Georgian STREET FOOD in KUTAISI - Kebabs & Nazuki + Attractions | Georgia

This is one of my favorite kebabs ever. The freshness, the sauce. What's up everyone, this is David Hoffman from David's Bit. And we're coming at you from the road in the beautiful Republic of Georgia. Today I'm so excited because I am headed to one of the largest cities in the western side of Georgia. It's called Kutaisi. There we're going to explore, see the main square, you know, church. We're going to eat some kebabs. But right now we're stopping at a famous village for some sweet bread. Tim, what is this? So this is the town of Sudami. It's basically exactly halfway between Tbilisi and the west. So at this halfway point people stop and they buy sweet bread. And after this we go up over the pass and into west Georgia. And there's a lot of women selling sweet bread on the road right here. You can see like 20 vendors. But the one you have to go to is this one. This one specifically because it's the most famous one and it's the yummiest. Sergo is the name of the shop. Oh man. There's like raisins in here, right? Yeah. Nice and fluffy. A little char on the outside. So you can see raisins. Let's open it up. Oh, super sweet. Oh, it's phenomenal. So this is stuff you have to do on the way to Kutaisi. It's only like, you know, so it's halfway there, right? So you still have like 90 more minutes. Something like that. Must try. Let me get some of that. Oh, super nice. That's the best part. It's super fresh, right? They literally just did it. Baked in the tuna. Nothing like a tandoor. Nothing like it. Absolutely. Let's go. When you visit Georgia, you're going to get a lot of bread. Always eat the bread from the tuna. Always. The best. So besides the sweet bread, they also knit hammocks. They sell hammocks on the side of the road. They also prepare a special kind of chewing gum from pine resin, which I really like. I have a tradition. I chew it every time I drive this pass. So this tunnel is the official boundary between east and west Georgia. We've just crossed into west Georgia, the region of Imereti. So that's it. Once you cross that long tunnel, obviously you went through a huge mountain. You're in west Georgia. Amazing. And we're going to be out here for the next four or five days exploring Kudaisi and then we're down to Batumi. I'm excited. I'm pumped. Can't wait. I need some food right away. I heard about these incredible kebabs. There's a huge line outside the door in Kudaisi for this one place. It's kebabs and beer. That's it, right? Yeah. Well, you have two options. You have kebab and beer or you can have kebab and soda. So Tim was telling me that this side of the country is a little warmer and the landscape is very different. Instead of it being like valleys and huge mountains, it's more like hilly, right? So, you know, small hills, you have villages here and there, and right now they're expanding the highway. That's why there is a bit of a traffic jam. But now it's cleared up and we're going to make it straight over there roughly in around an hour. Hopefully we see something else along the road. If not, straight to eat. All right, so we're coming into Kudaisi. There's two different sides to Kudaisi. There's a more built-up modern area, which was built by the Soviets when they made Kudaisi into an industrial center. And there's the older historical part, which is nestled between a couple different hills. So we're climbing up one of the hills on the backside, and then we'll come down to the center. So it's taken around 90 minutes to get here. A bunch of traffic because right now they're doing a lot of construction. They're building a few new roads. And, yeah, I'm excited. I can't wait. I'm really hungry today. We've barely eaten, just some bread and water. Whoo! It's hot. It's really hot out here. Summer in Kudaisi, get ready for scorcher. That's true. It can get really hot out here. First impression of Kudaisi, it reminds me of, like, Valiko Tarnovo in Bulgaria. Obviously not their fortress, but around Valiko Tarnovo. It's a very similar style, right? Like 19th century buildings, really colorful. Some of them obviously have been restored. Some are original like that, like bricks. Look at this blue house. We're coming down to the main square right now, and we're going to check it out. So the name of the kebab place is Bikentia's Kebaberia. And it's just here on this side of the historical center. And this is the main square of Kudaisi. So what's the story behind this fountain? So, like, here we have, like, some different animals, and these are all replicas of different archaeological things that have been found from ancient times in Georgia. There's also, like, some motifs of the Golden Fleece, which reflects the legend of the Golden Fleece, which happened here in Georgia. Many people don't know that, but that was Georgia's land of the Golden Fleece. Okay. So that's the square. Over here, that's the theater over here. Okay. Over here, you have the headquarters of a bank. Here's the Central Park. Super nice place to relax on a hot day in Kudaisi. Okay, guys, let's go eat. I cannot wait for these kebabs. To get to the kebab place, we have to pass through the Central Park. Beautiful. It literally dropped 20 degrees from being out in the scorching sun to coming here. Look at this. You have fountains, you have sculptures, you have a lot of trees, and people just come here to relax, right? Exactly, exactly. When it gets really hot in the summer, people are coming here, they're chilling out, they're hanging out, they're with their kids, they're with their families. Yeah, great spot. Here in the Central Park, you can weigh yourself for 30 tetris. 30 tetris? Yeah. So like 10 cents. Hello, hello. It's okay? I'm going to weigh myself. Obviously, I've gained like 5 kilos on this trip. I'm up a little bit. It's all good, though. Thank you so much. Dr. Strange live here or something? Look at this. No, the opera house. This is the opera house? I mean, yeah, the design I'm just talking about. It's like the sanctum. The sanctum. Yeah. Amazing. Kutaisi has a lot of different theaters, opera houses, music places. Historically, Kutaisi was considered the artistic capital of Georgia, so a lot of famous poets, musicians, and artists came from here. All right, so this is the shop. It looks like a Georgian tavern, right? So just some tables right here. Super cozy. Love it. Wooden tables. Beautiful. And what do we got? We have kebabs and we have beers. That's what we're getting. And maybe some bread. And here we go. Three kebabs each posted on this table. I'm excited. These are the best, right? Yeah. Best ones in town. Two cold beers. Here we go. Ching-ching. Cheers. Man, it's been a long road trip. Yeah. I needed this. Okay, now for the main event. So what do we have? We have onions. These are beef kebabs, right? And then we have like a tomato sauce. Yeah, it's like a spicy tomato sauce with different herbs. And yeah, the minced meat is like breaded and battered and then fried. Oh, man. This is gonna be so good. Bro, I might get some more. Wow. Super good. So different, right? These kebabs feel like they're lightly fried. Yeah. Right? They're meaty. Super meaty. I think there's pork in here as well, right? So it's a mix of pork and beef, but the sauce is what makes it. Absolutely. Oh, I love the salad. Salad, huh? Fresh onions, fresh coriander. Everything's so fresh. Oh, I'm so happy we came here. And usually, there's a huge line out the door. Obviously, because of the time. I think it's like 5 right now. Yeah. High point is like 1, 2 in the afternoon. All the guys come in. They get their kebabs. They have their lunch. Working lunch. Down with beer. This is the best thing of all time. This is one of my favorite kebabs ever. Dude, the freshness, the sauce. There's some chili right there. How about a toast, bro? Come on, bro. How about a toast? And this is the only thing on the menu. Yeah, this is why you have two choices. Kebab with beer, kebab with soda. Wow. Amazing, amazing. I've eaten kebabs in the Middle East, India, Pakistan. Where else? I mean, all over the Balkans as well. But I've never had it like this. I mean, the freshness of the salad. The tomato. What else can I tell you? I mean, the ingredients are super fresh. Farm to table, basically. This is the one thing they got. You have to come here. And if you finish all the sauce before you finish the kebabs, you have a cup with more sauce. You don't want to drink it. It's basically like a gazpacho. It's similar to gazpacho. Maybe it was because we didn't eat, but probably my favorite meal of the trip. I'm getting two more. Okay, can I go in the back? It's amazing. It's good beer. Just like that, we're going for round two. Super nice people. So friendly. I was like, can I fill in the bag? He's like, yes. Come in the back. That was awesome. I'm enjoying this. My friend, thank you so much. We're cheering to a good life, right? Absolutely. If you want to go crazy, just do what I do. Just add that spice, right? I love the spice. Wow. What a dish. If you don't have Kuta Aisi on your itinerary, I highly suggest you do it. You know, on the way to Batumi from Tbilisi, you got to stop here. Especially for this dish. It's a must. Last amazing bite. But don't forget the salad. I love the vegetables and herbs. So happy right now. Thank you for bringing me here, bro. Thank you so much. It's good to be here. And that's it, my friends. Cheers to this place. We're going to drink this up and go explore the city. For a beer, three kebabs, and bread, it's $14, roughly under five US dollars. One minute walk from the restaurant, we have the White Bridge. So there's three historical bridges, right? Yeah, there's three historical bridges in Kuta Aisi. The White Bridge, the Red Bridge, and the Chain Bridge. This is the White Bridge, and now it's a little pedestrian bridge you can use to get over from one part of the city to the next. The views from here are stunning. Beautiful. Look, over here we have different pieces of the town. You have some restaurants, some bars overlooking the river. And on the bridge, you have an area where it's clear but it's a little dirty. Obviously, you can't see through right now. And you also have some beautiful designs. So if we go this way, what's over here? The historical center and going into the area on the other side of the river. And it's just houses. So then next, we're going to walk back to the town and then go all the way up to the cathedral. Yeah. Alright, let's go. We just got in the car and we're leaving the historical center. We're going to cross the Chain Bridge right now, this one. And after the Chain Bridge, we made a quick left and you go along the river and then we're going to make our way all the way up to the cathedral. This neighborhood is called Gora, which means hill. So, like, historically, it was on the other side of the river from the center of town and lots of important people lived up here. I'm guessing it was the rich neighborhood, right? Yeah. Basically. I mean, a lot of the houses are, like, falling apart, though. You can see, like, you know, little ruins here and there but they all have epic views over the historical center. Look at that. Yeah. Wow. What a view. So from the top of the cathedral, we have the best views. Absolutely, absolutely. And this is the beautiful Bagratis Cathedral. As you can see, it's, like, old and restored. So what's the history? So this cathedral was originally built in the 11th century by King Bagrat. That's why it's called Bagrati Cathedral. Destroyed at the end of the 17th century by an Ottoman army. And so, like, for centuries, it was just laid in, like, this sort of, like, ruined state. And then, starting in the middle of the 20th century, they started some reconstruction and this reconstruction was finished in 2012. So this is basically brand new, right? On the left, you can see the old structure. Obviously, over there is, like, a modern structure. That's a little weird that they did that. Yeah. And then over here, we have the bell tower, right? Yeah. So from the bell tower... Can we go up the bell tower or no? Well, I think we can walk up the side. Okay. Let's go up there. I think from there, we're gonna get even better views, right? Because right here, we have a mini park, right? We have cars. A lot of tourists here, obviously. Wow. This is great, though. Look at this. These are the old, like, pillars. This would have stood on the inside somewhere. You can see, like, some of the original stones are still, like, here in the building. Okay. Gotta be careful. No railway. Okay. Wow. Epic. If you're brave, come up here. I don't recommend it. Man, that's a big fall. Yeah, it's high. It's high. I think it's, like, at least, oh, man, 50 feet? Something like that. Yeah. Big drop. All right. I'm going back down. But the views are great. Yeah, so that's, like, 25 feet, not 50. But still really high. If you have a vertical, don't go up there. Now let's go inside and see the old and new. Hat off. As soon as we entered the cathedral, church was in service. So, out of respect, we didn't talk in there. Obviously, I wanted to show you the differences, right? So, on the left and the right, you see, you know, old and new, and then you have super new, like, modern, right? This was added in 2012. When they finished, they put the roof back on. They put the dome back on. Before that, this place was just open air. But then they also added these, like, kind of iron constructions, which don't exactly fit with the rest of the building. Just so you guys know, this used to be a UNESCO World Heritage Site. But the second they added this modern construction, UNESCO removed it from the list. Sadly. The last thing we got to see, there's, like, a big iron cross right here. And there's some of the old walls of the fortification. This used to be the city fortification. So, massive iron cross. And then in front of us, we have the walls and incredible views overlooking the city. I mean, this is where you have to come to get a view of Kutaisi. Yes, the cathedral is gorgeous, but this is a stunner. Tim, it's all worth it for this. You can, like, literally see the entire place, the entire city from here. So, like, just down there is the central square where we were earlier, the central park. The kebab shop will be over there somewhere. You can see all the way out. Here, up in front, we have, like, still the older neighborhoods. And that's it, my friends. We explored Kutaisi. We actually started 90 minutes from here coming from Gori. We stopped in a town to have some sweet bread, delicious with raisins. What's it called? The sweet bread itself is called Nazuki. The town is called Tsurami. Okay. And then from there, we came all the way over here, 90-minute drive through winding roads, mountains. They're actually building a tunnel, so eventually you'll be able to get here a lot faster. And, yeah, what did we do? We saw the central square, central park. We went and had the best kebabs of my life. So good. Beef, pork, tomato sauce with some salad. Super, super scrumptious. After that, we walked over to the bridge, saw a bridge, got in the car, came all the way up here to this beautiful cathedral and got an incredible view over Kodaisi. Guys, I hope you enjoyed this video. If you did, please give me a thumbs up. Leave a comment below. Subscribe to my channel for more awesome travel content. I'll see you in the next one. Let's do it. Hahaha.