The Restaurant in Tbilisi Where Fidel Castro and Nikita Khrushchev Had Their Reconciliation Dinner 🇬🇪🇨🇺
- mukhrang
- 4 days ago
- 2 min read
As a tour guide in Tbilisi and across Georgia, I always try to discover stories that help visitors see the country from a deeper and more interesting perspective. Nowadays, tourists can easily explore cities on their own and take photos of famous landmarks, so I believe the real value of a guide is sharing the history, legends, and hidden stories behind those places.
One of my favorite stories is connected to the famous Funicular Restaurant, located on top of Mtatsminda Mountain and visible from almost every corner of central Tbilisi. The building was constructed between 1936 and 1938 by Georgian architects. The project was carried out under the personal supervision of Lavrentiy Beria, who personally attended the restaurant’s grand opening in 1938.
Now let’s move to the main story.
In 1962, during the leadership of Khrushchev, the world entered one of the most dangerous moments of the Cold War — the Cuban Missile Crisis. The Soviet Union secretly deployed nuclear missiles to Cuba, bringing the world dangerously close to nuclear war. Eventually, the Soviet Union and the United States reached an agreement, and Moscow agreed to remove the missiles from Cuba without consulting Castro. This decision created serious tension between the Cuban and Soviet Castro
In 1963, Castro arrived in the Soviet Union, the goal of visiting is to reconcile, later he and Khrushchev traveled south to Sochi. From there, they continued by train to Tbilisi, where the local communist leadership welcomed them with great honor. During the visit, they were hosted at what was considered the finest restaurant in Tbilisi — the Funicular Restaurant, which still operates today.
According to local stories, Castro especially loved smoked sulguni cheese, and after leaving Georgia he reportedly took several pieces back to Cuba with him.
Over the decades, the restaurant has hosted many famous guests, including Raj Kapoor, 1954 Indira Gandhi 1976, Margaret Thatcher 1887 Today, the Funicular Restaurant remains not only one of Tbilisi’s most landmarks, but also a place connected to fascinating stories from the Cold War era.
Mukhran Guliashvili
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