Photos by Worldwide Scott
From the very first time I ate burek - a usually savory and almost always flaky stuffed pastry prominent in the Balkans - it has been, hands down, one of my favorite street snacks.
I've been putting down these delectable little pleasure pillows on the streets of the region for nearly a decade now, and while most transactions have been of the simple "I give you the money, you hand over the burek, and nobody gets hurt" variety, there's a few of them I'll never forget.
Love at First Bite
My first taste of burek came on the island of Hvar in Croatia. After a long night observing local social customs at the island's harborside taverns, I defied oddsmakers and naysayers by waking up early and with plenty of time to spare in order to catch the ferry back to the mainland.
I staggered into a local bakery looking for a handheld breakfast to go and immediately started scanning the shelves, but saw nothing but light, frilly and sickly sweet pastries staring back at me. Being from a land where a sausage, egg and cheese biscuit qualifies as a "light start," I was more than a bit dismayed.
But then something caught my eye: it was golden brown, round, and - how shall I put this politely? - of the greasy variety. I took this as a telltale sign that something special was stuffed inside, so I made awkward eye contact with the baker on duty and proceeded to place my order.
In my best Croatian, which as it turns out is English, I asked "What is inside?" and was told "meat." "What kind of meat?" That was neither here nor there. I held up my index finger to indicate that I wanted one, paid for the pastry and then ran outside with a wax paper bag that was getting soaked by the second.
The combination of the soft and buttery pastry encasing lightly seasoned, crumbled meat was pure magic. With every bite, I fell more head over heels for this pastry and savored every nibble on the boat ride back to the mainland.
Pizza and Burek: Together at Last
A few years later I found myself in Ljubljana, which in addition to being a spelling bee contestant's dream is the enchanting capital of Slovenia. A mad-scientist burek baker here had managed to mix burek and pizza into something called - you guessed it - Pizza Burek. I'm not sure if its creation happened by accident, but this gooey Frankenstein-like concoction had become famous in the city by the time I arrived, and I simply had to give it a try.
I was not disappointed. The Pizza Burek took on a much less flaky texture than traditional burek, with cheese and tomato sauce added to the mix, and the end result resembling a true guilty pleasure. Pizza Burek is not for the faint of heart or those who adhere to something called a "healthy lifestyle," but for the rest of us, it's bliss. There are a few competing spots in Ljubljana that serve up this freakishly good treat, and you can't really go wrong with any of them.
Burek by the Gram in Belgrade
While spending a few weeks experiencing the best that Belgrade, Serbia had to offer us, we found ourselves searching for lunch inspiration on numerous occasions. Being on a budget at the time, we found our way to a burek palace named Sarajevo. Sarajevo specialized in long-spiraled burek that were drier and flakier than previous versions, but full of even more flavor. Sarajevo allegedly uses a coal oven to give their burek its special flavor, and since they charge by the gram, you can fill up on burek for lunch for only a couple bucks.
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