Foodie Sarajevo

After our favorite dinner on our trip at Klopa, second only to Hisa Franko, we were looking forward to exploring foodie Sarajevo for a second night. But, first we still hadn’t had lunch. So we headed over to the burek place that Neno recommended and tried pumpkin burek and meat burek. It was much lighter than the one we had in Ljubljana, and it came with a light yoghurt sauce that was quite refreshing. Let round 2 of foodie Sarajevo begin at Buregžinica Bosna.

We then walked around the marketplace and spent some time listening to the bronze workers in the famous bronze district.

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We also found Sarajevo to be a hot-bed for artists – there were five art galleries that caught our eye, after some browsing, we identified two main places we wanted to come back to. There was one that painted abstract Bosnian houses, another that painted Sarajevan scenes on reclaimed lumber, and the third was a tiny gallery of mixed watercolor and oil scenes of the countryside.

Considering we still wanted to work up an appetite for another foodie Sarajevo dinner after the burek, we decided to walk up to the nearest fort.

On the way, we spent some time remarking on a very large cemetery on the hill. We assumed it was Muslim since it was located more on the outskirts of town (we learned this in Morocco). Stopping to look closer, we noticed that all of the grave markers had death days of 1991-1996. All from the Balkan Wars.

We continued up to the fort, only to have it started raining. At the top, we were able to take some pictures just before the downpour began.

We stuck around for 20 minutes for the rain to pass, which it didn’t really. Frustrated, and with one umbrella between us, we went back down the steep hill, trying not to slip on the smooth asphalt or cobblestone.

Back down in the city, we stopped by the library and found this plaque on the door, commemorating the year it was bombed by the Serbians and burned (1992).

Back at the room, we showered and relaxed for a bit, I blogged and Brendan researched dinner. Wanting to continue our success eating our way through foodie Sarajevo, Brendan suggested we try the #2 restaurant on Trip Advisor – Apetit. We made sure to get there by 1900 to avoid the Ramadan rush.

Lucking out again, we found a table in the cozier area by the kitchen. It was once more an open concept. I immediately set upon trying Bosnian wine. The waiter, who was very helpful and accommodating, tried talking me out of it, suggesting a chardonnay from Serbia instead. I insisted on the Bosnian wine, naturally. The waiter was right, it wasn’t very good – too sweet and floral, even though it was characterize as a dry white wine.

Still, it wasn’t very bad either, and it went nicely with a fresh salad and some bread. Brendan got the pumpkin soup, and it was tastier than the one you had in Kotor by far (the balsamic vinegar was a nice touch as well).

By the time we were done with our first course, I was ready for a second glass of wine. This time, the waiter’s recommendation. It was much better!

For dinner, I had the beef stir fry with turmeric rice. Brendan ordered the venison, one of the waiter’s recommendations. We both enjoyed our dishes and the service, but not quite as much as at Klopa. Our eating experiences around the foodie Sarajevo scene had not yet disappointed us.

Feeling inspired by our penultimate foodie Sarajevo experience, we were on the prowl once more for art. We found some, not at the places we had scoped out earlier, but at a new one that was just opening for the night. It was staffed by an adorable woman, who turned out to be the artist’s mother. He had just finished an art exhibit and purchased this shop in town. His exhibit, and all of his art, focused around the theme of the Secret Harbour. Anchored vessels in our memory.

Once we took the time to learn about the meaning, we quickly began to appreciate the pieces. Ultimately, we found two we liked and got to meet a fabulous woman.

Our final stop on our foodie Sarajevo tour was the Slasticarna Ramis, a dessert parlor to try the tufahije, an adult applesauce dessert made of walnut-stuffed apples stewed in sugar. It was really light and refreshing, and a good compliment to the balkava square and dark chocolate cake I ordered.

Our time in Sarajevo had come to an end, and it was time to leave. It was still raining.