Dining Out: Daka

I’d never experienced the old menu, but I’m a sucker for anything new, and someone in the office had received a circular inviting us to sample the new menu at Daka.

Restaurants that feel the need to offer ‘new’ menus have usually had some trouble with the ‘old’ menu, finding that it wasn’t attracting quite the repeat business that they’d hoped. So, often, the proprietors will lavish money on making sure that everything is ‘just so’ before they launch their new menu. And, as long as someone is keeping a firm hand on the tiller in the kitchen, things often go well.

As an added incentive to turn up, we were promised the Sajka Folk Orchestra every Friday and Saturday, to romance us, as we ate.

A nose for wine, I believe I have. A nose for directions is something I do not. So it was quite some time after we left that we eventually found Daka, which, it turns out, is not too central, but nevertheless fairly conveniently located close to Dzordza Vasingtona and 29-i Novembar.

Through a small alley from the street is the restaurant’s terrace.  Enclosed on all sides by tall buildings, it’s been thoughtfully designed with tall pot plants, ornate ironwork and a mirrored wall to give a feeling of space.

New menu there may be.  New decking there wasn’t and my dining companion went flying over the broken decking which was sticking 5 or so centimetres up from the surrounding planks.

The new menu too was in short supply, but we were guided through the options by one of the very professional front of house team, my companion selected some grilled vegetables and a pepper steak, and after some discussion, I opted for a dish of mushrooms and prawns gratinee, followed by a steak with a white truffle sauce.  On the side, a vitaminska and a mixed green salad.

To drink, from the list delivered verbally, and in descending order of expense, we selected a Radovanovic Chardonnay, which came pretty close to the end. 1,600 dinars is fairy steep for what is a fairly ordinary although wholly acceptable chardonnay.

We didn’t see the orchestra, but as we waited, we were entertained with a CD bought late at night from the shopping channel, which must have been called ‘Music for Lovers’ - a ‘must have’ 15 CD collection, yours for only €69.99 – or something similar.

We had a long time to listen. The lady in red came and went, my funny valentine popped in, Captain and Tennile did it to us one more time, I believe, and so it went on.

By the time the starters arrived we were pretty much out of wine, and placed a late order for a bottle of Tvrdos, Manastir.  This was priced at 3,000 dinars and was therefore not something really that should have been ordered on a whim, but the gods were with us, and it was a supple, easy-drinking, mouth-filling red, with enough tannins to be pleasingly dry and long in the finish.

The grilled vegetables were, it seemed just that. A generous slug of olive oil and another of balsamic vinegar livened it all up, but a garlic rub and grilling alongside some woody thyme or perhaps a marinade in some of the balsamic vinegar before grilling, would have helped.  The gratinee was served sizzling in a huge dish.  The cheesy topping was nicely browned, the sauce was creamy, the field mushrooms cooked but still firm and there were enough chunks of large prawns to make the 700 dinar cost seem acceptable.

Good quality grilled meat is what we’ve long come to expect in this town and our steaks were up to the usual standards.  Moist, tender and very big, nicely rare, but still slightly charred on the outside.  The white truffle sauce, was heavily scented, and had an up-front truffle taste, but I struggled to find any shavings amongst the mushrooms and the sauce, which was just a little thick.  The pepper sauce was not so good, lacking a good stock base and flavoured with dried peppercorns, rather than softer preserved green ones.  The accompanying salads were fresh, chilled and dressed, if a little uninspiring.

To finish, a portion of Bajdera, which was richly ‘chocolatey’ and a half potion of two strudels, one  apple and one cherry, which looked great, but had, I suspect seen the inside of a microwave just before we got them. Unfortunately this meant that parts of the filling were as hot as a nuclear core, and others pleasantly chilled.  It also led to the fine strudel pastry being limp and chewy.

So, in the end a mixed review.  Faultless service throughout, some very good food, some not so great, some awful music and no sign of the promised orchestra.

Restoran Daka
Djure Danicica 4
Tel: 011 3341347

Price guide: 2,500 – 3,000 per head, for three courses with a modest wine.