Eat

The trendy Kafet e Vogla neighborhood has a new eatery for people who like to drink, eat, and catch up with friends on Friday nights without annoying pop music, women teetering on too-high heels, and men drowning in cologne: Mezzeria. Opened a few months ago across the street from Komiteti, the Mezzeria experience is similar to that of a slightly more upscale Tirona. It’s the kind of place where you plan to spend at least a few hours drinking and sharing communal, tapas style dishes with company.

I went there early in the week with three friends, and ordered a few dishes to share: a meze plate for two, stuffed peppers, stuffed eggplant and baked potato fries. The meze plate came first, with a generous serving of cheese, smoked beef, cuts of suxhuk – a local, dried cured sausage, olives, and apple. This combination is standard fare for Kosovar meze, except that every part was delicious, the presentation was good, and the olives were not of the cheap supermarket sort. The plate came with four small rolls filled with cream cheese, too little for a group our size, but the waiter brought us a basket full of bread at our request. The potatoes arrived at the same time as the meze plate, cut and seasoned satisfactorily.

Then came the stuffed peppers. Stuffed peppers are a traditional dish in Kosovo, and I was curious to see whether they could compete with my mother’s, which she stuffs with ground meat. Mezzeria’s stuffed peppers are worth paying for – the peppers were properly roasted, and filled with creamy sheep’s cheese and ricotta in a tava (an earthenware pot used for this and other Albanian dishes). They were rich without being greasy or overwhelming, and so filling we left one pepper untouched. The stuffed eggplant followed, also prepared in a tava, with ricotta cheese and a chunky tomato sauce. The flavors blended well in the dish, and the eggplant was tender and tasty.

Mezzeria’s menu also has main courses of pasta, chicken, and beef, but our table was quite stuffed with our shared portions. Our bill in total came to around 20 euros, including one shared bottle of water, one glass of grape raki (which our dining companion described as “very good”), and a small tip. Other dishes worth trying are the qofte in a spicy tomato sauce (they’re not kidding when they say spicy, so be prepared), and the Mezzeria Salad with sheep’s cheese, walnuts, and apple.

The outdoor seating at Mezzeria is ideal for warm summer nights, the only downside being the loud and obnoxious music from Mezzeria’s neighbors. The service is fast and friendly, and not at all stuffy. We’ll definitely be going there again.

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