There was a time in Istanbul when we had to go to a small international bus station in the Aksaray neighborhood to find Georgian food. There were a few different eateries in the area, but usually what brought us there was Cafe Niko, a shabby hole-in-the-wall up a flight of rickety stairs in a corner of the station, which generally catered to Georgians about to embark on a two-day bus trip back to their country.
The food was decent, the service was surly at best, the atmosphere was shady (we and others had our phones stolen by other customers in the middle of dinner). But above all, they sold chacha, the flagship Georgian spirit distilled from the remnants of grapes used for wine. This clear, fiery liquor packed a punch but was pure and clean, though because this restaurant closed so early, we would either end up drinking too much too quickly, or buying plastic repurposed water bottles to go, which had the tendency to produce wild nights ending in disarray.
Then a few years ago, a new restaurant called Galaktion, opened in Cihangir (before relocating to Asmalımescit), offering Georgian staples in a modern environment where theft or feeling the need to imbibe rapidly before closing time was out of the picture. They have thrived in the area and become popular among locals and tourists alike. Among the founders of Galaktion was Nino Fins, who is from Tbilisi but has lived in Turkey since 1997.
While also running a textile business in Osmanbey, Fins left Galaktion and opened her new restaurant, Tiflisi, on Baruthane Avenue in Kurtuluş in December of 2023. The building was once home to Marinee Kaburga, one of our Best Bites of 2021, which has since moved to Kurtuluş Avenue. A longtime Kurtuluş resident herself, Fins has quickly added to the rich culinary culture of our beloved neighborhood with this offering. The food reminds us of meals we’ve enjoyed in Tbilisi. It doesn’t hurt that Fins’s experienced crew of five are all Georgians who have lived in Turkey for years.
“There has to be at least one Georgian chef [in the kitchen]. A foreigner can’t maintain the taste and the spice. They can learn, but our spices are different. We even import our cheeses from [Georgia],” Fins said, referring to sulguni and imeruli, two integral Georgian cheeses used in their khachapuri, one of the most beloved Georgian dishes (and not dissimilar to the cheesy, buttery, egg yolk-laden oven-baked pide from the northeastern Black Sea region of Turkey).
On our first visit, we had to order the classics: khinkali, delicious boiled dumplings shaped like a chef’s hat and stuffed with spiced ground beef and broth. We also went for shkmeruli, a laborious but deeply tasty dish of fried chicken simmered in a garlicky cream sauce and topped with pomegranate seeds. Again, we were transported back to the dimly-lit spots of Tbilisi that captured our hearts and stomachs.
Fins’s family originally came from the mountains of the Caucasus before settling in Tbilisi and then establishing a farm in Kakheti, the country’s eastern region famed for its wine. Many of the ingredients in the kitchen at Tiflisi come from that farm, as well as the strong chacha.
“Chacha, homemade wine, cornflour, barbunya beans…we get it all from there,” Fins said of her family farm.
In the region, Georgia possesses a cuisine that is one of a kind. While the food of Turkey, Armenia, and Azerbaijan share much in common, Georgian food is completely unique – no small feat considering the influences of empires and neighboring powers throughout its history, including the Persians, Ottomans, and Russians. The spices, herbs, and flavors are unlike those found in the neighboring countries, and the most important, which is rarely found and used in Turkey, is cilantro.
“Cilantro is our mother spice,” Fins said, adding that purple basil, tarragon, peppergrass, and oregano are also among the essential Georgian herbs and spices. Cilantro is to Georgia what parsley is to Turkey: found in just about every dish.
When we asked Fins what her favorite Georgian dish was, she first paused in light of the difficult question, but then quickly responded with lobio, a brilliantly rich stew of beans spiked with walnuts and cilantro. She added that her favorite type of khachapuri is the one stuffed with lobiani.
When we asked her thoughts on Kurtuluş, where she has lived for years, she says the reason she has even stayed in Istanbul is because of the neighborhood. She waxed poetic on the neighborly relations and the impeccable small business culture that defines this special place.
During the dinner rush, Tiflisi was packed and the kitchen crew was fighting to churn out the orders, which they did with grace. Fins graciously treated us to several shots of chacha from her family farm in Kakheti, which created an instant and comforting buzz. We ended up having an extended conversation with the women dining next to us who originally came from Russia, Belarus, and Georgia, but have lived in Istanbul for years and all spoke fluent Turkish. Our common reason for being there was the khinkali, khachapuri, and chacha, but due to the pleasant conversation we left feeling like we were at a dinner party held by friends rather than a restaurant.
By the time we left, it was well after ten in the evening and the dinner rush, which lasted for hours, had finally slowed to a halt, much to the relief of the kitchen crew. We stepped out onto the street to a drizzly, bitter night but the chacha, food, and conversation had warmed our body and soul.
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