Montenegro. The Velvet season. Part three. Gastronomic with a light romantic flair
Montenegro. The Velvet season. Part one. "Introduction" >>>
Montenegro. The Velvet season. Part two. "Excursion-tourist" >>>
And sane! Having got acquainted with the expanses of the sea, mountain peaks and urban architecture, one cannot ignore the gastronomic part of the program, because everyone knows that people crave not only circuses, but also bread. And since our package tour included only doruchak (i. e. breakfast), then all the rest of the food, such as ruchak and evenings, we had to organize on our own. After reading a lot of enthusiastic reviews about Montenegrin cuisine, a strong conviction was formed that wherever we went and whatever we ordered, everything would be very tasty, because enthusiastic praise of their preservation sounded from all the speakers. But in our case, everything turned out to be much more prosaic. Maybe we chose the wrong places, or just expected more, or the stars did not align, but in fact, the gastronomic specialties of the Balkans did not cause us great delight, in any case, not all the food was really bite. I'll try to tell you everything in order. Since we were staying at the Three Fishermen Hotel, it would be completely illogical not to taste their morning catch. The restaurant is owned by three brothers; every day they go out to sea to serve freshly caught fish to their guests. One day, when we saw a sword hanging at the entrance, we decided to order dinner. The husband desired a photo with a catch:
And in the evening there was a romantic dinner. We ordered two types of grilled fish - tuna and swordfish.
The main course was served with croutons and garlic sauce. Honestly, if not for this sauce, it would be quite sad. I can’t say that the fish was tasteless, rather it was tasteless and absolutely insipid, without fragrant seasonings, they even saved co and bieber.
What's the deal? When ordering a drink, we decided not to take risks, experiments with wine were already tired, so we chose fig brandy (not, not fig, but fig). With cruel peach, they are all right.
Dinner passed quietly, without gastronomic euphoria. The cost, including tips, is 50 euros (in principle, this is the standard price for a dinner for two in a restaurant). And it’s also customary for them to leave a tip, approximately 10% of the bill).
An interesting acquaintance was a positive moment. Nearby, two young ladies, Estonians, sat down at the table. The conversation with them turned out to be very interesting, and since I had never been to Estonia, I heard a lot of new information, both about the country and the changes for the better after leaving the USSR, and about the life of ordinary people. So, the average salary in Estonia is about 1200-1300 euros, and these two ladies, having arrived in Montenegro, rented a villa for themselves not for 8 days, like us, but for 20. And they are not business women at all, but ordinary IT workers for combine. They did not complain about life, they said that, in principle, the country lives well, the standard of living and the well-being of citizens are growing. So. . . After a romantic dinner, we went to the shetalishte along the romantic embankment.
Remembering the wonderful romantic dinner in Budva, which I wrote about in the first part of my novel, we decided to make "alaverda" and invited the children to our Rafailovici for the evening. Even at the stage of preparation for the trip, we read a lot of laudatory reviews about such a national dish as “lamb under sach” (sach is a lid under which meat is languishing). Not knowing the area, on the advice of our hostess Radmila, God bless her, we chose a restaurant with the same name "Pod Sach", we did not even have any doubts that their signature dish would be simply magical. Having dressed up the pantaloon and putting on our goodies, we go to the restaurant.
This time there was unity on the issue of drinking. We ordered red homemade wine, which is served here in jugs for each visitor.
The wine was very biting, it was the first time in our stay in the country. Having tried all their krstachi and vranatsy, here we were pleasantly surprised. Savoring the wine, in anticipation of a delicious branded delicacy, we expected a masterpiece. And now, food is served:
Doubts began immediately at the mere sight of this gnetina. After looking at each other, they began to eat. It was a complete failure (((((The meat was oversalted, probably with salt saved in three fishermen. Or rather, it was not even meat, but solid sinewy bones, deliciously flavored with straw. We haven’t been cheated like that for a long time. My husband, in principle, is a man non-confrontational, here he could not restrain himself and began to bastardize. I already asked - "we beg you, rachun! ". The owner of the establishment began to lament: excuse me, excuse me, beat your forehead on the floor, raise your hands to the sky and beg us not to tell anyone about this fiasco. Well, no, if you spoiled such a romantic for us, then why should we shield you. Have the courage and dignity to receive an appropriate response. The check amount was 38 euros, of course, no one left a tip. In fairness, I note that the wine was really good. But otherwise, "alaverdi" took a shameful turn. So of all the restaurants that we visited in Montenegro, the Budva "Porto", described by me earlier, was the most credited (the bill for four was 100 euros, including tea but there we got real gastronomic pleasure, enhanced by the fact that the check was paid by the son-in-law : )
Hmm. . . but you have to somehow rehabilitate yourself. Considering the mistakes of past experience, we decided to refrain from the advice of experienced people. Having wandered along the embankment, we noticed a cozy restaurant, in which a decent number of visitors were observed and the saxophone sounded beautifully. One thing, however, was present, it was a restaurant of Georgian cuisine. Deciding that somehow we didn’t succeed with the Montenegrin cuisine, we opted for it. And they weren't wrong. Having made attempt number 2 in the question of "alaverdi", we go to a family dinner. Seeing the konobar "We pray, give me a spruce box. " We ordered Georgian pilaf for the main course. In principle, delicious, but without wow.
But the dessert was just magical! The apple strudel melted in your mouth, and even the ice cream looked like Italian.
We ordered white sparkling wine from some kind of royal cellars, almost from the last century. Konobar took it out of the bucket so carefully and poured it into glasses with such reverence that I already thought it was a rare exclusive. Yep, right now! I don’t know, well, we didn’t make friends with Montenegrin wine at all, the only exception was the homemade product, so skillfully spoiled by the lamb.
We tried to alternate restaurant dinners with romantic gatherings on our cozy balcony:
How nice, sitting comfortably in an armchair, under the contemplation of the waves, enjoying an almost homemade dinner, lazily sipping wine:
If you didn’t go on excursions, then sometimes lunch was served on the same deck, more like a tourist’s student breakfast:
When the rays of the mercilessly scorching sun illuminated our balcony deck with bright light, we smoothly moved the refectory to the room (in glasses of juice, if anything).
The beach lunch option was something like this. To the right of our hotel was the pizzeria "Obala", where they cooked, I would not say that it was bite, but quite edible pizza, costing 8-12 euros, depending on the filling. As for a beach snack with dry wine, it’s quite normal.
Here is an approximate menu of standard Montenegrin cuisine:
For a light snack, I recommend Pekara:
They are located everywhere here, however, from their soft, freshest buns, I became a debeo by the end of my vacation. Even on the Montenegrin beaches, very tender pancakes with different fillings are prepared. The cost of a serving is 1.5 euros, and you can enjoy local pastries for inexpensive. But once again I will shame! You can become a debeo in just a week of rest, like me, for which I put myself in sight, and upon arrival I bought a subscription to the gym, which, due to covid, was immediately closed safely.
Doruchak (or breakfast) was included in our tour package and was organized in the restaurant of the Obala Hotel. In the same place, for all the other "non-packers" the same breakfast could be bought for 5 euros. I think this is a very reasonable price for a standard European breakfest. I mostly sat down on the beach terrace by the sea:
Where I was already waiting for a familiar pass, which I slowly fed:
There was no agreement on the issue of beer. My son-in-law really liked their draft Niksicko, and my husband and I, no matter how we tried to taste it, neither draft nor bottled Montenegrin foam came in, so we switched to Czech.
There is a good beer pub in Old Budva:
After which you can walk drunk on the noisy embankment:
This is the kind of gastronomic Montenegro we got. I can't say that everything was great, but in any case, some of the catering establishments were on top, and many culinary specialties were bite-sized. As for the rest, you just need to ignore minor flaws, and you will be fine! In general, our vacation was so eventful and interesting that time fizzled out unnoticed. We say Praise, Praise, Praise to Montenegro! And the take-off pilot accompanies us until we meet again!
PySy: I apologize to teetotalers and ulcers for such a gastronomic romantic, but you can’t throw words out of a song.
