Eat Like Ushi

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.