This guide is built from the live tour page of Tbilisi Food Tour on A Chef’s Tour — price, start time, group size, tastings and dietary notes come straight from the operator, never invented.

What the Tbilisi Food Tours Are — and Who Runs Them

A Chef’s Tour runs small-group food walks in around 80 cities, led by cooks, chefs and local foodies. In Tbilisi it offers two walks with the same price and group cap but different routes. Both are led, per the pages, by “one of our superb Tbilisi food hosts”, and the small-group cap of eight is what the operator says lets it into smaller spots larger tours cannot reach.

The pitch is that Georgian food is built on flour, cheese and walnuts, and that the best of it is in hidden courtyards, basements and markets rather than the tourist restaurants of Shardeni Street. That is the operator’s framing, not our judgement, but it matches the dishes the pages name: breads, cheeses, walnut spreads, dumplings and stews, with wine at a couple of stops.

How we wrote this: we are Joona and Alla, family travellers based in Rovaniemi, Finland, and we have not taken these tours. We research food tours from the live pages and send readers to the ones that hold up. Every price, time and dish below comes from A Chef’s Tour’s pages; where a page is silent we say so.

What You Eat on the Evening Tour

The Tbilisi Food Tour starts at 4:00PM. The page names:

• Neon-green tarragon lagidzis soda with boat-shaped khachapuri
• Sun-dried persimmons and churchkhela grape-and-walnut candies
• Shale’s Colorful Yard and a “Batcave” bakery where shoti bread is baked in a clay tone oven
• A khinkali house, kalakuri with meat and herbs and a soko mushroom variety
• A vegetable ragout with corn bread cooked by a former maths teacher the page calls Inga
• A final restaurant with eggplant rolls with walnut paste, pkhali, shkmeruli (garlicky chicken in milk sauce) and a home-made fruit crumble

The page promises over 12 tastings in a “Supra” feast style. It is a dinner-length tour that ends at a restaurant built around a 300-year-old kiln, so it works as a main meal. The page also mentions a ‘Supra’, the traditional Georgian feast, as its model, so expect a table-style finish rather than street snacks only.

What You Eat on the Lunchtime Tour

The Tbilisi Food Tour (lunchtime) starts at 10:30AM and promises 15+ tastings. The page names:

• A subterranean bakery with shoti bread slapped on the walls of a tone oven, and bean-filled lobiani
• Pkhali walnut spreads made with beetroot and spinach, and ostri, a slow-cooked beef stew
• Dezerter Bazaar, with artisanal Georgian cheeses and a glass of Khvanchkara wine, plus churchkhela and plum fruit leathers
• Jonjoli pickled flowers, chicken kharcho, walnut-stuffed eggplant rolls and elarji, a cheese-laden cornmeal porridge
• Khinkali, including meat, mushroom and Sulguni cheese versions
• Georgian baklava at Fabrika, a repurposed Soviet-era sewing factory

It is the more market-heavy of the two and the one with wine at 10:30 in the morning, which is worth a thought if you are driving or travelling with children.

Evening vs Lunchtime: Which to Book

Our reading: choose the lunchtime tour if you want the most tastings, the bazaar and the cheese-and-wine stop; choose the evening if you want a lighter meat load, a dinner-style finish and a cooler walk. Vegetarians should note the evening tour uses meat in fewer tastings (2–3 versus 5–6).

Price, What's Included and Getting There

Both tours cost US$59 per person. According to the live pages that includes the tastings, bottled water, a local food host and a group of up to eight. The pages don’t give a meeting point — the exact meeting point comes with your booking confirmation — and getting to the start and home again is not included.

Is it good value? For a guided half-day with a meal’s worth of food in a city where the best places are tucked into courtyards and basements, we think so. It is mid-range for the programme: Istanbul is US$99 and Antalya US$99, while Asian tours often cost US$45–59 for 15+ tastings. The lunchtime tour has the stronger value on paper because it promises more tastings at the same price.

Who should book: travellers who enjoy cheese, bread, dumplings, stews and wine, who are happy to eat what they are given across a set menu, and who want a guide to the bakeries, bazaars and courtyards that are hard to find alone. Who should think twice: strict vegetarians and vegans, because the pages say alternatives are limited; people with lactose, gluten or walnut issues, because the food leans on all three; and anyone who needs halal certification.

Timing matters too. The evening tour ends around 7:30–8:00PM, which suits a late dinner afterwards if you have room, while the lunchtime tour leaves the afternoon free for sightseeing in the old town. If you are only in Tbilisi for one night, the lunchtime tour is the easier one to fit around a flight or a day trip.

Dietary Needs: What A Chef's Tour Actually Says

Quoted from A Chef’s Tour:

• Pork: both — “Pork is not typically used in any of the tastings”.
• Seafood / shellfish allergy: both — “Seafood is not typically used in any of the tastings”.
• Halal: evening — “Possible only if halal certification is not necessary, as non-halal meat is used in 2-3 tastings with limited vegetarian alternatives available”; lunchtime — the same with “5-6 tastings”.
• Pescatarian: evening — “Possible, though meat is used in 2-3 tastings with limited vegetarian alternatives available.”; lunchtime — “Possible, though meat is used in 5-6 tastings with limited vegetarian alternatives available. There are no seafood options.”

Vegetarian, vegan, gluten, lactose and nut information isn’t listed — A Chef’s Tour doesn’t list it, so ask before booking (info@achefstour.com). The dishes are heavy on cheese, bread and walnuts, which matters for lactose, gluten and nut allergies. Severe allergies: kitchens and market stalls share ingredients, and no such tour can guarantee an allergen-free dish; email before you book.

With Kids and Practical Bits

Both Tbilisi pages list children aged 3–12 at half price and infants aged 0–2 free. Two adults and two children aged 3–12 would pay about US$177; the booking page shows the exact figure.

• Walking: 3.5–4 hours on foot through courtyards, basements and markets. A carrier works better than a buggy.
• Cheese and bread: khachapuri, kalakuri and khinkali are friendly to many children, but the menu is set; the pages don’t promise alternatives.
• Wine: the lunchtime tour pairs cheese with a glass of Khvanchkara, which isn’t relevant to children but matters if an adult is driving.
• Late finish: a 4:00PM start ends around 7:30–8:00PM.

Tbilisi vs Other Europe and Middle East Tours

If Tbilisi is part of a longer trip, A Chef’s Tour runs tours elsewhere in the region. Figures come from the live pages:

Tbilisi is the cheapest of the four by a wide margin, and all four pages list children aged 3–12 at half price. Istanbul and Antalya are the better known destinations, but at US$99 a head the Georgian tours are the easier ones to add to a family budget.

How to Book

You book directly with A Chef’s Tour on achefstour.com — we never take payment. Open the Tbilisi Food Tour or the Tbilisi Food Tour (lunchtime) through our link, pick a date on the live calendar, add guests and pay. Confirmation is instant.

Cancellation, from both pages: “You can cancel up to 24 hours in advance of the experience for a full refund.”

We are an A Chef’s Tour affiliate and earn a commission on bookings made through our links — it does not change the price you pay.

FAQ

Our Honest Final Word

Is the Tbilisi food tour by A Chef’s Tour worth it? For most visitors who like cheese, bread, dumplings and a table of small plates, yes. US$59 per person buys 12–15+ tastings, a local host and a group of no more than eight, with half price for children aged 3–12. The catches: limited vegetarian options, halal only if certification is not required, no meeting point until you book and a 24-hour cancellation window shorter than many tours. We haven’t taken either tour — we send readers because the pages are specific about what they include.

Book the Tbilisi Food Tour (lunchtime) for the bazaar and the most tastings, or the Tbilisi Food Tour for an evening of khachapuri and shkmeruli. Heading west? The Istanbul Food Tour is US$99 per person with 14+ tastings.