Alanis Ludi: Ossetian Beer and Khatchapuri Bigger than Your Head
The Alanis Ludi Bar in Old Tbilisi serves an excellent house beer and decent, cheap food. It isn’t fine dining, but is a good spot to enjoy an unusual - and cheap - beer with an unusual - and cheap - khatchapuri under the beady glass glare of a taxidermied bird of prey.
As I was standing outside the entrance to Alanis Ludi, trying to decide whether “Alanian” stood for “Ossetian” (it did), a man tending the nearby parking lot assured me that the food inside was cheap and good.
“IN THERE IS IT OSSETIANS OR GEORGIAN FOOD?” I asked in rickshaw Georgian.
“A bit of both,” he replied.
Inside the bar, stuffed and mounted birds – and the occasional mammal - line the wood-paneled walls. Many birds are posed suggestively above the bar tables – we caroused under the glass glare of a hawk posed clutching a doomed pigeon in its claws.
A stuffed duck perches on the Efes cooler behind the bar, and a mountain goat with a modest rack surveys the room. Retro-looking fans are also stationed at each table – these presumably help move the air conditioning along. The bar has four dining areas for large parties; these are separated from the main eating area by saloon-style doors. The combination of effects gives the place a saloon-meets-hunting-lodge feel, which is further complicated by the inevitable flat-screen TV that partially eclipses the bar.
Most of the available food is standard Georgian restaurant/bar fare. We had (at our waiter’s suggestion) cucumber-tomato salad with walnut, eggplant with walnut, some spongy kababi and above-average mtsvadi. Our smattering of Georgian food was okay, but what sets this bar apart – and makes it worth a visit - is the house Ossetian beer and the Ossetian-style khatchapuri.
The beer at Alanis Ludi has a semi-opaque amber color and an almost fruity taste, like a Hefeweizen, and is welcome respite from the pallid Kazbegi more often on tap in Tbilisi, and far less pricey than the Germanesque microbrewery across the way. (However, you are less likely to find orange slices at the bar at Alanis Ludi than at Kaiser Brau– bring your own if you think you might want one). The Ossetian khatchapuri is thin and crispy, as big as a pizza, and filled with butter, cheese, and mashed potatoes, and is a good complement to the beer.
The bar is located on Gorgasali Square (at the very start of Gorgasali Street), a short jog away from the sulfur baths. If you are walking towards Abanotubani, the bar will be on your right (before the traffic light but after the Metechi Bridge), just after a spate of small grocery stores. A flight of stone steps leads up from the street, and large wooden panels frame the entrance.
The bar was lively on a Wednesday night; we had about a 10-minute wait for a table to open up. Bathrooms are downstairs; loo-users are expected to pay 20 tetri (honor system: pay your toilet toll to the red bucket at the top of the stairs).
There is no printed menu, and no English spoken – be prepared to make your way in Georgian, Russian or Ossetian.
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Published in Georgia Today, 1 Jun 07
