Eat Like Ushi

There wasn't much in the way of gelato in Sarajevo. But luckily I found one down the road of some central backstreets near the flat.

This place is essentially a large dessert cafe with plenty of seating space. I couldn't figure out the pricing system easily - it seemed to be 1.9 or 2.4 BAM per scoop depending upon the flavour.

The Sicilian pistachio was very thick with bits of nut. As per advertised it was slightly salty, whereas I tend to prefer a slightly sweeter one. On the other hand, the pear was quite odd and tangy. Not the finest, but good enough for the afternoon.

Nablus is the place in Palestine where kunafa (aka kunefe as I've had it previously in Turkey) originated, and the owner/cook in this place is from there, hence the name. I was reassured by one of his friends and customers that was the real deal.

We seemed to have entered at a busy period in the late afternoon, where a host of orders were ahead of us (mostly coming from a few who ordered many to takeaway) and as a result had to wait 20mins. Not so bad in the context of things and gave me an opportunity to see his technique from pale shreds of white cheese to a finished product, dark and crisp and inviting.

It is definitely different to the Turkish ones I've had. Particularly the stringy cheese tastes very much like mild cheese, and had a smoother texture than the wisps of kataifi I'm used to. Additionally the sugar syrup wasn't nearly as sweet.

It was nice, it was good, I liked it. I can't say for certain which version I like better, but perhaps the Turkish very slightly.

Superfood isn't very convenient to central Sarajevo. But we had to get to Penny Plus to get some screw-in camping fuel and it was hopefully somewhere much closer than OBI (although since discovered there is a store right in central that now sells it too).

We could have taken a taxi but thought a nice walk in good weather (although hot) would be a pleasant way to see Sarajevo, a park and a local suburb enroute. Superfood is remarkably highly rated (TA #4, Google 4.7, Facebook 4.8) for a place out of the way.

I really wanted some meat. The Gulash with 300g high quality grass-fed beef was my preference. But they said they had no meat. What? That doesn't make sense. Chili con carne? Nope, no meat. Just burgers. Hmm. It didn't makes sense - maybe the beef patties are pre-prepared and they don't have meat chunks for goulash and can't elaborate the patty to chili. Who knows.

Anyway so I ordered the Snake Bite burger (200g beef patty, pico de gallo salsa, dijon mayonnaise, jalapeño peppers, homestyle potato fries) 10 BAM. It was a nice burger, cooked through (sadly) but the patty was still tender and quite thick in the middle. Mustard mayo was smeared on a large soft bun, and the salsa with chopped tomato was fresh.

We also tried the Shakshuka (poached eggs in a spicy tomato sauce with onions, chili & cumin) 7 BAM. This was almost a semi-assembled version, since I'm used to it arriving in a little pan with bread on the side. It had minimal cumin in it and oddly no sauce either.

It was a decent breakfast. I can't say I'd seek it out specifically. Strangely others seemed to be eating a meat looking dish similar to goulash... maybe the meat arrived soon after...

I read about this restaurant on the Culture Trip website (https://theculturetrip.com/europe/bosnia-herzegovina/articles/sarajevo-s-top-10-cultural-restaurants-bosnian-bites-beyond/) and it seemed like an interesting way to try local dishes with a twist. It was also conveniently located near the market and a supermarket and also near our accommodation.

Sadly it wasn't all happiness and smiles. It took a while to get the waitress (I think she may have been the owner or manager also?) to attend to us on several occasions, to order, to ask for something, to get the bill, to pay the bill.

Also it took 45mins for the entree and then another 30mins for the main. As it turned out they tried to give us the wrong entree and then gave our correct main to another table. Hmmm. How about the food then? The main theme seems to be nettle.

- Traditional doughnuts with nettle & cottage cheese 7 BAM - fried bread was crisp and very good, the sour cream thick not too sour. I did enjoy this dish;
- House Special I (assorted sarma, dolma and meatballs) 12 BAM - onions, peppers and vine leaves all stuffed with soft beef and all tasted the same. Simple very salty;
- Veal medallions served on French toast topped with mushroom sauce 18 BAM - veal overcooked but still ok for tenderness. Good grilled zucchini and aubergine with char bits. Soggy toast as expected under it all.

Unfortunately the bread (or dough mix) was essentially the same for the bread, doughnuts and French toast. It would have been nice to know this to not get the same heavy carbohydrate over and over.

Overall I thought the meal was average. Next time I would try Karuzo, Dveri or Aščinica Hadžibajrić F. Namika (the other 3 places marked on my map that I didn't get to).

B&H has many of place for cevapi. I call them cevapi-ries (which is obviously incorrect, but makes sense to me...). Zeljo (1 & 2) seem to be the most well known, although if you read online, everyone has their favourite. The free walking tour we took with Meet Bosnia recommended Nune on their information maps, and so I thought trying their local recommendation was worthwhile.

It's a much quieter area and so even in what I consider to be lunchtime, there were seats available both inside and outside. The ladies work hard in the kitchen chopping onions continuously and cooking/fanning the meat and bread until it is ready.

Finally the cevapi is served at the minimal price of 10 for 6 BAM with 0.5 BAM for a serve of peppers. The bread is moist and used to pick up the meat. Each cevapi is soft meat simply flavoured with salt and served with raw onions. There's a thick yoghurt curd and another sauce I was unclear about. The hot peppers added chilli, a little tanginess and contrast. Overall very tasty.

I couldn't tell the difference in the meat between Nune and Zeljo, but for other reasons I would therefore come back to Nune given the choice.

After the late and delayed arrival of the bus from Split to Sarajevo and then the 5 flights of stairs walk up, energy wasn't at an all time high. But hunger persevered for me to get takeaway. Unfortunately I hadn't done a lot of reading about Sarajevo food particularly late at night (ie. about 22.30 on a weekday. Knowing what I do now, I would definitely go and get cevapi next time.

On this occasion a burger bar drew me in. The "cook" smoking while he prepared the food was an introduction to the culture.

It was alright. It had flavour albeit without much quality. I think I was just missing all the pre-drinks.

I don't know the real name of this bakery (or even if it has one). But it's in a little square just off the main promenade in Bol and conveniently enroute to Zlatni Rat. I bought their borek for the walk and was unexpectedly impressed with their meaty crisp savoury version with nice black crust.

So much so I ate it again whilst waiting for the ferry back to Split.

Yum.

I really wanted to try some Croatian lamb under the peka bell. Unfortunately the few restaurants that have it only sell it per kg, which is too much for 2 people let alone wanting to try other dishes. Ranc does have a 140kn peka lamb on the menu, but needs to be pre-ordered. Brac lamb is supposedly deliciously well known and seemed like a perfect place to have it. There is also vitalac which is a lamb offal sausage but sadly very few places sell it, and the ones that do charge an otherworldly amount.

After a little despondence, I walked near the guesthouse to this restaurant up high above the sea and promenade below. Ranc has excellent reviews. After confirming they had lamb available (neither the peka nor the spit-roasted, but at least one) I made my decision to stay.

- Seafood risotto 90kn - savoury risotto with little prawns and mussels. A strong mussel flavour was pervasive throughout. Beards present in the tiny mussels too;
- Grilled lamb 130kn - lamb chops and a cutlet simply flavoured and good quality tender. Much of it was cooked to medium, which I thought was too much even though I requested rare-medium rare;
- Fried calamari 110kn - little fried calamari was nice. Not too salty;
- Duved (traditional stewed vegetables with rice) 30kn - this local dish sounded great and ended up being a tomato risotto with small bits of zucchini. It was very tomato-ey in flavour (obviously) and not altogether special. The serving was huge and so combined with the other risotto ended up being too much food.

I managed to try the lamb and see the quality of it. I wouldn't need to go back there again necessarily to try, although it may be the most affordable way in town to sample peka lamb if you are organised enough to pre-order it.

Along the promenade of Bol (and also I think a second smaller branch near the square) is b058 gelato.

After a tiring day braving the breeze along Zlatni Rat, it's nice to have gelato for the walk back. There are a few others ones closer to the beach itself, but they won't compare.

The nutella/hazelnut, summer fruit and pistachio were all savoured. The summer fruit had bits of fruit and the pistachio bits of pistachio. There were no crystals. The cones were a cool black colour but otherwise tasted normal. They also really filled the cones right up with gelato, and not only because it was melting in the heat. Flavours were good but not overly strong. Overall excellent. 

11kn per scoop.

The highest rated restaurant with the best views overlooking the Mediterranean, the sea urchins below and the Dominican Monastery to the side. What a wonderful setting to have looked (on the same day during the lunch time) to have these sunset views. The warm September air with a soft breeze and gentle waves made it impeccable.

It isn't cheap for the privelege, but it isn't ridiculously more expensive than other places either. I wanted to try the peka bell octopus, but 1kg single-size would mean we wouldn't have been able to eat anything else.

Overall the food had lots of flavour and salt (a little too much toward the end).

- Fish broth 32kn - soup was a little thin but had good flavour. Had some small shrimp;
- Black cuttlefish risotto 78kn - strong flavour/seasoning and lots of octopus;
- Grilled calamari 120kn - nicely grilled and good char flavour;
- Brudet "Kuce" (anglerfish, shrimp, mussels, white beans, "pljukanci" homemade pasta") 130kn - strong fish and shellfish broth. Big prawns and mussels with beards. Lots of soft perfectly cooked fish. Overall really good;
- Homemade french-fried potatoes 28kn - tasty curved shape could have been crisper;
- Dalmatian-style Swiss chard 30kn - cooked with butter and nothing special overall.

 A fine meal in an excellent setting. For a special occasion.