Where to Eat in Belgrade: My Favourite Restaurants and Kafanas

If you ask me where to eat in Belgrade, I never start with a fancy restaurant. I start with a bakery at eight in the morning and a kafana that stays open until the staff decide otherwise. This is a city that takes eating seriously without making a show of it, and after a few trips I have a routine I keep coming back to.

Belgrade sits where the Sava meets the Danube, and the food leans heavy, grilled and generous. You will eat a lot of meat, a lot of bread and more than you planned. That is the point.

What to eat in Belgrade

Grilled meat is the backbone of everything. Cevapi are small skinless sausages of minced meat, served with chopped raw onion, flatbread and a scoop of kajmak, a soft dairy spread that sits somewhere between butter and cheese. Pljeskavica is the bigger cousin, a wide grilled patty you eat in bread like a burger that got serious. Order either from a grill house and you will understand why locals eat it at all hours.

Burek is the other thing I eat daily. It is a coiled pastry filled with meat, cheese or spinach, sold by weight at bakeries and best eaten warm with a drinking yogurt on the side. It is a breakfast, a hangover cure and a late night snack all at once.

Then there is ajvar, the red pepper relish that goes on everything, and proje, a cornbread you will find on kafana tables. If you see a daily special chalked up, order it. It is usually a stew or a roast that someone has been cooking since morning.

Belgrade kafana culture

The kafana is where Belgrade really eats, and it is the first place I send anyone. These are old taverns with worn tables, long lunches and no rush. You sit down, order grilled meat and salad, and a few hours disappear. Many have live music later in the evening, the kind where the whole room ends up singing.

The old bohemian quarter of Skadarlija is the obvious starting point, with its cobbles and string of traditional taverns. It leans touristy now, so I treat it as atmosphere first. For everyday kafanas I wander into the streets around Dorcol, where the places feel more local and the bill is kinder.

Where to go: neighbourhoods and markets

Dorcol is my favourite part of the city for eating and drinking. It is the old quarter near the river, full of small restaurants, wine bars and cafes that fill up in the evening. You can walk from one to the next without a plan and do fine.

Savamala, down by the Sava, has a rougher, artier feel. It got known for nightlife and design spaces, and while some of it has shifted, there are still good spots to eat before a late one. For a proper night out, the splavovi, the floating clubs on the rivers, run through the summer.

For markets, Zeleni Venac is the central one, a short walk from Knez Mihailova. I go for the produce, the cheese and kajmak stalls, and the smell of grilled food around the edges. Kalenic market in Vracar is bigger and worth a morning if you want to shop like a local and graze as you go.

Rakija and drinks

You cannot eat your way through Belgrade without rakija, the fruit brandy that appears before, during and after a meal. Sljivovica, made from plums, is the classic, but you will be offered quince, apricot and more. It is strong, so sip it and let your host pour. Serbian wine is underrated too, especially the reds from the south, and local beer is cheap and everywhere.

Budget and practical tips

Belgrade is kind to your wallet by Western European standards. A bakery breakfast costs very little, a grill house fills you up for the price of a coffee back home, and even a long kafana lunch with drinks rarely stings. Prices move year to year, so check current costs before you travel.

A few things I always do. Carry some cash in dinars for bakeries, markets and small places that do not take cards. Eat your main meal at lunch, when kafanas are at their best, and keep the evening loose. And do not fill up on the first plate. In Belgrade there is always another one coming.

Heading deeper into the region? My Serbia guides cover more cities and nature beyond the capital, and from here it is an easy hop to Bosnia or down to Montenegro. Come hungry and stay later than you planned.