At home, when I was a child, a battered old recipe

book often lay on the kitchen table. With its help,

my mother would cook up these absolutely divine

dishes. Strangely, the author of this book of

Georgian cuisine was French. The author's

biography on the back cover said that Pascal

Ichac had opened a restaurant called "Eldorado"

in Tbilisi in the 20s. It had attracted gourmets

from Asia and Europe. In the 30s, the Communists

evicted him and requisitioned the restaurant. He

died of hunger, alone, in the attic of his

restaurant. I decided to adapt this book of recipes

for the screen. Pierre Richard and the director,

Nana Djordjadze, gave my idea life. (Irakli

Kvirikadze, screenwriter)