Georgian wheat.” Buying one of their loaves or sweet treats is an opportunity to sample endemic Georgia wheat varieties and support a 100-percent Georgian enterprise.
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