“This is where the whole city comes to purchase pastry”, I’ve been told. Knowing how rapidly and thoughtlessly Tbilisians catch up to ever-emerging, fresher, and fresher trends, I was initially pretty skeptical about a pastry shop called Bolero.

But, as always, my stomach won over and I decided to give Bolero a shot. Walking in (back then it was just a garage shop, but now they have a fancy new location and fancy new glass fridges), I spotted all the classics I grew up savouring, the leftovers from the Soviet era: the classic Medok – pastry with condensed milk cream, choux and eclair with the mushiest cream I’d ever tasted, variations of chocolate or fruit cakes… Whatever your inner child’s stomach desires, if you grew up in a post-Soviet country. 

The most spectacular thing I noticed there was not only the diversity of the pastry blasted straight from my childhood, but the delicacy the shop owners handled each slice with while placing them into the takeaway box. 

So, if you’re done marveling at the monument of Vazha-Pshavela and you’re up for a sugary snack, you can go a little uphill and enjoy all the pastry classics, the taste of which no other pastry shop in the city can offer.