What to Eat in Armenia: Typical Armenian Food and Specialties | Page 4 of 4
Pomegranate Wine: Armenian Fruit Wine
Semi-sweet, ruby red and, by most of the world's laws, not wine at all: in Armenia they ferment pomegranate wine from pomegranate juice instead of grapes, and in the supermarket it costs a fraction of what its grape neighbors do. What nran gini means, why the tradition is younger than the guidebooks claim, who else ferments it besides Armenia, and how a bottle of Ijevan tastes.
Lavash Restaurant: Armenian Cuisine in Yerevan with Its Own Farm
Lavash Restaurant in central Yerevan serves the Armenian classics with a modern twist, and most of what it cooks with comes from the farms of the Yeremyan Projects group. Downstairs it bakes lavash in a clay tonir, breakfast comes with a glass of milk straight from the cow, and the menu runs through most of Armenian cooking, from khorovats ribs to nraneh soup. It became my most frequent stop in Yerevan.
Tavern Yerevan: Armenian Cuisine with Music and a Live Show
Tavern Yerevan is a Yerevan restaurant chain that serves Armenian cooking with an evening show: folk songs with a duduk, and down by the Hrazdan River a show that runs for hours and ends in fire. Three locations, a cover charge that depends on your view of the stage, and a cocktail served under a dome full of smoke.
GUM Market: Yerevan's Covered Market With a Soviet Name
GUM Market in Yerevan takes its name from the Soviet department store that once stood on the spot, and its stalls hold the whole of Armenian cuisine: dried apricots, walnut sujukh, braids of wild sorrel and cheese that ages buried in a clay pot. I walked it in 37-degree heat, turned down every taste I was offered and left without buying a thing - but with a list for next time.
What to Bring Back from Armenia?
Armenia is one of the most delicious countries I've ever set foot in, and it's a brilliant place to shop for edible souvenirs. I came home with a gift set of Ararat brandy, dried apricots and peaches, sweet walnut sujukh and charcoal lavash. For the long trip back, chechil string cheese and salami sticks did the job.