The best food in the Balkans?

That’s what everyone keeps telling me

As I have been exploring the Balkan countries, the food everywhere is amazing and all the countries speak very highly of each other’s cuisines. But the most common comment between the neighbours is that Macedonia has the best dishes of the Balkans. Naturally I needed to see for myself.

Traditional Breakfast

We spent the day exploring the Old Bazaar area…and started with a traditional breakfast in a restaurant that has been there for generations. This is a very interesting concept because it is Burek in a bun…Burek is common breakfast food in this region and I love it…but it is layers and layers of phyllo pastry stuffed with various fillings.  It is a hand pie in itself, but this breakfast has you eating the Burek in a bun…what? talk about carbs. But it was meant to be extremely filling chic pea stuffed burek stuffed in a bun. It was delicious and after the traditional breakfast I wasn’t sure how I would continue to eat more over the next couple hours. hahaha

Green Open Market

After breakfast we explored the green open market to get in touch with daily local life. This is a typical large open air market that sells local fruits and veggies and a variety of other locally made foods and other homemade treasures. I picked up some popular spice blends to take home for some friends. 

Macedonian Chocolate Tasting

Next we visited a chocolate maker that has been here for a very very very long time. I got to sample some flavours of my guide’s childhood.  Her favourite being a single portion sized chocolate covered rum flavoured bar. It was delicious.  We had another chocolate there as well and for the life of me I can’t remember what it was….probably because I ate it all before I even got home from the tour. BUWAHAHA.

Next we continued walking through the streets of the old Bazaar, did some window shopping at a silver jeweler who designs were so intricate….then a stop for some typical cafe culture and enjoyed a turkish tea on the outdoor patio space. 

Lunchtime

As the tour was nearing an end…we stopped for a typical Macedonian lunch, meats, salads and breads and spreads. Unfortunately, I couldn’t eat it all…so I wanted to take the leftovers. Since the restaurant does not typically do take-away they didn’t have any dishes so they allowed me to take my leftovers home in their dishes. Honor system…I brought the dishes back the next back.

My favourite dish was a baked bean dish called Tavče gravče. It’s a traditional Macedonian dish prepared with fresh local beans baked and served in a traditional unglazed earthenware pot. Depending on the stock you use, this dish can be Vegan. YUMMY! Link to recipe

Last Stop…Dessert

We finished the tour with one last visit to one of the oldest pastry shop and having a traditional dessert. Here I tasted a cookie like dessert called “Padobranec” which translates to Parachute. It’s almost like a French Macaron…but instead of made with Almond flour, it’s made with walnut flour. Now, let’s be clear, I am not typically a fan of walnuts at all. In fact I used to refer to them as the lesser pecan. The equivalent of Crawfish to Lobster…BUT, since I have visited the Balkan countries I have completely changed my tune because there is something completely different about the walnuts here. They are magnificent and NOTHING like North American walnuts….I can’t explain it other than to say, they are delicious here and I now love them.  Link to recipe

_{Please note that I have not received these products for free or at a discounted price in exchange for my opinion.  There may be links that are affiliate links but at the time of posting this review, I have not received any monetary kickbacks.}