Two Restaurants In One Day

During the dinner party (see previous post) we were discussing the state of restaurants in Belgrade and my impressions so far (I wonder how THAT subject came up). It turns out that my cousin and one of the other guests know a chef who has returned to Belgrade after an extended time working at restaurants in Melbourne and has just recently opened a new restaurant. We made a reservation then and there for the following night and I was really looking forward to see what we would find.

The next day arrived and knowing that we had a restaurant dinner that night I wasn't planning on a big lunch, so my project for the day was to find some great street food. For those of you that don't know, in Australia we have these little take away places everywhere that sell deep fried foods: dim sims, spring rolls, potato croquettes, chips, potato cakes, etc. I have yet to find anything like that here. I have seen grills, which serve serbian hamburgers, cevapcici
(skinnless sausages) and other grilled meats and on this morning I found a place that served freshly made crepes with any number of savoury or sweet fillings. These are quite common and they sell many other baked products and sandwiches. Since it was breakfast, I went for an apricot jam filled crepe. This was delicious and a little messy, served in a triangular shape in a paper bag, just what you want for a walking around snack. If you ever come here, make sure you try these, they are less than $2 AUD and taste great.

Next we caught a bus to an area where there is an island in the middle of the river. I don't mean a small island, this place is huge, with roads, walking tracks and beaches. As it is only very early in the holiday season over here and the weather hasn't been great, there weren't many people around, but I'm told that once the weather starts heating up, this place gets packed with people.

After that we went to the biggest orthodox cathedral in Belgrade, which is still under construction (or repairs), but is a very impressive sight. It is modelled in Haiga Sofia and will amazing to see once it is finished, but that may still be several years away.

I really wanted to do a review of one of the street grills, so on the way back to the apartment, we were looking for one, but with very little luck (there are plenty in town, but they are a little harder to find once you leave the main area). After asking around, we were recommended a restaurant called Lovac (Hunter). We decided to go in and try their food and try to have a small lunch just as a sample. Our waiter was the best I have seen so far in Serbia, he spoke fluent english, was friendly, excited and eager to recommend dishes and even offered combinations that were not on the menu. Choosing the veal soup to start and asking him to come up with a combination platter of some of their main dishes and to include venison (with a name like Hunter I had to try some game, right?) and the Serbian hamburger.

I haven't mentioned this before, but the traditional Serbian appertif is a fruit based brandy or rakia. For this meal the waiter recommended we try the quince brandy and I'm very glad he did. It was fantastic and the fruit flavour really came through, which it doesn't always.


According to many of the Serbians I know from Melbourne and the ones I have met here, a meal is never complete without bread. In fact, my mum was asked to cut the bread for a meal with one of my aunts the other day and was told "You cut bread like an Australian, I can almost see through it!" Bread should be cut thick and there should be plenty of it. The bread that came to our table next was a selection of three types, including white, dark and the traditional flatbread. I didn't try the white, but the others were great.

Soup came next and as it was placed before me I was a little put off by the amount of oil floating on top. When making soups in school we are always taught to skim any fat from the soup during cooking. I wondered about this out loud and my mum told me that it is traditional to thicken certain soups with a roux. This is a common thickening agent made from a combination of fat and flour, often the fat is butter, but oil is another possibility. Also, dried parsley made another appearance, which I think is really disappointing with the fresh stuff so easily available.


Apart from these issues, this was a very flavourful soup and I'm glad we ordered it.

We wanted something a little different from the normal plain garden variety and were recommended one but I forget it's name.

Lightly dressed and with a good selection of vegetables, this was a great salad. The radishes go really well with fattier or richer meat dishes and that's exactly what came to the table next.

Roast Lamb and scalloped potatoes. Plus the rest.

Clockwise from the top: More potatoes, Venison, a very large pljeskavica (hamburger) cut in three pieces and ten cevapcici.

The potatoes where tender and delicious, the lamb falling off the bone tender and very nice. The venison was disappointingly dry, but had a very powerful smoky flavour which I liked. The hamburger was my favourite, juicy and smoky with plenty of garlic this was the example of what this dish can really be. The cevapcici were good too, but tasted a little plain next to the hamburger.

I probably don't need to say this, but there was no way we could finish all this and the waiter was happy to pack the rest for us to take with us. They also offer a take away service.

Overall, this was a great lunch, but what really made the meal was the waiter and it wasn't just us he was this good with. We saw him serving several other tables and they all had as good a time as we did, regardless of their age. The prices were reasonable by Australian standards, roughly $35 AUD per person inclusive of drinks, but expensive in relation to other local prices. I would definitely recommend it. The main problem was that we were so full and still had dinner to look forward to.

That night we went down by the river to an area very similar to Melbourne's docklands, old warehouses along the water, many of which have been turned into trendy shops and restaurants. As we came to Iguana, I knew we would be in for a treat. The decore is very classy and modern with a well stocked bar and impressive wine list. The food is heavily asian, with Malaysian and Thai dishes making several appearances. In general there is quite a bit of seafood on the menu and most dishes look quite light. It is also worth noting that the menu is written in both English and Serbian. We were seated on a table adjacent to the stage on which a live jazz band was playing most of the night, but I never felt the music was intrusive. When we arrived the tables were only half full, but not long after we were seated the restaurant was full with people sitting at the bar and waiting for seats. Obviously this is not a secret and the locals are enjoying it already.

As I was still working on building an appetite after lunch, I wanted to eat something light. As my appetiser I chose the Calamari with Shitake Mushrooms.


This was a little larger than I expected for an appetiser, but after seeing the sizes of servings at other local restaurants, I can understand why. The flavours here were very well balanced, the calamari cooked perfectly and with just the right amount of heat. You can't see them in the photo, but this also as a bed of noodles underneath. I didn't feel like this added anything to the dish and personally would have left them out.

Since this was larger than expected, I chose to go for the Duck Salad as my main course.

Another great dish and I was really happy to see someone using the beautiful lettuces that are available at the moment. My one complaint about this dish is that it was a bit too bitter for my taste, most of these lettuces having a strong bitter flavour, I would have replaced the orange slices with a slightly sweetened orange sauce to contrast and bring this more into balance. The duck was cooked perfectly, tender and still red as it should be.

I still had a little room for dessert and even though I had been recommended the Sticky Date Pudding, I chose the daily special Cheesecake.

The base of this cheesecake was particularly nice, with the filling being light and delicious I finished the lot.

The owner also made an appearance during our meal and he spent some time at each table making sure each guest was having a good time. It really added a personal touch and we got to talk to him a little about his experiences in Melbourne and of his work in Serbia. This was an excellent way to spend our last night in Belgrade and I highly recommend it to anyone who is thinking about coming to this city. The prices are quite reasonable, being comparable to most of our cafe prices in Melbourne.

Well, that's it from Belgrade for now, I'm not sure if we'll be spending any more time here before we leave the country, but I've had a fantastic time here and hope the rest of my trip is as good. For now it's on to Sremska Mitrovica, a country town about and hour or so drive from Belgrade.

Thanks to those who have left comments on this blog so far, I really appreciate knowing who is reading and what they think. Keep it up and let me know you're out there!