Eat Like Ushi

January was a beautiful time to be in Ohrid - cool temperatures however we were blessed with sunshine and perfect weather to wander around the cobblestoned town. After watching a marvellous sunset from the Church of Saints Clement & Pantelemon, it was time to settle for dinner. Unfortunately a lot of restaurants are closed during this quiet period, including Kaj Kanevce which was the one I wanted to try most in Ohrid. Next to it is Kaneo, which I had also read a lot about, however the prices are significantly higher and our host didn't rate it. Since it was a bit late and we were feeling a little lazy, we ended up at this restaurant right outside Saint Sophia church.

It had been recommended by our host and additionally the place was actually quite busy, much more than any other restaurant we had walked past.

A good local wine was served by the glass at 180 den for 0.2L. Bargain.

- Eggplant with seeds & mayonnaise;
- Eel in a pan 660 den for 300g - baked and served in a claydish with soft thick cuts and charred flesh. Excellent;
- Fried carp 420 den for 300g - like a soft schnitzel with simple flavour and ok firm flesh. Simple garnishes. It must be price per kg for the plate (as it can't be 300g fish);
- Ohrid cake - burnt hard caramel with walnuts, soft cake, chocolate coat.

A good meal and I did enjoy the eel from Ohrid Lake. It does remind me of the Butrint Lake eel I enjoyed in Albania not so long ago (https://eatlikeushi.posthaven.com/the-mussel-house-ksamil-09-2019).

After plenty of Balkans cuisine it was time to have something a little different. Ohrid has a lot of pizza places for whatever reason and everyone from our transfer driver (Cosa Nostra) to our apartment host (Via Sacra) to a lady on the street (Leonardo) had their recommendation.

We tried Via Sacra first but unfortunately they were closed (well it looked open but the door wouldn't) and so wandered down the cobbled streets to Leonardo.

- Lasagna boloneze (meat sauce, pasta) 250 den - strong crusty cheese, meat sauce, and soft sheets served in an oven dish. Really excellent and would make Garfield proud;
- Pizza Leonardo (tomato sauce, yellow cheese, ham, mushrooms, hot sausage, sour cream, olives, hot peppers) 290 den - a little unusual in that the crust had sesame seeds. The ingredients were ok and as expected. Passata was served additionally which seemed a bit odd;
- Macedonian salad (roasted peppers, tomato, onion) 120 den - fine.

A standard pizza and salad held up by an excellent lasagna. I would come back here for the lasagna alone, but otherwise would try a different pizzeria next time.

After the morning seeing the Bay of Bones museum and then the peacocks at St. Naum Monastery, it was time for lunch and enjoying the winter sun. I had Ribar on my list, but our driver called and said they were closed. There was also Rritja e Koranit found from Google maps, but it was on the other side of St. Naum to our return to Ohrid.

Our driver took us here. The hotel part and the higher end decor inside did make me wonder. He did choose the place as it had a terrace across the lake, which meant braving the smoking section. But as the sun gleamed through, it was worth the compromise.

Ohrid bread came out first which was a crispy pretzel with sesame seeds. Really nice and went well with the trout soup.

- Trout soup (trout, carrot, lemon, flour, spices, pepper, oil, salt, parsley) 160 den - thick and delicious with chunks of fish flesh and flavoured with the vegetables and butter. Really really good;
- Ohrid trout style (trout, peppers, tomato, onion, oil, salt, paprika, lemon, potatoes, broccoli, parsley) 1580 den/kg - trout came served whole but already despined. It was expertly grilled until the flesh was firm but not overcooked and not burnt at all. It had good flavour cooked with onion and yellow peppers inside until those additives were sweet. I can't remember how much we ordered, but I think about 500g (of the dish, not the fish alone);
- Fried belvica (belvica, salt, oil, potatoes, lemon, broccoli, tomato, flour) 1900 den/kg - fish seasoned and fried to a crisp skin. Flesh was very soft although not much flavour in itself. Again, not entirely sure how much we ordered but I think about 500g was the 4 fish and sides;
- Salad for 4.

It was a nice lunch even if the terrace sunshine meant smokers were near us. The food was good though and fish very well cooked.

Our driver did say that food was much cheaper on the Albania side of Lake Ohrid and often they are hired for a full day tour of the lake and so have lunch after crossing over. Trout fishing on the Macedonia side is regulated and hence the availability is less and the price higher. In Albania, it is lawless (so he said).

Because of the quiet season in January, the Prizren Free Walking tours were not running. However after a Facebook message, Erdis was happy to run the tour for 4 of us (https://www.facebook.com/FreeWalkingTourPrizren/). At the end of this, he asked what our budget was (I said €5pp - although probably could have been a lot less given the cost of living there) and he recommended lunch for us at Tiffany. I originally had Te Syla, Besimi Beska or Marashi on the list, but given there's little information generally for Prizren and Kosovo, I was happy to try a local recommendation. (Looking at TA now, Tiffany does come in at #2 so maybe it isn't so hidden after all. The other 3 places are 4, 3, 1 respectively).

I was a bit skeptical initially from the white table service, the unmarked door and the booking.com (high) rating noted. But hey, we were here and so be it.

Turkish bread was served initially piping hot and soft, with two cheese dips. The dips were a bit too strong in the liquified cheese form, similar to the dips from Le Snack. But the bread with grassy EVOO was a great start.

- Bean salad €1.5 x2 - big salad of fresh ingredients dressed with a little vinegar and oil;
- Xhyveq with chicken (tomatoes, onions, leeks, peppers, garlic, carrots & spices mixed & cooked in a wood oven) €7.9 - baked vegetables with tender chicken like a simple ratatouille;
- Elbasan with veal (special traditional cream with garlic, cooked in a wood oven) €7.9 - very tender veal in an earthy tangy yoghurt sauce;
- Mantia (fried mince meat & onions, wrapped with pastry & topped with yoghurt & garlic, baked in a wood oven) €7 - meat in a pastry like burek topped with yogurt. Incredibly delicious from the fried pastry to the meaty filling and the cleansing yoghurt for balace.

I really enjoyed the whole meal, in particular the mantia. It makes me wish we had stayed in Kosovo longer to try these dishes more. Given the similarities in culture (since the people are mostly ethnically Albanian), it reminded me of the food delights awaiting us in Tirana.

After several days of eating out in a row, we felt like eating in. Unfortunately noone could be bothered going to the supermarket and with the effort of buying ingredients including condiments and cooking, compared to the prices of restaurants in The Balkans it almost didn't seem worth the effort.

I wanted to wander around the Art Bridge at night with the lights over the statues, and so found a Macedonian restaurant along the way. It doesn't look like much from the outside and when seeing the red sign (before the yellow sign) it looks like the subterranean place is very closed. However pass the corridor toilets and into the restaurant, and you get to an open room with a large tree in it. I think that makes it count as technically outdoor and so people do smoke in there.

- Grilled vegetables 150 den - simple and delicious;
- Tavche gravche 100 den - standard. It's the 2nd time we'd had them and probably don't need to again;
- Grilled trout 800den/kg (290g) - salty crispy outside. Inside was a bit dry. Potatoes good but could've been crisper and charred;
- Risotto with mushrooms 150 den - loads of mushrooms in a stock that wasn't too strong. Not al dente, but a nice dish overall.

It wasn't the best meal we'd had and the risotto and grilled vegetables were probably the nicest of the night. We had intentionally tried to order a few different items to the mainly meats so far for the variety. Nonetheless still a hearty dinner and incredibly good value.

The Ottoman rule of Macedonia means Turkish influence is noted in the cuisine throughout. Surprisingly there weren't that many Turkish sweets shops around and I was fortunate to find this lady selling freshly made product. I have no idea what the name of this stall is, and it certainly doesn't come up on Google maps (to be fair most of the Old Bazaar doesn't) but at 300 denars/kg and 10 pieces of baklava costing around 200, it doesn't get much cheaper than this.

The baklava had a small amount of pistachio on top and a thicker layer of walnuts in the middle. Generally I do like the ones with pistachios in the middle too, but this is a cheaper alternative and still good. The syrup had just the right amount of sweetness and the pastry still had some crispness to it.

It lasted a good few days and then all gone...

After the relatively interesting (and long 3 hour) Free Walking tour, we ended up in front of the fortress. A leisurely stroll back down through the Old Bazaar took me past a baklava place, a lot of jewelry and ornamental stores, a fresco, and finally for lunch. I had two options in the Old Bazaar - Destan or Kaj Serdarot. I picked Serdarot for no particular reason, maybe because Serdarot had better Google ratings (acknowledging the limitations of that approach) and Destan has a few other branches to try if I really want to (including 2 much closer to the Airbnb).

It's a simple place and looks like a family one. The older male seems to be the host and waiter and the female seems to be the cook. Of course the food here is the kebab/kebap/cevapi simply grilled. Between the 4 of us, we ordered teleski (10 kebabs and sides), one sharska burger, a grilled cheese and bread. They all came out served together on a nice big platter.

The kebabs were a very smooth beef. Burger was actually a similar mince meat patty pressed flat but with cheese in between. The fries were very. He warned us the ajvar was spicy, but unfortunately it wasn't at all for us, however nonetheless very good and flavoursome with peppers. Grilled bread was very good topped with grated cheese. Grilled cheese was soft and salty.

A very good and cheap hearty meal. I was stunned they didn't have ayran - I can't imagine why especially for a grilled meat place. Ah well.

The area around Bohemian Street is full of lively restaurants (well, less lively on Sunday in winter) but there's plenty around and lots of lights giving atmosphere to the region. I can only imagine what it would be like in summer. Our Airbnb host had recommended finding something and that area and coincidence would mean that Cardak was already on my list. Gostilnica Dukat was also semi-closeby and is rated TA #2, but didn't make it there.

That evening our waiter was very impressive, chatting and joking with us, and also mentioning that a group in the next (smokers) room singing and playing instruments had been in the restaurant for 10 hours already...

- Macedonian salad (tomato, roasted peppers, onion, parsley, oil, spices) 120 den x2 - had a double serve of a simple delicious fresh salad;
- Sarma (stuffed cabbage leaves with rice & meat) 80 den x2 - really nice with meaty juices coming through onto the charred leaves;
- Tavche gravche (traditionally Macedonian beans stew in claypot) 130 den - a simple dish of beans in a mild pepper sauce;
- Braised veal in mushroom sauce (veal, fresh mushrooms, sauce, spices) 330 den - tender veal (shin I suspect) with a thick mushroom sauce;
- Pie with leek 150 den - they are well known for these "pies" and compared to previous versions had thinner rounds, crisper shell, and simple leeks. Overall very good.

A very good meal for me, a great meal for the rest of the family.

We even ended up going back a couple of nights later. This time was a different waiter, also friendly but less skilful English made it a bit harder.

- Sarma (vine leaves with rice & meat) - very good with nice mince. I think the cabbage one was better overall (and cheaper);
- Grilled fresh mushrooms 140 den - standard and nice;
- Claypot Cardak (veal, chicken, pork, button mushrooms, oyster mushrooms, zucchini, pepper, tomato, onion) 600 den - a mix of meats in a meat-flavoured broth which was too salty and had a strong base, like ham. Some of the meat pieces were thin and had been cooked into disintegrating slightly. It really felt like too much leftovers put together;
- Pie with leeks - this time the dough was a bit doughy and a bit undercooked i think. Flavour still good. 

Not the same experience as the first time. Still an ok meal though overall.

After a long morning of driving to Rila Monastery and marvelling at the beautiful colourful frescoes surrounded by mountains, trees and snow, it was time for lunch. Although there are reviews of restaurants at Rila Monastery itself, the ratings tend to be low. There looks like a donut(-type) shop behind the monastery which had popular queues, but it isn't lunch and we didn't really feel like queuing.

There's 3 well rated restaurants (on Google at least) on the road toward the monastery. They are Magic of Rila, Gorchim and Хан Дяволски води (something like the Devil's Waterfall, as it is near a waterfall). Our driver took us to Magic first which he recommended. It was closed. He took us them to Devil's Waterfall which he also said was good (although many restaurants in the area are similar). That was closed too. So finally he took us to Gorchim ("the bear one") which he and his customers haven't tried before. I wasn't too fussed as any of the 3 seemed alright.

It's "the bear one" because there is a large wooden sculpture of a bear out the front to greet cars. The terrace part is shielded which is great to sit when it's cold outside, although less so because it counts as an outdoor smoking area. Only moderate English was spoken, but certainly good enough to get by.

The main dish of the area is to try local trout, farmed up there in the cold mountainous waters of the river that runs by many of the restaurants.

- Tripe soup 3 lev - very mild flavour of the tripe and ended up being very milky, and tasting like a savoury milk. A bit disappointing;
- Mushroom soup 2.98 lev - very good and lots of butter;
- Grilled trout 10.5 lev - grilled well with soft flesh, although some parts of the skin were a bit too burnt. A simple dish;
- White cheese of the Shope region (white cheese, eggs, tomatoes, pepper) 5.69 lev - from the picture I was expecting a tomato stew with cheese. In fact the dish was quite different as a big mass of white cheese (very salty like feta) with some tomato slices on top. I thought there was some red pepper from the picture but it was a big chilli pepper added on top instead. Quite disappointed at what it ended up being;
- Tsar's pot (mushrooms, bacon, lukanka Bulgarian salami, mashed potato, sour cream, yellow cheese) 7.9 lev - strong ham bits with a lot of cheese, similar to a very hammy pasta carbonara;
- Flat bread with yellow cheese 2.6 lev - very nice with salty cheese.

Overall wasn't too impressed with the food here. If I ever find myself back, I'd try for one of the other two.

For the one slightly fancier meal in Sofia, the option was between Shtaslivetsa and Hadjidragana, both well rated online and both conveniently located close to our Airbnb near Vitosha boulevard. Our Airbnb host independently recommended Shtaslivetsa and even though the place was fully booked on Saturday night, the nice decoration enticed us to book for the Sunday night.

It was very busy inside, with what seemed to be both tourists and Bulgarians. After entering the passageway from the boulevard, it opens up into a large room with even an upstairs, therefore initially hiding just how big this place is. It is adorned with bright lights, art work, some local TV showing food and travel things. Even though the dining was more upmarket, the prices were far from expensive in relative € terms, although a bit more than other local places.

Our waiter (and overall service) was less friendly. I don't think it was a matter of just being a stern faced local, because we'd certainly had smiles elsewhere.

- Hominy (kachamak) with butter & white cheese 7.9 lev - simple with a baked feta-type on top;
- "Caprese" aubergine (roasted aubergine stuffed with mozzarella, smoked yellow cheese, served with tomato sauce, mascarpone & basil) 15.9 lev - nice and rich savoury tomato sauce and a few spotches of plain mascarpone;
- Homemade grilled sausage 15.9 lev - I think it was a very lean beef mince, quite dense and not moist enough. They probably could have used a fattier cut of meat for this;
- Baked duck kebab with porcini & field mushrooms 18.9 lev - I expected a grilled kebab style, but instead received this stew-like dish with tender meat and a decent mushroom sauce.

Overall the setting and food are good. The price difference is really for the setting though. I'd have to say the dishes weren't remarkably better than the other cheaper local Bulgarian fare restaurants we tried. And the service certainly wasn't included in the price.