Rea’s is a family-owned spot in Golders Green that serves savoury Balkan pastries and sweets. Placed in the corner or Child’s Hill park (the home of Eagles United FC), the café offers a milky sponge cake topped with caramel (trileqe) and coconut syrup pieces (sheqerpare) with coffee, as well traditional cheese and mince burek — a form of stuffed filo pastry. Like with most Balkan-owned food spots, there is also an extensive range of grilled options on offer. Rea’s has grilled spicy sausage (suxhuk), minced patties filled with cheese (bombica), as well as the regular kofta, ushtipka and pleskavica. 

Elena and Jana’s Euro-fusion lunch and dinner spot brings a Macedonian twist to modern dinning. In the Stoke Newington-based restaurant there’s both Middle Eastern-inspired falafel and halloumi dishes and Balkan specialties, such as cevapi, red pepper sauce (ajvar) and localised cream cheese, kajmak. Lacy Nook’s chefs use distinctly Balkan flavours, while producing accessible, contemporary dishes. Its newly added braised sauerkraut, leek, nduja and grilled merguez dish is a perfect example of this. To get a better sense of traditional flavours from the region, Lacy Nook’s Balkan stew, Balkan shepherds salad and cevapi with lepinja bread are a must-try. Drink Macedonian wine, or home-made spirit, rakija, which the owners keep behind the bar and serve on special request. 

Zara is a local café, popular for its English breakfasts and omelettes, but frequently visited by Kosovo-Albanian families at the weekend. It wouldn’t normally be a place to trek across London for, except for the popular — yet off-menu — Balkan-inspired sandwich it serves. The sandwich is filled with mini minced meat patties (qebapa) in a cream cheese and salad and wrapped with traditional Balkan-style bread. It’s likely the most ordered dish in the café.

This food-stall found on Brick Lane at the weekend features hearty Albanian meals, from okra and leek stews to traditional spinach pite. The father-son owned spot cannot be missed among the many stalls, as they sport multiple red flags with double-headed eagles. As suggested by the name, there are some Italian-style pasta dishes also on the menu. 

Based in Ealing, Mugi has one of the widest selections of recipes and snacks from the former Yugoslavia in London. Owned by Montenegro-born Željko Mugoša, the café features staples from the region from homemade bean soup with smoked meat, to Balkan-style kofta served with ajvar and burek — a filo pastry dish filled with meat, cheese, or spinach. Deserts such as tulumba, a fried batter soaked in sugar syrup, add to the authentic Balkan experience. Mugi also has an outstanding array of snacks available for purchase that are commonly found in Balkan countries, from Argeta chicken pate to Eurocrem — Nutella’s Southeastern-European counterpart. The friendly staff are welcoming to both newcomers and the café’s steady stream of patrons from the region.

South London’s Peckham Bazaar is one of the few restaurants on this list led by a classically trained chef. Albanian-born John Gionaleka opened the spot in 2015 to serve dishes inspired by the country and its surrounding regions that fell under the Ottoman Empire — or what he calls the ‘Eastern Mediterranean.’ The restaurant doesn’t serve what would typically be found on an Albanian family’s kitchen table, but the dishes draw inspiration from the ingredients commonly found in the Balkan region.

Chicken thighs are served with custom pickled vegetables; stuffed peppers are paired with pine nuts, raisins, and herbs. Octopus, cuttlefish, and bream dishes are put together to reflect Southern Albania’s coastlines. The restaurant is a far cry from the grilled meat platters most Albanians are used to, but it takes diners through the elemental flavours that people of the Balkans are accustomed to.