Dva Jelena

Time and again, people tell me that Skadarlija is Belgrade’s ‘bohemian’ district. Perhaps if it’s repeated enough times, people actually do start to believe it, but so far, I believe it just about as much as I believe that if you put a Big Mac in front of me, I really will be ‘lovin’ it’.

Let’s face it, nothing really left-field, unconventional, or artistic really happens in this part of town and  it seems to me that the label is really only there to attract the tourists to the restaurants on Skadarska, and if that is indeed the purpose, then it does the job well. Last Sunday afternoon, the street was busy with visitors, and all the restaurants were doing good business, all that is except Dva Jelena.

Founded in 1832, the name apparently comes from a time when some hunters arrived with, you guessed it, two deer for the pot. Over the years Dva Jelena has become one of the most famous of Skadarska’s restaurants and continues to win plaudits from both the local and international media, with one including it in its “selection of nice restaurants in Belgrade” another praising it as “one of the best and most renown (sic.) restaurants in Belgrade” and the Los Angeles Times reporter calling it “a pleasant, old-fashioned eatery on Skadarska street”

Dva Jelena is showing it’s age just a little. Some of the wooden panelling on the walls is a little damaged, there’s some graffiti above the urinals in the Gents and the tablecloths have seen better days. Not dirty in any way, just in need of a little TLC.

Aside from a table of young men smoking and drinking, deep in the interior of the restaurant, we had the place to ourselves.

Menu’s arrived pretty promptly, as did some good bread. The menu contains few surprises. All your traditional Serbian favourites make the list alongside one or two more international dishes. So choosing was a pretty straightforward exercise: Prebranac, Muckalica, Pljeskavica, and Ustipci with a side of French Fries.
Perhaps it was my appalling Serbian, but the waiter seemed reluctant to bring a wine list, asking instead what we were looking for. In response to “Serbian red” he brought a Do Kraja Sveta Cabernet Merlot, a Montenegrin Plantage Vranac and a Kovacevic Aurelius. We chose the Aurelius also a blend of merlot and cabernet sauvignon and without wishing to give away the rest of the review in any way, it was the highlight of the afternoon, complex yet mellow and rounded.

The beans were as good as any out there, intact yet soft to the bite in a good hearty sauce, the muckalica was less successful, the pork not quite tender enough, the onion and peppers cooked to a mush in a sauce which was little other than wet. Not even a hint of chilli heat or the rounded spiciness  of paprika.

The menu offered Ustipci sa ljutom paprikom but although they were grilled to perfection, slightly blackened and crisp on the outside and juicy inside, of the hot peppers there was no trace. The Pljeskavica promised cheese but that too seemed to be missing. With a little garnish on the side and one portion of French fries our main meals came in at 1,240 dinars, a little on the steep side we thought.
From the dessert menu we picked pancakes with chocolate sauce which were hot, sweet and good and baklava which was really not good at all, sweet and sticky on the outside by still dry and flavourless in the middle.

I’ve eaten far worse and spent far more money in tourist traps the world over and to be fair we didn’t leave in too black a mood but the restaurant has quite some competition for the tourists’ Euro on Skadarska and nothing, save the wine which was excellent, was good enough to tempt me back. Despite almost 180 years of history, Dva Jelena will find it ever more difficult to live on reputation alone.

Dva Jelena
Skadarska 32
Tel: 011 3234885

Price Guide: 1,750 – 2,250 per person for three courses with a modest wine.