Pirosmani, a two-storey Georgian restaurant in the centre of Makhachkala, was recommended to me well in advance of my trip to Dagestan last August. I went there for a very late dinner with a friend after our mountain tour and liked the atmosphere immediately. The place is noisy and cosy, glamorous and homely, busy and welcoming all at once. There’s soulful live music, loud friend and family gatherings, as well as intimate tête-à-tête conversations. It’s the Caucasus at its best, as far as I’m concerned.
The food didn’t let me down that night either. When I dropped by for an early lunch the next day and asked my waiter for advice, he came up with such a long list of recommendations that I realised I’d have to come each day of my stay, several times preferably, to be able to try at least some of the dishes that got me interested. He also praised their Georgian chef, and when I told him later that I liked the khachapuri he’d recommended, the waiter said it owes it to the skill of their Georgian woman cooks and their wood-fired oven. Looking back on all of my daily visits to Pirosmani, I can’t help mentioning their red house wine, dry on paper but tasting quite sweet, in a good and typically Caucasian way, as well as their variety of lush hearty salads, typically Caucasian again.
I don’t know if the fact that Dagestan borders Georgia in the south-west adds to the success and genuineness of the restaurant. I do know, however, that if I happen to visit Makhachkala again, and I hope I will, Pirosmani is where I’d head first, be it for early lunch or late dinner.
PS The restaurant is named in honour of the Georgian painter Niko Pirosmani, whose alleged love for a French actress features in Andrei Voznesensky’s poem A Million Roses, which was put to a song composed by Raimonds Pauls and famously sung by Alla Pugacheva.
