Tavče gravče, ajvar and the Macedonian table: the back story

About Tavče gravče, ajvar and the Macedonian table: the back story

By the ULTIMATE Skopje Editorial Team

Editor-in-Chief: Jai Michael

North Macedonia eats from its gardens. Peppers, tomatoes, beans and cheese come from the fertile valleys, the wine from sunny hills along the Vardar, and the cooking is slow and generous. In Skopje you can eat brilliantly in a tiled kafana for very little.

Tavče gravče

The national dish is tavče gravče, white beans baked with onions, dried red peppers and paprika in a shallow clay dish called a tavče. It is earthy and filling, often served with sausages or as a vegetarian main, with fresh bread to wipe the dish clean.

Ajvar season

Ajvar is a relish of roasted red peppers, sometimes with aubergine, slow-cooked and stirred for hours. In September and October families roast peppers on balconies and in gardens across the country and fill jars for the winter. You will find it on every table, with bread, cheese and grilled meat.

In autumn, the whole city smells of roasting peppers.

Kebapi and burek

Skopje’s kebapi are small grilled sausages of minced meat, served with bread, raw onion and peppers; the grills of the Old Bazaar, such as Destan, are institutions. Breakfast is burek, flaky pastry filled with cheese or meat, eaten with a glass of drinking yoghurt.

The kafana

The kafana is the Macedonian tavern: wooden tables, starters of šopska salad, cheese and pindžur (a dip of roasted peppers, tomatoes and garlic), followed by grills, stuffed peppers or sarma, often with live music. Debar Maalo is full of them.

Wine and rakija

Meals start with a glass of rakija, the local fruit brandy, or mastika, the anise spirit, and continue with wine. Vranec is the country’s great red grape, deep and fruity; Temjanika is a fragrant white. Skopsko is the local beer.

Ten dishes to try

Tavče gravče: white beans baked with onion and red pepper in a clay dish, the national dish.

Selsko meso: “village meat”, pork and mushrooms stewed with wine in a clay pot.

Pastrmajlija: an oval, open-topped pie with diced cured meat, from Štip.

Turli tava: vegetables and meat baked together in a clay dish.

Pindžur: a dip of roasted peppers, aubergine, tomato and garlic.

Šopska salata: tomato, cucumber and onion under grated white cheese, shared across the region.

Ajvar: the roasted red pepper relish made in every home in autumn.

Malidžano: a creamy spread of roasted peppers, aubergine and white cheese.

Polneti piperki: peppers stuffed with minced meat and rice.

Tulumbi: crisp fried pastries soaked in syrup, from the sweet shops of the Old Bazaar.

Ohrid trout, once the prized fish of Lake Ohrid, is a protected species, so we don’t recommend ordering it.

Our advice: order tavče gravče and a šopska salad at least once, eat kebapi in the Old Bazaar, have burek and yoghurt for breakfast, and spend one long evening in a Debar Maalo kafana with a bottle of Vranec. Ask for the house ajvar and taste the difference.

Opening hours, prices and seasonal openings change, so please check with Tavče gravče, ajvar and the Macedonian table: the back story before you go.