Uzu House — Japanese vibes in the heart of khinkali country
It’s hard to explain what Uzu House is to someone who’s never been there. It’s not really a café, even though you can eat there. It’s not exactly a club either, although there’s often music — both live and electronic. If anything, it’s more like an interest-based club or a community space, with one small twist: it was opened by a Japanese guy and built entirely around Japanese culture.
It looks something like this: in the courtyard of a half-ruined old house, people — friends and strangers alike — gather to talk, listen to music, play music themselves, drink beer and chacha, chop vegetables nearby, while a fire burns and a huge pot sits over it, simmering with ramen, miso, or some other kind of Japanese soup.
The owner of this place is Yamato-san. He opened it in May 2020, and within about a year Uzu House had earned a well-deserved following — both among Japanese people living in Georgia and among locals.
Guests at Uzu House
It still feels a little surprising to me, but as it turns out, Georgia — and Tbilisi in particular — is something of a hotspot for Japanese people. Quite a few move here from their islands to spend some time living and working remotely.
The dogs are guests too
Canisters of chacha
By its nature, this place was never really a café. There was no menu, no prices, and all the Japanese food was served to visitors for free. Somewhere nearby there was always a little donation pot, so the whole thing ran entirely on voluntary contributions.
Guests at Uzu House
Sometimes they had sushi too, although miso and ramen were always the staples.
Sadly, Uzu House’s farewell party took place on January 28, 2024. It is now closed — at least for the time being. The owner of the property where Uzu House was located decided it would be more profitable to open some other kind of business there. After all, the place sits right in the center of Tbilisi, in the Old Town, and there’s only so much money to be made from Japanese people ladling out ramen and miso for donations. So now Yamato-san is looking for a new home for Uzu House 2.0, but so far nothing has turned up.
UPD Uzu House was opened again on a new address: 3 Patardzeuli St, Tbilisi
Official Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/uzu___house/