Tbilisi, Friends, Cafes, Food...
I actually caught an interesting program on Armenian TV today, on the Georgianization and destruction of Armenian churches in Tbilisi. In the late 1800s there were 26 Armenian Churches. Today there are two. They were interviewing Samvel Karapetian, the amazing guy at RAA who has documented and recorded so much of our heritage before destruction by Azeris and Georgians. Alright, now I will try to get off the subject of Armenians getting treated like garbage for a bit, though it keeps coming up.
I also caught an ad for "Friends" (the sitcom) coming later this month on Armenia TV, dubbed in Armenian. They made a really fun, splashy commercial, but I must say the short clip of actual dubbed programming they showed was absolutely unwatchable. Der Hova had logged about Friends coming and I was actually rather looking forward to trying to watch it in Armenian. Now, I still may give it a shot, but I am already disappointed.
The great weather keeps up, and the forecast looks good. It's amazing, though I don't want to jinx it by gloating. Melody Cafe at Opera has once again taken the prize as the first to open their outdoor seating (they also always take the last to pack up prize). They opened a week ago and nobody has followed suit yet, even though Melody already has some customers.
I had already mentioned the Malkhas Jazz club which opened not far from my flat, I hear it is good, though not cheap and certainly not smoke-free! I also saw that Mark, Yerevan's Thai guy who's been around for at least 5 years and been involved in more ventures than I care to recount has opened a new Thai place also close to my flat, which is quite cool since the food options near me have been a bit limited. There is a huge new place actually as well that has opened from a perennially abandoned space which they've put a lot of money into. I want to give it a shot. Here, a rather fancy place doesn't necessarily cost more than any other place. While I'm on the subject of food, I was also turned on to a great khingali (Georgian dumpling)joint here that I've seen, but never entered. The khingali is by far the best I've had, and I've had it in it's famous birthplace in Mtskheta. This place even has cheese khingalis, which are fantastic and they offer to fry the khingalis instead of boil them if you prefer, which end up tasting much like beoregs. I will give the Georgians credit though for the best khachapuri I had, right next to the Marjanishvili metro entrance.
I also caught an ad for "Friends" (the sitcom) coming later this month on Armenia TV, dubbed in Armenian. They made a really fun, splashy commercial, but I must say the short clip of actual dubbed programming they showed was absolutely unwatchable. Der Hova had logged about Friends coming and I was actually rather looking forward to trying to watch it in Armenian. Now, I still may give it a shot, but I am already disappointed.
The great weather keeps up, and the forecast looks good. It's amazing, though I don't want to jinx it by gloating. Melody Cafe at Opera has once again taken the prize as the first to open their outdoor seating (they also always take the last to pack up prize). They opened a week ago and nobody has followed suit yet, even though Melody already has some customers.
I had already mentioned the Malkhas Jazz club which opened not far from my flat, I hear it is good, though not cheap and certainly not smoke-free! I also saw that Mark, Yerevan's Thai guy who's been around for at least 5 years and been involved in more ventures than I care to recount has opened a new Thai place also close to my flat, which is quite cool since the food options near me have been a bit limited. There is a huge new place actually as well that has opened from a perennially abandoned space which they've put a lot of money into. I want to give it a shot. Here, a rather fancy place doesn't necessarily cost more than any other place. While I'm on the subject of food, I was also turned on to a great khingali (Georgian dumpling)joint here that I've seen, but never entered. The khingali is by far the best I've had, and I've had it in it's famous birthplace in Mtskheta. This place even has cheese khingalis, which are fantastic and they offer to fry the khingalis instead of boil them if you prefer, which end up tasting much like beoregs. I will give the Georgians credit though for the best khachapuri I had, right next to the Marjanishvili metro entrance.
posted by Raffi K. at 5:48 PM
8 Comments:
Raff, I'm a big khngali fan, PLEASE tell me where that place is.
By the way, if I'm not mistaken the characters doing the voice overdubs for Friends are some of our superstar pop singers ... I think Hasmik, Zaruhi, and even Ispir. Maybe Madlene can confirm.
im watching it if hasmik has anything to do with it. lovely girl ..hehe.:)
check out armenia's eurovision entry at blogrel.com
I'm making a request for the whereabouts of the khingali place as well. I'm coming back for a week in June and khingali is high on my list of things to eat...
hope all is well. i love reading the blog--it reminds me of how much I enjoyed Armenia...
I was afraid I'd be asked to let out the Khingali secret... it's right on Tumanyan near L'Orange. And you can take raw khingali home to freeze as well for those nights you can't be bothered cooking or going out... I think the cheese ones would be amazing with a tomato sauce, just like having raviolis.
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Raff, have seen that place quite a few times, never gone in though. It's not much of a secret considering outside they have a sign that reads KNGALI ;-)
It's a "secret" because nobody I know actually tried it... it is VERY popular already with those who know. You will be a believer too...
OK Raff ... when I'm back I'll check it out and give it one of my reviews. ;-)
I have a lot of relatives and friends coming to Armenia this year. I've got to make a list of places to eat for them. Glad to see that list is slowly getting longer.
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