Black Lion (Shavi Lomi)
Tbilisi Cuisin
Black Lion (Shavi Lomi) presents a certain naïve, simple, but conceptual cuisine; an interesting correlation of spices and taste arranged on your plate: green millet, vegetarian stew, kohlrabi sauce. Chef Meriko Gubeladze adds color, character, vividness, and intrigue to the Georgian cuisine. Take pleasure from fascinating improvisations of Georgian dishes in the company of vivid conversation.
The restaurant is an homage to Georgia’s favorite artist, Niko Pirosmani, a naive painter whose favorite subjects were animals, a singer named Margarita and feast scenes.
Interview
The foodie revolution in Tbilisi started in 2011, when young Georgian chef Meriko Gubeladze opened her fusion restaurant Black Lion (Shavi Lomi).
“We wanted our restaurant to be original: Georgian cuisine with a twist. The same taste but different ingredients. Our goal was to evoke some kind of emotion from customers once they’d opened the menu: surprise, disappointment, anger – anything. So, we began to look for a chef but struggled to find anyone qualified. Back then, the industry was way behind what it is now; my time in the States allowed me to learn things that put my skills ahead of the people I hired at the time. So, despite my plans to the contrary, I returned to the kitchen as chef myself, and Black Lion was born. It was a huge success. Indeed, back in the day, the pioneers of Georgia’s culinary scene were focusing more on filling the vacuum of European-style cooking and introducing that culture; but no-one was focusing on revolutionizing Georgian food. So, in that sense, we were definitely the first to do so.”Georgian Today