Bosnia & Herzegovina is a meat country, and I guess that sums up the whole of central and eastern Europe. The national dish is Cevapi which are rolled minced meat eaten with pita bread. I read about the must-eat places for Cevapi in Sarajevo so I suggested to Bubbles, my travel companion in this Balkan road trip, to eat this when we get there the next day. She agreed.
So for dinner on our first night in the country, in the city of Tuzla is going to be some other local fare.
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I did some pre-trip research and found out that there are not many sit-down restaurants in Tuzla. The city is still in its development phase and I will expound on this on a separate post another time.
The popular Restoran Čaršijska Česma came highly recommended on Tripadvisor. This is perhaps the best restaurant in town, located on the main square just across the city mosque. It has a terrace so it’s a great place to sit down for a drink and people watch, but also for lunch and dinner alfresco when the weather cooperates.
This is the main square of Tuzla (Trg Slobode), Restoran Carsijska Cesma is located on the corner, the tangerine coloured building with the Coca-Cola terrace shade.
Bubbles and I decided to sit outside and order the local stews called Dagarica and Muckalica, as recommended by the wait staff. It was not a warm evening in Tuzla nor was it cold. While waiting for the fares to arrive, we had drinks, a bottle of coca-cola and a local apple juice drink. Beside us was a group of German guys just finishing their dinner. Inside was another group of younger German guys. I noticed that majority of the tourists coming to Tuzla are Germans. German businesses are also very much present in Bosnia & Herzegovina.
Finally, our dinner arrived and served in earthen bowls, which I read is very traditional.
Bosnian meat and vegetable stew: Dagarica.
I ordered Dagarica which is a local Bosnian beef stew simmered with vegetables. I found it to be good. The taste is not sensory-wielding but is more like in the league of comfort and home food.
Serbian meat & vegetable stew: Muckalica.
Will we recommend Dagarica and Muckalica? For sure, especially if one has been eating Cevapi for days in the Balkans. We noticed that there’s not much variety in Bosnian cuisine and the Cevapi stand was just as pervasive as the fast food chains in America. I will blog about our Cevapi experiences soon.
Typical Bosnia coffee with lokum candy to go with it.
Then it started to rain so we move indoors and noticed the traditional Bosnian interior of the restaurant.
To finish off our dinner I ordered the typical Bosnian coffee, which in principle is similar to Turkish and Greek coffee. You also get a sweet with it. Bubbles was not fond of Bosnian coffee and even if it's our first day in the Balkans, she says she is already starting to miss the standard European cafe.
It was, shall we say, not bad for a first meal in the Balkans. At least now we know what their (meat) stews are like.
Travel Period: April 2017
Destination: Tuzla, Bosnia & Herzegovina
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Happy Travels! Enjoy Life =)
All pictures were taken by a point and shoot pocket camera or a smartphone.