Lori cheese
Լոռի պանիր
A semi-hard, brined cow's-milk cheese with small holes and a mild, salty taste — named after the province and made across the plateau. Ask for it at markets and village shops, and on every breakfast table.
Food & local products
Lori is dairy country: cool pastures, cows on every road, and a cheese named after the province. Add the canyon's barbecue restaurants and the plateau's mushrooms and berries, and you eat well here.
Matsun
մածուն
Thick, sour yoghurt; the base of tan (a salty yoghurt drink) and spas, a warm yoghurt-and-wheat soup that's good on a cold plateau evening.
Read moreKhorovats
խորոված
Armenian barbecue: pork, lamb or chicken on skewers, with grilled aubergine, pepper and tomato. Riverside restaurants in the canyon do it by the kilo.
Read moreTolma
տոլմա
Minced meat and rice wrapped in vine leaves in summer, or stuffed into peppers, aubergines and cabbage. Served with garlic yoghurt.
Read moreLavash & herbs
լավաշ
Thin flatbread (on UNESCO's intangible heritage list), eaten with a bunch of fresh herbs — tarragon, coriander, basil — at every meal.
Read moreWild greens & mushrooms
ավելուկ
Spring brings aveluk (wild sorrel, dried in braids), mountain herbs and, after summer rains, forest mushrooms around Stepanavan and Margahovit. Villagers sell them by the road.
Honey & berries
Plateau meadows make good honey; summer roadside stalls also sell wild strawberries, raspberries, blackberries and cornelian cherries. Jams and compotes come with breakfast in many guesthouses.
Gata
գաթա
Sweet, buttery bread with a crumbly filling; bakeries and grandmothers in every town make their own version.
Read moreWhere to eat
All 144 places to eat and drink Vanadzor21 restaurantsHaghpat5 restaurantsGugark4 restaurantsSanahin4 restaurantsVahagnadzor3 restaurantsDarpas2 restaurantsDsegh2 restaurantsAlaverdi2 restaurants
Counts from OpenStreetMap; small villages often have no listed restaurant, but every guesthouse will cook for you if asked a day ahead.
Markets, dairies and bakeries
15 mapped- Covered Market Market, Vanadzor
- Danielyan Bakery, Spitak
- Dzavaryans' Supermarket Market, Sanahin
- Hatsi Pur Bakery, Akner
- Kalina Bakery, Vanadzor
- Kamilla Bakery, Gugark
- Kamilla Baker's Kitchen Bakery, Vanadzor
- Katnajur Hats Bakery, Katnajur
- Mika Bakery, Vanadzor
- Pur Bakery, Vanadzor
- Ro&Ma Dairy shop, Vanadzor
- Tashir Milk Factory Cheese shop, Tashir
- Van Boulangerie Bakery, Vanadzor
- Van Boulangerie Bakery, Vanadzor
- Vegetable market Market, Vanadzor
Good to know
- Restaurants usually bring bread, herbs and pickles without asking; they're part of the bill but cheap.
- Tap water in towns comes from mountain springs and is generally fine; springs along roads are drinkable where locals fill bottles.
- A 10% service charge is often already on the bill in town restaurants; rounding up is enough in villages.
- Vegetarians do fine with salads, cheese, lavash, beans and grilled vegetables — say aranc mis (without meat).