Vatrenka Belgrade/Beograd 2014
by stasa cafuta trcek (text & photo)
Where: Restaurant Vatrenka, Zemun (Belgrade), Serbia
When: May, 2014
What: Gulty Pleasure Dinner by Chef Vladomir Rasa Vlacic
Lately I have been visiting more often Serbia’s capital city Belgrade. As a winelover and foodlover it is normal to try to explore native wine and gastronomy culture as much as possible. This time I was in touch with Sava, the organizer of Mediteraneo wine festival in Beograd. I asked him to take me to the restaurant which is close to the river with nice view and its cuisine is traditional Serbian represented in a modern way. He chooses restaurant Vatrenka, who is very close to river Danube (Donava). A bunch of us meet in a restaurant. The first impression was great. Waiter warm welcomed us. The place is quite big and everywhere you seat you can see outside – because it is all surrounded with window. Chef Vladomir Rasa Vlacic came to our table and kindly recommends us the sequence of food. Sava’s job was to choose wine beside the food. We started with appetizer: Serbian sushi (they call it srbski s”uši – made of pork, polenta and kajmak (special fresh cheese); praseće bajadere (small pieces of pork who reminds you to pralines; smoked beef served with rucola and mus od duvan čvaraka (pork greaves musse).
The first glass of wine was Smederevka wine variety (its name is probably coming from Serbian town Smederevo). In the past this grape variety was not so popular, but lately become very interesting for oenologists who find out that Semderevka have big potential. Winelovers always try to explore local grape varieties and Smederevka is definitely a wine to start the wine day in Serbia. Fresh, fruity with lively acid – no wonder how good it fits with pork... Dinner continued ... I enjoyed every moment ... dishes were freshly prepared ... meat and vegetables sourced from local growers ... my attention was attracted by deserts: musse made od Toblerone chocolade (Chef was a big fan of world known chocolate Toblerone, when he was young, so he decided to experiment and make sweet out of it. I have to admit he did great job! I just simply love it. It is like to eat silky chocolate. It is called mus od toblerona.
MY TOP dish and wine
Soft bbq ribs (second-to-last photo)
Trijumf (Pinot) noir 2009, 13.9 %, Aleksandrović, Topola, Serbia
More:
www.facebook.com/vatrenka.rest?fref=ts
