Weekender: Tiko Tuskadze, restaurant owner, 42

Georgian food comforts me and reminds me of home. When my restaurant, Little Georgia , is closed, I cook for my Georgian friends. I make my favourite food: mchadi (corn bread), roast chicken with tkemali (plum sauce) or baje (walnut sauce), hachapuri (cheese bread) and salad. We source our ingredients from Russian and Turkish suppliers – Georgian cooking is a mixture of influences from Europe and Asia. You couldn't see Georgia in a weekend – but who goes for the weekend? You'd need to visit the David Gareja monastery. It's built into cliffs in an extraordinary semi-desert landscape. Monks still live in it, there are early Christian rock paintings and incredible views – bring a picnic. In Tbilisi, you have to try the restaurant behind the police station – I have no idea of its name. From the portrait of Stalin gazing benevolently from the wall to the off–duty policemen engaging in endless toasts, this place is nothing if not authentic. The food is wonderful; the best, most succulent kebabi (large, spicy sausage-like things) and fresh mtsvadi (pork or lamb kebabs cooked over a wood fire). Cold beers, Georgian brandy and Turkish coffee to finish. The concept of the weekend has never really existed in Georgia – why wait until Friday when you can go out on Wednesday? If I was in Georgia this weekend, I would be with my girlfriends in a cafe on Abashidze Street in Tbilisi, gossiping. Here, of course, I have to work.