Bosnian Food

How do you eat where the locals eat? Well you ask the locals. Luckily while in Des Moines an old friend of ours Sam now lives there and he recommended the Saraj Restaurant and Bakery in West Des Moines Iowa. So we went there with Bob's sister and our friend Sam.

When he described Bosnian food it just sounded so good and we were not disappointed. Similar to Greek cuisine but different of course. The meat in the Bosnian gyro is all beef while in the United States it is usually a combination of beef and lamb. Instead of the normal pita bread this gyro is served like a big sandwich with Bosnian bread on the bottom and top. Served along with lettuce, tomatoes and onions and of course tzatziki which is a cucumber based sauce. The Bosnian tzatziki was different than the Greek version we are used to but very good. Bob and Sam both got the Bosnian gyro which was excellent. The gyro meat was superb. The portions are also huge and there is some gyro in our refrigerator right now.

Pita in Bosnian food is also different. It is stuffed filo dough made into a roll. Jo got the Zeljanica Pita which was stuffed with spinach and cheese, a Bosnian spinach pie, which is good but Jo agreed the gyro was better. The Pita comes with a Bosnian mixed salad which is tomatoes, cucumber slices and onions with a sour cream sauce. This salad was also very good. The picture is of a gyro and mixed salad.

Bob's sister got the traditional Greek gyro with chicken which she said was one of the best she has ever had.

We just had to sample a Bosnian dessert so we shared a Sampita, sponge cake with a meringue topping. In this case it was a chocolate sponge cake and a raspberry meringue but it traditionally is a yellow sponge cake with lemon meringue. Saraj offers both types of Sampita. The meringue is also something different, it is more of a marshmallow texture instead of the meringue you may be used to but the dessert was very good.

Sometimes the locals eat at places you may never have tried but give them a chance, like we did at Saraj Restaurant and Bakery. We really liked it and would definitely eat there again.

Till next time,

Bob and Jo