Belgrade, Serbia: Surreal â€œCevapi and Sarmaâ€ Dining at Lorenzo & Kakalamba

I am a self-confessed foodie, but I am more the type who likes to eat than to cook up a storm in the kitchen though. However, I am also a self-confessed curious eater, who hankers for dining with a view and dining in interesting (themed) places. If you follow me in my travels you will see this very obvious pattern.

In Beograd (how they actually call Belgrade there), I had dinner at this out-of-this-world avant-garde restaurant. I found the restaurant while searching for places to eat at Tripadvisor. What I normally search for in a restaurant is a combination of the following elements:

Good rating because this means visitors have enjoyed the food and their experience (does not have to be number 1 or in the top 5).
Have a stunning view (I truly hanker for this) or…
Must have a great ambiance. Interior design matters a lot.
Interesting concept if itâ€™s a themed restaurant. The original and wierder, the better!

Since I am staying 3 days and 2 nights in Belgrade, that means I have 2 dinners in the pipeline. The first dinner was at this opera theatre themed restaurant in the Old Town called Little Bay. For my second night I picked Lorenzo & Kakalamba, a one-of-a-kind unique restaurant located in the Vracar neighbourhood. My senses are already stimulated with just the mention of the name of the restaurant, haha.

So after my late afternoon walk in Skardalija and drinks at the Republic Square, I headed back to my lovely hotel apartment in Terazije to freshen up. Then I went down to the reception and chatted the guys about my options on travelling to the restaurant. Walking would take me half an hour, that is if I am seasoned enough to navigate the streets at night. They didnâ€™t like the idea of course. The same goes with taking my rental car. So they suggested instead that I take a cab and that they will call one for me. They advised strongly not to take the taxis waiting outside the hotel because they will charge me twice.

Advice on taking cabs in Belgrade: Call in advance or pick a running cab. Taking the cab is really cheap here!

When I arrived at the restaurant I was welcomed by a rainbow of glaring lights and happy colours. Wow, the whole restaurant is like a museum of some bizarre avant-garde kitschy art exhibition. Itâ€™s a jungle of extravagance, of outrageous colourful pieces and whatnot. Standing male and female in tuxedo lamps. Mismatched chandeliers, tables and chairs. The city of Florence painted on the walls. Preposterous very bright and out-of-this-world art sculptures and installations. A giraffe at my back? Oh yes, some pink flowery curtains please! Black and white striped pillars. Garlic, tomatoes, paprika and sheep hanging upside down from the ceiling. It is indeed a surreal of a place.

They seated me where I had a good view of the restaurant. I seem to have ready company as well which I did not mind at all. At my back is a huge giraffe (my bodyguard!) and well, well, I am dining with a very unusual Mr. & Mrs. pair.

My table mates, the Mr. & Mrs. pair and the giraffe at my back. Some company I got, huh =)

The restaurantâ€™s food specialty is a fusion of Florentine and Pirot cuisine. We all know Florentine right? Referencing to the beautiful city of Florence in Italy. While Pirot is a place in south-eastern Serbia. This is going to be a very interesting culinary combination.

After thoroughly scanning the food menu I found the local traditional section. I want to eat something native and not some fusion experimentation. I then quickly spotted the sausages. Aha, Ä†evapi (plural: Ä†evapÄiÄ‡i)! The national food of Serbia. Mini skinless minced meat sausages on the grill. I have eaten them before as they are sold frozen in packs in supermarkets (LIDL has them). But I want the real deal this time in Serbian soil.

In addition to this I asked for a pickled cabbage side dish called sarma. If you are into kimchi and sauerkraut, you will love this.

Did I say that their menu card is just way too cool? And oh, I forgot to retrieve my cameraâ€™s memory card in my laptop so helaas, my camera has no disk space, which is the reason why the rest of the pictures of this entry is not really of good quality. #iphonepictures

The menu card: Wearing a spaghetti dress and slowly being undressed by your glutton boyfriend, haha. I know, this restaurant is really weird in a nice way.

My last evening meal in Belgrade: Cevapi/Cevapcici and Sarma.

The verdict: The food here was quite okay. Perhaps what I had was not the best food choice in the restaurant to order since this joint is specialised in Florentine and Pirot cuisine, but it sure is a great place to compromise my wants. By combining my curiosity of this wacky place and having my last evening meal in the city with traditional food

And oh, by the way, which is very important — you can take a peek at the kitchen below through the huge glass tiles on the floor. Pretty cool. Scroll down this entry to see a picture.

So I am giving this restaurant a big YES. A super fun, outlandish, kooky, quirky place and comes highly recommended if you are looking for something different in Beograd. Staff were very helpful and friendly as well.

Do take note that the restaurant is not in the immediate vicinity of the Old Town so you would need to get a cab to come here (approximately 7-10 minutes drive from the Old Town). They can also call you a taxi going back to your hotel or wherever you want to go.

More pictures below…