Genazvale

Restaurant Genazvale
Windscheidstraße 14
10627 Berlin
Website

Georgian food is reputedly the very best food available in the land of the bear: the old Russian Empire's equivalent of French food. It is also very hard to come by in the United States; it is most likely to be encountered in Russian restaurants. It would be an exaggeration to say that I went to Berlin to find Georgian food, but my interest was quite piqued when I noticed a listing for Genazvale in my Time Out Berlin guide.

Georgia is a small Caucasian nation with two centuries history of being hitched to the Russian bear. They clearly hope this period of dependency is over now; since the recent "Rose Revolution", Georgia has sought to ingratiate itself with the West. After Britain, it is the largest troop contributor among the "coalition of the willing" (in spite of having only 4.7 million people). Russia has reacted with fury to Georgia's new course, unleashing national embargoes on Georgian products like wine and mineral water.

Russia's loss may be the rest of the world's gain. Georgia, long muzzled by the Soviet Union, is endeavoring to export its wine elsewhere. And restaurants like Genazvale may play a key role, introducing Westerners to Georgian cuisine.

Anyway, on to the food.

I had two meals at Genazvale, a cheery restaurant in the Charlottenburg district, within a quick walk of the Charlottenburg S-Bahn stop.

Genazvale's decor features images of mountains, a few balalaika hanging from the wall, and some paintings of men with Joseph Stalin mustaches (Uncle Joe is, alas, Georgia's most famous son).

I ordered two appetizers. On my first visit, I had some tasty spinach balls. On my second visit, I selected some really delicious eggplant appetizers. The eggplant came sauteed, folded over some walnut paste (Georgian food makes heavy use of walnut) and garnished with parsley. Delicious.

For main courses I had, respectively, chicken in walnut sauce (yes, they do make heavy use of walnuts) and a lamb stew. The chicken came in a tasty sauce, but came unaccompanied by vegetables - the dish was crying out for some onions at least. The lamb stew was delectable, served in a small ceramic container with a kind of inverted bread bowl on top. None of the ingredients were unknown: garlic and eggplant featured prominently, alongside the lamb and potatoes.

Alas, I'm not really a wine person, so I couldn't tell you about the Georgian wines. Order some yourself and pat yourself on the back for spiting Vladimir Putin!

Both meals came accompanied by fresh, tasty bread.

Only once did I have dessert. Here, we were on stranger ground. I ordered something described as a pudding, but it was very syrupy.

All in all, I found my trips to Genazvale worthwhile. The decor was nice. The food was tasty and different, though the ingredients were certainly not exotic and one could detect some similarities with, say, Persian cuisine. If you'd like a sample of a distinguished cuisine, still rare in the USA, this is the place to go.