Food and drink

Food and drink of Montenegro

I am in my element, reliving memories of 25 years ago when I was studying in Bulgaria and the Soviet Union. More memories of Bulgaria, where the food was more similar to what I am tasting now, as rationing had come into play when I arrived in the USSR.

From the top left, the little sausages, these are cervapcici . I learned of these from a Bosnian work colleague, who told me they were their local speciality, just before I was due to audit her in Bosnia. However a change in plan meant that I didn't go, but have remembered the phrase.. So when I saw this on a menu, had to order them! M. Was concerns, as it was the only item which didn't have a translation, and the waiter looked a little surprised but smiled as I ordered them as had flitted between English, Russian, and poor Croatian. And when they arrived, was exactly as I had expected.

On the top right is a bottle of the local wine.. A red, very fruity, with 'legs'. This bought back memories of the Bulgarian 'gamza', where sometimes we would be able to get bottles of 'Sainsburys Bulgarian country wine' with wonky labels in the supermarket in Sofia, as they had failed the Sainsburys QC test for straight labels. It was around 80p then... This bottle was around 4 euros in a supermarket.

Bottom right are locally smoked ham, very similar to prosciutto, and cheese, from the nearby mountains. Beautiful.

Bottom left is one of the national specialities, a pork steak, beaten thinly, with the above mentioned ham and cheese layered in the middle, and on top... Absolutely delicious. However, it is the bowl of salad to the left of that, which is the most evocative. That is shopska salad, a dish of tomato,cucumber, peppers, creamy cheese, and sometimes olives and onions. Very much a staple diet when I was in Bulgaria, but I think it tastes even better today!

Oh, and Dorsetb, I will try and load an 'extra' of the beer! The dark one is like a mild, the light one is a grapefruit beer!