Yes, two posts today! 🙂
I headed down the hill around seven in search of dinner. I thought I might be in the mood for sushi, but the day had gone from torrid to frigid and I was no longer in the mood. I wandered into Baščaršija Square and combed its alleys for what felt like an eternity looking for dinner. It was rather like my first night in Sofia, where I had a hard time getting service. It didn’t help that I wasn’t committed to any place I tried. I really didn’t know what I was in the mood for and everything looked “fast foody” and boring, like Serbian and Bulgarian food, or was pizza and pasta. I’m actually getting a little tired of the Balkan pizza diet!
After some time, I was just done and ready to head home to have peanut butter toast as I was getting a hunger headache. As I orientated myself, I passed a little restaurant called “Minder” that had a really cosy decor and menus on the table outside. I picked one up and a second later, a girl came out and, in English, asked if I needed help with the menu. The food list was very similar to a dozen other food lists I’d seen all evening, but she was the first friendly face I’d seen all evening so I said I would eat at her establishment.
The Bosnian-language menu was bigger and more elaborate. I saw from it that they had a large and small “chicken fillets” portion. I knew from seeing enough pictures that the “chicken fillets” were grilled chicken tenders and that appealed to me as I’m just about done with all the overly processed sausagy offerings each country has had. The girl explained that the small portion has salad and the chicken, while the bigger one has salad and rice. I haven’t had rice except at home in Malak Izvor or in sushi in ages so that was very appealing.
My expectations for dinner were really low. So maybe that and my hunger combined played tricks on me, but, DANG. I could not believe how good this was! The chicken was actually marinated to have some flavour. The rice was exactly like Mexican chicken broth rice, which I adore. The salad had cabbage and two kinds of peppers in it, plus cucumber and tomato, and it had a dressing! The bread was chewy and yummy. The only way this would have been better is if the mayo had been sour cream and the ketchup lutenitsa. A very funny case of my not knowing what I was in the mood for and being directed to exactly the right place. With the tip, dinner was only 9KM (7CAD)!!!
I rather felt like I was in a souk. Well, I guess I was…
I’m having a hard time resisting all the textiles and especially scarves that I’m seeing!
It’s been an emotionally difficult first day in Sarajevo and I expect the next few will be just as hard as I join tours and learn more about the history of this city. So I’m putting myself on a light sightseeing schedule, especially since I do have work to do. Now, to see if I can get to bed early. Or maybe I’ll learn to sleep through the muezzin’s call?
I much prefer those small, local restaurants and it looks like you found a winner and at a great price! You could hardly cook at home for less!
Tell me, what are selections like for non meat eaters. Do these places offer at least one token fish or shellfish choice? How about the pasta and pizza? any plain cheese or veggie choices? I noticed grilled cheese on the menu in your photo so I would probably not starve plus, I do not mind my salad with just oil and vinegar.
Your comment about food warranted a whole post! You would not starve!
Well you did say that this place was calling to you, hopefully the tours won’t be totally emotionally draining. Perhaps part of the reason you are there is to educate us your readers as to what is happening in that area of the world.
I do hope that when you awake and read this that you will have had a deep and restful sleep.
Hugs my friend.
Well, Belgrade called me more than Sarajevo did, but I knew I had to come here for the history.
Had a pretty good sleep. Missed the 5:45 Muezzin, unless he doesn’t work on Sundays!
Nothing wrong with that dinner! Looks delicious. There is a lot of history all over the EU, most of it bloody… Thanks for sharing your experiences.
I went back to the same place for dinner tonight! 🙂 World history in general is bloody. It’s so amazing to be here and seeing some of the sites I’d only learned about in history class.