Iris New Balkan Cuisine

Top choice in Belgrade


Belgrade's best foodie bang for the buck is this newcomer clandestinely occupying a 1st-floor apartment south of the old train station. Courses from the tasting menu are based around a single ingredient – whatever head chef Vanja Puškar has procured from organic farmers that week – and taken to new heights without leaving behind their Serbian origins.

Memorable examples when we dined: a stunning Buša beef carpaccio with yoghurt, olive oil and fried sourdough; a perfectly crisp pork schnitzel doused in green pea and mint cream with sage-perfumed zucchini foam; and a delightful fig-stuffed chicken roulade on triple-fried potato, with salty caramel and hop-orange foam. Natural wines often accompany the eight-course menus. Welcome to the New Balkans!


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