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ArmenianA trip to Armenia will not be complete without tasting the pure taste of Armenian home made foods. When you get to know Armenian cuisine, you will know this country better.
The taste of local cuisine will show you a source of rich history and culture of this country. Any Armenian dish cooked with local ingredients and traditional cooking methods will take you on a journey through the world of Armenian cuisine. Today we are going to a famous restaurant in the center of Dilijan city, which is called the little Switzerland of Armenia, to try Armenian dishes in the best possible way.
In Dilijan, I was looking for a very special and pure restaurant, until after a little research, I got to know the restaurant Flying Ostrich by Dolmama, I quickly marked it on the map and explored the very strong menu of a professional restaurant. And this exploration began quickly.
The atmosphere of the restaurant is very local, even though it is a riverside restaurant in the city center, you feel like you are in a local house on top of the mountain waiting for your grandmother to serve you food. Also, local foods and the restaurant have a special atmosphere that can be seen in the pictures. The restaurant has an outdoor space, and two indoor spaces upstairs and ground floor.
on the ground floor you can also see an open kitchen, watch how the chefs prepare food for visitors. If you like beautiful cozy interiors combined with excellent cuisine, you should definitely go to Flying Ostrich by Dolmama.
The restaurant menu has many dishes that make it difficult for you to choose. From different local soups and salads, to grills, appetizers and unique Armenian drinks. I left the choice with the hosts themselves, and now I can write to you about them.
Try the local cheese, and bread with meat dolmama, but the main feature of this restaurant is ostrich meat. And they also serve a very unusual bread that I haven't seen anywhere else, it looks like a ball, but hollow inside, very fresh and hot. If you come here during the high season, it is worth booking a table in advance, because the place is very popular with tourists and locals. I wrote about them all below.
They initially started hosting with a homemade juice and pickle.Torshi is common in Arab, Turkish, Kurdish, Afghan, Bosnian, Armenian and Iranian cuisine. Iran has hundreds of types of torshi, according to regional customs and different events. In some families, no meal is considered complete without a bowl of torshi on the table. Toursi is a traditional appetizer (meze) to go with arak, rakı, ouzo, oghi, tsipouro, and rakia. In some regions, notably in Turkey (turşu suyu) and Bosnia (rasol), the pickle juice or torshi water is a popular beverage.
I love Armenian cheeses, and this restaurant is the leader in serving them with local bread among the restaurants I've been to in Armenia.
In Armenia, cheese is a very special food. A typical Armenian meal always starts and finishes with a few slices of cheese. A beautifully arranged cheese plate containing both authentic Armenian and foreign cheeses is an essential part of any Armenian feast.Cheese making is the most complex and demanding area of dairy industry. Armenians mastered the skill of cheese making since the times immemorial and carefully passed it from generation to generation.Armenian climate and natural conditions have always been very favorable for cheese making. Lush alpine meadows, so typical of the Armenian landscape, are indispensable for making top quality cheese. Time-honored traditions, modern technologies and skilled hands of cheese makers combine to create the exceptional taste of Armenian cheese. Armenian cheese making relies on the combination of authentic Armenian and imported technologies to ensure development and further growth; this combination enabled the creation of a fine line of locally produced European yellow and blue cheeses, in addition to the local brands.In Armenia, cheese is produced by big companies and on small family farms in cattle breeding areas. Some brands, like Chanakh and Lori, are made in all parts of the country, while production of others is limited to certain regions. Some cheese recipes have remained unchanged for many centuries.
A cheese plate is an assortment of 3-5 cheeses that differ in taste, appearance, consistency and color, with about 30-40 grams of each variety per person.
A good cheese plate is assembled with consideration and taste. It is best served on a wooden board, accompanied with bread and ample quantity of wine.
Here are some tips for arranging an attractive, appetizing cheese plate:
Arrange the cheeses in a circle clockwise from soft and fresh to hard and savory. Put a piece of special goat or sheep cheese in the middle.
Leave some space between different cheeses so that their flavors do not mix.
It is always better to serve one piece of premium cheese than 3-4 varieties of ordinary cheese.
The color of the cheese plate should be made up by the color of the cheeses, and not the grapes or the fruit that accompany it. Garnish the plate with salad leaves or olives.
Combine tastes that complement each other: Crackers do not go well with cheese; besides, they are often too salty. Cheese is best served with several types of crunchy fresh bread.
Different cheeses mean different textures. The colors of the rind and the cheese should vary.
You can make your cheese plate look better if you use various shapes of cheese. Try to avoid using cheeses that look alike. Cheese may look like a pyramid, a cone, a cube or a cylinder. You may also wish to cut it into wedges of different shapes and size.
Cheese plate should come with a set of special cheese knives, with different knives for each variety of cheese.
Cheese plate may be served as a main lunch course, or come before the dessert at a dinner.
Cheese goes well with green salads, pickles, fresh fruits, nuts and bread. A good selection of wines will also be very appropriate.
Cheese is traditionally served with fruit. Soft cheese with white rind goes well with figs or peaches; blue cheese is excellent with sweet grapes; and hard cheeses may be served with sour cherry, pineapple or kiwi.
All varieties of cheese go well with dried fruit and nuts.
A cheese plate does not usually include melted or spread cheeses.
Information is provided by “Center for Agribusiness and Rural Development”via discoverarmenia.info
Pastirma or basturma, is a highly seasoned, air-dried cured beef that is found in the cuisines of Turkey, Armenia, Azerbaijan, Bulgaria, Egypt, and Greece, Iraq and North Macedonia.
Some say basturma originated in ancient Armenian cuisine, where it was known as aboukh'. The Oxford Encyclopedia of Food and Drink writes that pastırma is the word the Ottomans used for a type of Byzantine cured beef that was called paston.
Flying Ostrich by Dolmama adds another flavor to the menu with many sausages in addition to pickles.
Armenians have invented many dishes with eggplant, eggplant that sometimes looks like dolme. This is one of the best appetizers, with great decoration and attractive taste that prepares you for the main meal.
Also, another appetizer that seems to be from Dolmama's family, is special for this restaurant. With a little search I found that there are many dolmamas, dolmama salad, meat, etc. But this appetizer seems to be one of the bests, everything was fresh and healthy, as if everything was prepared on the same time.
My further exploration of this restaurant ended with a very delicious Armenian steak. Armenian Pork Khorovats Steak with Potatoes with a lot of fat. They keep the meat moist and flavorful beforehand. They chop its ribs, and its smell fills the hall after it is cooked and served.
This was the last thing I ate, I was barely eating the Armenian steak, when this balloon bread arrived, I didn't know it was a balloon, I thought there must be some other food inside that I wouldn't be able to eat, I even wanted to call the host and give it back; But I said to myself: "Maybe this is the last place where I can try this strange bread", when I tried to cut it, I realized that it was a balloon, it burst... What a fresh bread! It wasn't even two minutes after they took it out of the oven, it was truly one of the best breads I've ever eaten. I named it: Armenian balloon lavash.
