Eating Cevapi: The Best Food in Sarajevo

Cevapi is a very popular dish, probably Bosnia's most well-known food, in Sarajevo. A cevapi meal is very simple. Small grilled rolls, five for a half portion and ten for a full portion, of minced beef, lamb mixture of both are stuffed in a half somun, a pita-like pocket bread. Often the meal comes with chopped onions, and occasionally kajmak, Bosnian special cheese.

The name "Cevapi" is taken from the Turkish word "kebab," a common Turkish fast-food in Europe. So it makes a lot of sense to me to say that this food has its origin from Turkey and was brought to Bosnia during Ottoman occupation in the Balkan.

When you visit Sarajevo, be sure to stop at one of many Cevadznica inBascarsija and eat a mouthful of cevapi. You will not find better cevapi in the entire Bosnia. In case you are wondering, Cevadznica is an "upscale" fast food restaurant, serving only cevapi.

For pork lovers, you will not find pork cevapi in Sarajevo since 80 percent of the population is Bosniak, another name for Bosnian Muslims. I had a bit of a problem at first, being born and raised in a culture craving pork because pork was the cheapest meat compared to chicken or beef; of course lamb was out of the question. I grew up next to a neighbor who sold pork and pork fat in the market and in front of a house raising pigs. Anyway, I was glad to have the opportunity to cross one kind of meat off my diets for more than half a year.

Cevadznica (Cevapi houses)

These are the best, in my opinion, cevapi houses in Bascarsija, the old part of Sarajevo.

Banja Luka cevapi: Don't forget this name if you can not live without spice. Here they sell Sis cevapi, a much spicier cevapi. Chili peppers are mixed inside and grilled with the meat. At regular cevapi houses, you can only ask for chili pepper, fefferoni, on the side.

Mrkva: The cevapi and somun bread sold here are grilled popping hot; you can feel the crunchiness dissolved in every bite. There is no word to describe it. Some other people, my roommates for example, prefer the somun bread to be cold and soft by soaking them in a special broth.

Zeljo (1 and 2): My guide book and almost everybody I knew agreed that Zeljo serves the best Cevapi, so good that "if you have not eaten at Jeljo, you've never been to Sarajevo." There are two Zeljo houses owned by the same owner and located slightly across from each other. By the way, Zeljo is the name of Sarajevo's favorite football team.

Website: Sarajevo and Bosnia Blog | Original post with picture.