Sarajevo is a beautiful city with a unique kind of historical documentation, instead of knocking buildings down and erecting new ones on top of them the city has developed along a valley in a way that the architecture reflects the various empires have occupied it. This is interesting because in the space of about 15 minutes you can experience a sort of time travel by walking from modern shopping malls and apartment buildings, through utilitarian communist structures, through Austro-Hungarian three story grand structures, and arriving in squat medieval warren-like Ottoman streets. In these windy stone and clay streets is where we find the heart of Bosnian cuisine. Here you will find Turkish restaurants and coffee houses (see Turkish coffee post) , burek outlets (see burek post) and the king of Bosnian cuisine – the cevapi (pronounced CHI-VAPY).
If there is one dish that is ubiquitous in Bosnia it is the cevapcici (CHI-VAP-CHI-SEE) and the most popular place to get it is MRKVA. The dish at its most simple is lamb sausage stuffed into grilled bread and at its most complex it is lamb sausage stuffed into grilled bread with chopped raw onion and cream cheese. For such a simple dish there is a vast array of qualities and flavours depending on where you go. Some places cook on coal, others on a hotplate, some don’t toast the bread, others barbecue it etc. etc. I think Mrkva ia the most popular for these reasons: it has been open for over 50 years, it is located on a sunny corner deep in the heart of the old Ottoman town, they cook their lightly oiled bread on coals off premises, their sausages are well seasoned and cooked on coals and finally because they are very cheap. A seven piece cevapcici costs around 3.50 Marks – about 3 USD. Though the prices changes depending on how many cevapi you want in the cici.
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The dishes are prepared like a fast food restaurant by a couple of female chefs behind the counter and served to you by a group of young males wearing orange uniforms who are enthusiastic and pleasant. They are also happy to provide you with things that aren’t on the menu – they whipped up a very nice chicken salad for us.
Mrkva is definitely the most ‘food chain’ type of place in Bosnia but it is more like a food chain of old that has grown organically from one restaurant into several due to its excellent food and service. Its recent face-lift makes it seem little more sterile than other cevapi spots but the food here is just plain better.
Cevapi is a fast food so it makes sense to get it at a fast food spot. I tried cevapi all over Bosnia and couldn’t find another spot as good.
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HOW I RATE IT
Food – Fast, tasty and fresh.
Atmosphere – Like a family owned food chain, friendly, clean, bright and sunny.
Price – Lunch for two is under 10 Marks (8 USD).
Summary – When you go to Sarajevo you will be eating a lot of cevapcici make sure at least one of them is from Mrkva.
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RECIPES: Links to recipes that I have reinterpreted from MRKVA.
Food Thief 