Inside Sahli
For Koen and my big trip this year, we planned a three week trip from Moscow to Beijing, traveling by train on the Trans-Siberian and Trans-Mongolian Express. After a ton of research, an intinerary was made and we were ready to go off and explore!
The first day we arrived in the late afternoon and wanted to start off slow, to save our energy because the next day we had a lot of planned to do. So we decided to head to Sahli for a delicious Georgian meal.
Sahli was recommended to me by a client from Moscow who is often in Antwerp. When I told him we were headed to Moscow for a few days, he sent me an email with a lot of tips. We had planned to eat Georgian food and he quickly told me to forget the place where I had already reserved and to head to Sahli. I’m so glad we did! The food and wine were incredible and I loved the live music!
Sahli has won a lot of awards, including being listed as the #1 Classic Georgian Restaurant in Moscow by the famous French restaurant guide ‘Gault & Millau’, as well as listed in the top 50 Restaurants in the city. Well worth it!
Our first encounter with trying to decipher the Cyrillic alphabet – had to ask if the white sign read “Sahli”
The dining room
Delicious Georgian red wine
Khachapuri: cheese-filled bread which is Georgia’s national dish; this is the Imeretian way, round (also the most common way to eat khachapuri)
Lobio Kakheti: red beans with grilled onion, tomatoes, greens and seasoning
Georgian pickles and pkhali/phali platter
Assortment of pkhali/phali (a sort of vegetable pesto made with walnuts) and badrijani (fried eggplant stuffed with pkhali)
Pickles
Georgian cheeses
Khinkali: Georgian dumplings filled with a pork and veal mixture; you eat the dumplings with your hands, first sucking out the broth, and then eating everything except for the top – so delicious!
Can’t pass up dessert!
Assortment of homemade desserts
Lemon cake and a sort of cinnamon swirl pastry
Red wine sweet and baklava
My cappuccino with cinnamon
Koen’s espresso
When we arrived, we also learned that Moscow was celebrating it’s 870th anniversary! We were a bit too late to see any of the big shows, but the city was full of performances and artwork to commemorate the event!
We also passed the Moscow Ping Pong Club practicing
Walking to the Sahli
Walking to Sahli
I love that in Moscow you don’t have to cross the busy streets – you walk underground!
Heading downstairs to the underground walkway
Crossing the street underground
An American in Antwerp 