Sarajevo antique expedition

Cevapcici , this time Bosnian, with pita and grilled veal livers on the BBQ. We were starving and all that amazing smells were killing us in that little cevapcici house. Thank god, their food is actually fast food, so we didn’t need to wait long.
 

 

Cevapcici were amazingly good: not because we were hungry but because this is a fact. These grilled meat rolls are delicious and I’m not surprised they are considered as their national food. Their ingredients are different than those ones in Serbia because people here are mostly Muslims. Pork meat is replaced by lamb but it’s not rare to see only veal option. We recommend some good veal livers and, of course, pita with cevapcici. To be clear, this is not the only good food around here. We visited an extremely sweet little bistro with authentic Bosnian food, served also in authentic dishes, whose review is coming soon.

"There are not many motorways there, and drivers are committed to suicide inclination."

The main thing to see here is Baščaršija (“Bachcarchiya”), an old market existing from the 15^th Century. Today, it’s still the main place for shopping and visiting the bunch of shops. I can assure you, I didn’t find so many nice-looking shops in Ljubljana when I was there. Most of them are furnished in chic style, traditional or even modern. Service is mostly very professional, and the hospitality is also in their domain. In Bachcarchiya, you can take a tour around and see the market, old buildings, e.g. a mosque, and visit an alley with antiques and souvenirs. We were totally enchanted in this little alley. We bought a handmade plate and copper dzezva – a pot designed specifically to make Turkish coffee or Bosnian coffee like they call it here. To be clear, however, it’s a different procedure in preparation. Well, both start out with roasted coffee beans that are pulverized into a fine powder and cooked in a small dzezva or cezve in Turkey. Turks add coffee powder into cold water, while in Bosnia they have two dzezvas. In one they boil the water and to the other, they put coffee powder, cover it with boiled water, stir it well and put it back on the stove. When the foam is created (they called it kaymak) they put aside the dzezva and wait for the foam to be lowered. This procedure can be repeated a few times, and, in the end, they add some boiled water to dilute it. Later, they pour coffee into a small cup called “fildzan”, which is made of two pieces. One is metallic and the other is ceramic. They serve sugar cubes aside, which you can dip into coffee and eat it. They won't look at you strangely if you put one of those into your coffee and stir it well. Traditionally they also serve their sweets – a jelly-like candy called rahatlokum, which is great with coffee.

"Service is mostly very professional, and the hospitality is also in their domain."

If you buy a plate or dzezva, be very careful. A lot of items are massively manufactured by machine. Their price is lower and so is the quality. In some cases, it can be even toxic, due to the wrong metal they use in producing it. So, if you want to use it, be careful about these three signs. If you use it only for a display it doesn’t really matter: just dust it well so that it shines on. The first sign is signature of the manufacturer, the second is UNESCO, and the third is a mark of suitability.

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