My whirlwind fourth day in Armenia came to a close in the spa town of Dilijan in the northern part of the country. Come along with me as I take you on a tour of the traditional guest house I stayed at and taste homemade Armenian foods in Dilijan, Armenia!
After exploring a medieval monastery at Lake Sevan, I began my evening with a drive to Dilijan. I’d be staying overnight at Daravand Guest House, which was about 30 minutes away!
After 10 minutes, we entered a huge tunnel that’s 2.3 kilometers long. It passes through a mountain! On the other side of the tunnel is the Tavush Region of Armenia.
Dilijan is located in a national park. It’s a small community with a tiny town center. We arrived at the guest house and pulled into a dirt road. Inside the guest house was the restaurant. It was really nice! There, I met the owner, a really nice man who was like my Armenian grandfather!
The Daravand Guest House has nine rooms and a cottage. First, there is a terrace with three tables, including one long table. There’s also a couch where you can chill out. It’s very funky and rustic, with lots of wood everywhere. Further inside is a cozy lobby/bar, where I could see beer, brandy, and lots of other drinks.
Past the lobby is a dining room where we’d eat dinner later. There’s a wine case in the corner. I’d been to a few bed & breakfasts like this. They’re super relaxing and cozy and usually, the owner lives on the property. There’s writing all over the walls from other people who have stayed there. I’d have to write “David’s Been Here” on it later!
Then, if you follow the wooden stairs going up, you’ll see some antiques on the right, including a sewing machine, a typewriter, and some rugs. On the second floor are the 9 rooms.
My room was nice and cozy. It has a queen-sized bed and a twin bed. I also had a table, a closet, and a heater. It was on because it was a little nippy outside!
Back downstairs, it was time for dinner. I started with a white yogurt soup. It’s very light and contains greens. It’s like a hot tzatziki.
Next, I tried a carrot salad with walnuts. I had never had it before. It was crunchy, moist, and refreshing. It was like carrot spaghetti with walnuts and sour cream. Super delicious!
Then, I went with some roasted eggplant with red pepper and tomato sauce. Like other Armenian dishes, it doesn’t contain lots of spices, which allows the natural, delicious flavors to come through. Armenia has so many delicious eggplant dishes!
Then, I had the zucchini cutlet, which contains one egg to hold it together. It was a delicious veggie cutlet. After that were peppers stuffed with meat and cabbage dolmas! I’d never had a dolma like this. It had a different texture but was still so good! It was more filling because it was bigger.
Then, I had eggplant stuffed with beef while some homemade apricot vodka was brought to the table! The vodka was crazy strong! I had never had it before!
Then, I tried the cabbage dolma with the soup from earlier. Then, I dug into the fresh vegetables, including the cauliflower. It was really good! Thenm, we had some phenomenal Dargett barley wine.
Next was a stuffed tomato. It burst in my mouth and was super meat-heavy. Then, after dinner, Lusine and my driver played an Armenian board game that’s similar to chess. It’s a fast-paced game and I didn’t really get it.
I hope you enjoyed coming with me as I tasted homemade Armenian foods at the Daravand Guest House in Dilijan, Armenia! If you did, please give this video a thumbs up and leave a comment below. Also, please subscribe to my YouTube channel so you don’t miss any of my upcoming travel/food adventures!
My name is David Hoffmann. For the last decade, I have been traveling around the world in search of unique culture, food, and history! Since starting David’s Been Here in 2008, I have traveled to over 1,100 destinations in 76 countries, which I welcome you to check out on my YouTube channel, travel blog, and social media sites.
I focus a great deal on food and historical sites, as you probably have seen! I love to experience the different flavors that each destination has to offer, from casual street food to gourmet restaurant dining. I’m also passionate about learning about the local history and culture.
P.S. Thank you for watching my videos and subscribing!
You know I've been eating dolma for a long time. My wife is half Greek. Dolma owes the grape leaf.
In Greece it's like a little more rice than beef. Here they go way more beef but this is so
different because this is the cabbage leaf. So delicious. It's a little different texture. It's really good.
Good evening everyone this is David Hoffman from David's been here in beautiful Armenia.
Tonight we're actually driving to? We're driving to Dilijan. We're going to overnight in Daravan
Oh I can't wait. I'm super excited. It's going to be like a real experience. We're going to go.
We're going to eat. We're going to drink some wine. We're going to relax. It's actually getting a little
cold right now. Luckily I brought this scarf with me. I have a sweater but let's get in the car and
let's drive. It's about what? 30 minute drive? 20 minute drive? 30 minute drive. Not bad. Let's go.
After like a 10 minute drive we enter this huge tunnel and how big is this tunnel? It's 2.3
So basically we're going through a huge mountain right now. As you guys know Armenia is like a
super mountainous country. Wow this is this is long. We've been already here one minute. It's
gonna take how many? Five minutes? You drive about three minutes. I think it's easier than imagining it.
We've arrived to Dilijan. So Dilijan is a town inside a national park and what we're going
through right now is like the back streets trying to get to this house and whoa I mean it's really
really dark. We just passed through the center. Very small you know community. A few houses, some shops
and here it's just like what is this? So we made it here to the guest house and as soon as you pull
in you have to go up this like super dirt road full of rocks. Whoa. You're gonna love this place
because this is one of the best cozy corners in Dilijan.
And we made it here. Whoa look at this traditional home. Right here we have my dream car the Defender
Land Rover Defender. Favorite car on the planet. I've gotten so many of those on safaris in Africa
and right here we have the restaurant. Guest house restaurant. Wow this is nice. Hello hello.
How are you? Very good you? Fantastic. You're like my Armenian grandfather. What are you?
I'm young boy. I know I'm joking. I like this. It's fantastic. You like it? Yeah. I have the beanie too but
I'm not ready to put it on. It's not cold enough. That's all right. This is the free
corner of the country. All right guys I'm gonna give you a tour of Daravan guest house. Basically
they have nine rooms and right now the beginning we have the terrace right so we have three tables
here. One long table and over here we have like a little couch. You can just chill, smoke like these
women are doing right now. It's really funky. It's really like cottage life. I love the wood
and then we keep going. Follow me. This is like their lobby slash bar. So over here we have a bar.
You know they have arat. So they have brandy. They have beer. They have other drinks. Over here we
have a couch. TV. So more like a lobby. You know relaxed place. Again guys we're like sort of in
a mountain town. So this is like more like cottage life. Very relaxing. Like I said they have nine
rooms plus they have a cottage. Over here we have the dining room. I think this is actually our
dinner over here. It's getting set up for us. We have some wine. Really relaxing you know. I've been
to a few places like this before. These like bed and breakfasts. They're really cozy. Super nice
people. You know the owners basically probably live on the property as well. Oh by the way people
write on the wall. Like all over the wall. The whole thing. I'm gonna have to find a pen later
and write my David's been here handle right here. All right let's keep going.
It's a nice wooden staircase. Over here to the right we actually have some antiques.
A sewing machine. Typewriter. You know very nice antiques. Rug. Small rug. These are the nine rooms
right. My room is over here. So I literally just got here. So I'm trying to get a cleaning room
where I am. Come here. Show you my room. And here we go. This is my spot. So I have a queen size bed.
I also have a twin bed over here. This is where I literally like set up all my luggage here.
This is my workstation. We have a closet. So if you're staying here a few nights. Hang your stuff
up. You know. Hang up your jeans. Your shirts. Don't get it all wrinkly. And over here we have
a bunch of towels. So floor towel. Two more towels there. And we have a heater on because
it's actually a little nippy outside. And the heater's on. I mean if you get close you feel the heat.
Oh really nice. This is my bed. I can't wait to dive into because I'm so tired.
But we have to go have dinner. Let's go. Okay guys. So we're having dinner. So many different
things. We got a lot of appetizers. We got a soup is just coming right now. We got zucchini cutlets.
We have this cabbage salad. Tomatoes. Cheese. Wow. Cauliflower. More eggplant. We got the lavash.
We have other bread. Looks delicious. And then right here we have this soup. What's the soup?
This is a white yogurt soup. And this is the best we have. Yeah. It's very dietic. It's very light.
Especially for dinner. But just get ready because dolma is coming.
Actually for me I throw the dolma in here. You know what I mean? Because dolma like deserves to have
something creamy. When you say lav it means good. So when I ask you how are you like once
you can say lav. And that's like good. And when you say shot lav it means like very good.
So what is it? It's just yogurt and herbs.
Some wheat. Some greens. So they make it with rice and mint sometimes. Wow.
And it's good. It's like a super hot tzatziki with wheat. But it's a super nice soup to have
on a cold day. I love the wheat. I'm gonna like save a little bit because my dolma is going straight
in here. Yeah yeah. This is the same I was thinking about. Okay so the first thing I'm gonna try is
this carrot salad with walnuts. Wow. Look at this monster. That's all for me now Jay.
I love carrots. I love walnut. I'm gonna get a little bit here. This is another new dish for me.
Extremely crunchy. Very moist. Refreshing. So this is basically like carrot spaghetti
with sour cream. Armenian style with walnuts. Nice crunch. Oh delicious.
All right guys next up I'm gonna try delicious eggplant. What? Yes. The best.
Okay and this one has like I don't know is it tomato paste?
It's like red pepper. Very soft roasted eggplant. The thing here in Armenia there's very little
spices so you never feel spicy or too much pepper. We just always leave a space for natural flavors
and this is what people like most in Armenia. If you're a fan of eggplant Armenia is your country.
Anyway we cannot eat anything without lavash
so I prefer to have this salad with lavash you know. We love it. Another Armenian sandwich.
And here we have a zucchini cutlet. So they put one egg so it sticks all together.
It's a zucchini some other veg. What is that? It looks amazing.
Delicious like veggie cutlet.
This right here looks amazing. Peppers that are stuffed with meat right? So the lady in the house
made a summer dolma for us. So there we have some vegetables and again we have zucchini and cabbage.
All right guys so I'm going to try one of these. So this is the dolma this one right here. Usually
dolma is the grape leaf and this is actually with the cabbage leaf. Doli in old Armenian means
grape leaf. Yeah. Okay. And dolma is like mint in a grape leaf. This is awesome. You know I've been
eating dolma for a long time. My wife is half Greek. Dolma owes the grape leaf. In Greece it's like a
little more rice than beef. Here they go way more beef but this is so different because it's the
cabbage leaf. So delicious. It's a little different texture. It's really good. And it's more filling
because it's bigger. Like way bigger because other ones are like tiny. This is like a big guy.
This is eggplant? Yeah. No way. You are lucky everywhere. Stuffed eggplant. What are they doing here?
Look at this. Our guy right here is bringing us some vodka. Is that vodka?
Let me try this. Stuffed eggplant with beef.
This is apricot vodka. Homemade. Homemade apricot vodka. Let's try it.
Oh it's a natural juice bottle.
Try everything. Try everything. Can I just have a sip right here?
Dragon fire right there. Whoa.
That is strong. Sharing is caring for sure. There's a lot. This vodka is crazy strong. It's apricot
vodka. I've never had it before. Oh it smells.
So what I'm going to do is I'm going to actually put this cabbage dolma
into the soup. The yogurt soup. Oh delicious. Wow.
He hasn't drank at all. He's a driver. He hasn't drank one thing. I mean I congratulate this guy.
He's a trooper. But there he goes. Vodka. No no no. So I haven't tried any of the fresh
vegetables and right here we have cauliflower. Garnet means life in Armenian language and
telling garnets it means sharing your life experience with your friends.
Garnets were mostly told by older people for their grandchildren, for their younger friends.
They were sharing their life experience and wishing like good luck and telling
how to live better, how to respect, how to have pride. To Dargit. To Dargit.
I say yes. My boy. Yeah let's do it. Let's do it. Garnets. Garnets.
I like it. Yeah barley wine is so good. We're going to drink for parents. Yeah because this is
the third garnets. Yeah. This barley wine is phenomenal. Garnets for that. Garnets.
And next up we have a stuffed tomato. Wow.
Delicious burst. Also the meat. It's like meat heavy.
Like I say 10 percent rice. So they're going to play one of like
one of the games here in Armenia. It's similar to chess. We are chess players in Armenia by the way
and we have chess classes in the schools. One of the main subjects in the schools are
is chess you know. With the comparing the number of population with the number of chess players
in Armenia we're first in the world. So you're gonna play this game. So basically they have a
dice. They have some chips here. So I need to fill this field with these chips and he is trying
to catch me sometimes and he's trying to be first to fill his space with chips. So and we will hit
each other not to reach the goal. Basically there's two here, two here, five, five, three, three,
five, five and then dice. And he has more chips to reach the goal. It's a really fast game. I don't
want to get it right now. It's going really fast. I mean you guys are just throwing, going, throwing,
going and yeah this guy's filling up really fast. How did it work? You fill this whole thing up?
Yeah you fill the whole thing up and then you are you are trying to take them out depending on your
numbers. So whoever is the first one that that wins.
Hey, hey. Is there like a river over there? What a night. Man, tonight we did a lot of things
actually. We ate a lot of stuff. You ate a lot. Too much. I ate way too much. I mean the food was
ridiculous. We were supporting you. You ate a lot. You ate a lot too. She's like I have good genes. I'm like
you're not eating as much as me. Oh my god. I think the number one thing was always the
the cabbage doma. Cabbage doma. Is that like everywhere here? Like you find it everywhere?
Every family does it. But yeah I mean we did that and then we came here. You play this game.
So this is basically like Armenian version of Bakamen. But we played short Bakamen. Very nice
place. If you guys are traveling around Armenia, I highly recommend coming here. Just coming here
for a night. Maybe two nights. Explore the town. Tomorrow we're going to be exploring the town.
But guys if you love this video, give me a thumbs up. Comment below. Subscribe to my channel. Follow
her on Instagram and we'll see you in the next travel food adventure in Armenia. Bye-bye. Bye.
