57 of the best · Skopje, North Macedonia
From kebapi in the Old Bazaar to a long night in a Debar Maalo kafana, these are the places to eat in Skopje.
Our 57 favourites, listed A–Z · Updated October 2026
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Three of our favourites from this list, vetted by people who know and love Skopje.
In a 15th-century inn
A restaurant in the courtyard of Kapan An, one of the Old Bazaar’s Ottoman inns, with Macedonian classics under the arcades.
Gradište 14Explore View on map
A Debar Maalo classic
One of Debar Maalo’s best-loved restaurants, mixing traditional and modern Macedonian cooking, with a terrace and live music.
Debarca 51Explore View on map
Kebapi since generations
The Old Bazaar’s best-known kebapi grill, with simple tables and a short menu.
The Macedonian table.
The back story
Beans baked in a clay dish, roasted-pepper ajvar, grilled kebapi, warm burek with yoghurt and a glass of Vranec: Macedonian food is generous, seasonal and full of flavour.
The grills of the bazaar and Debar Maalo.
Since 1987
Skopje’s best-loved burger stand, family-run since September 1987, with branches across the city.
Conversation, not music
A much-loved Debar Maalo grill house, famous for its spiced chicken and pork from the grill and for having no live music.
Orce Nikolov 136Explore View on map
Worth the drive
A wood-and-stone gostilnica 13 km east of the centre, known since 2008 for ribs, white vešalica and Šar-style pljeskavica.
Ulica 9 br. 124, IlindenExplore View on map
Grilled over charcoal
A central gostilnica with meat grilled over charcoal and a wood-burning fireplace in winter.
Mitropolit Teodosij Gologanov 32bExplore View on map
Debar Maalo grill
A busy, informal grill on Orce Nikolov in Debar Maalo, popular with the neighbourhood’s artists and students.
Orce Nikolov 105Explore View on map
On Debar Maalo’s kafana street
A kafana and grill at the corner of Živko Čingo street, in the heart of Debar Maalo.
Živko Čingo 1Explore View on map
An Old Bazaar grill
A small, plain grill in the lanes of the Old Bazaar, where locals come for kebapi, bread and a salad.
Kebapi since generations
The Old Bazaar’s best-known kebapi grill, with simple tables and a short menu.
A bazaar classic
One of the long-standing kebapi grills of the Old Bazaar, with tables out on the lane.
Carefully chosen meat
A modern grill restaurant known for the quality of its meat, a favourite for long lunches and business meals.
Varšavska 70Explore View on map
Four decades in the bazaar
A small, much-loved Old Bazaar grill known for its kebapi and its burgers, with a few tables inside and out.
Kafanas and traditional restaurants.
Recipes handed down
A warm, modern restaurant for traditional Macedonian cooking, open from breakfast to midnight.
Jordan Mijalkov 62Explore View on map
A long-running favourite
A traditional restaurant known for grills on wooden boards, pies and regular live music.
Morning soups
A long-established restaurant for Macedonian cooking, grills, roast lamb and pork, and morning tripe and veal soups.
Ulica 513 br. 22bExplore View on map
Lively and local
A lively gostilnica on Debar Maalo’s Boemska street, with Macedonian home cooking and a friendly crowd.
Gjorgji Peškov 5Explore View on map
Soup from the copper pot
A rustic gostilnica known for fish soup cooked in copper pots and generous Macedonian comfort food.
Mitropolit Teodosij Gologanov 79Explore View on map
Bohemian since 1965
A downtown kafana on Maksim Gorki that has been a meeting place for Skopje’s bohemians since 1965, with live music at weekends.
Maksim Gorki 18Explore View on map
The neighbourhood kafana
A traditional kafana named after its neighbourhood, with local dishes and live acoustic music.
Živko Čingo 5Explore View on map
A neighbourhood favourite
A neighbourhood restaurant on Orce Nikolov in Debar Maalo, popular with locals for Macedonian home cooking.
Orce Nikolov 109Explore View on map
Over twenty years
A long-running restaurant a short taxi ride from the centre, with grills, fish, desserts and local wine.
Nikola Tesla 11Explore View on map
Folk interior and music
A restaurant decorated with traditional Macedonian objects, with meat dishes and live music.
Mitropolit Teodosij Gologanov 63Explore View on map
A 1939 tavern, revived
A modern Macedonian restaurant in City Park that revives the name of a bohemian 1939 tavern.
Mekici and family lunches
A large family restaurant with Macedonian cooking, a garden and a children’s playground.
Ulica 20 br. 5Explore View on map
In a 15th-century inn
A restaurant in the courtyard of Kapan An, one of the Old Bazaar’s Ottoman inns, with Macedonian classics under the arcades.
Gradište 14Explore View on map
A soup for every taste
A homely restaurant with what may be the city’s biggest choice of soups.
A Debar Maalo classic
One of Debar Maalo’s best-loved restaurants, mixing traditional and modern Macedonian cooking, with a terrace and live music.
Debarca 51Explore View on map
On the river quay
Macedonian and Balkan cooking with a modern touch, on the Vardar quay beside the GTC and at East Gate Mall.
Kej 13 NoemvriExplore View on map
The old house
A restaurant in an old house on Pajko Maalo, with traditional Macedonian cooking.
Pajko Maalo 14Explore View on map
Wood-fired oven
A big traditional gostilnica in Leptokarija with charcoal grills, a wood-fired oven and old-town songs.
In the countryside
A traditional ethno restaurant 10 km from the centre in Kučkovo, set in 6,000 m² of gardens, open every day of the year.
Modern cooking, hotel dining and good wine lists.
A garden in summer
A small, carefully chosen menu with a summer garden and a cosy winter room, next door to Skopski Merak.
Debarca 53Explore View on map
At the Marriott
The restaurant of the Skopje Marriott, on Macedonia Square.
Maksim Gorki 7Explore View on map
Modern and central
A modern European and Mediterranean restaurant on Maksim Gorki street, near Macedonia Square.
Maksim Gorki 31AExplore View on map
Dining with style
The restaurant of Park Hotel & Spa, at the edge of City Park, with an award-winning record.
Among the vineyards
The restaurant and wine library of the Kamnik hotel, set among its own vineyards on the edge of the city.
In a five-star hotel
The elegant restaurant of the five-star Limak Skopje hotel, mixing international, Turkish, Italian and local cooking.
Železnička 31Explore View on map
Wine and modern cooking
A modern restaurant and wine bar on Kliment Ohridski boulevard.
Bulevar Kliment Ohridski 66Explore View on map
Lake trout and Mediterranean fish.
Vrutok trout
The first restaurant of Skopje’s ‘Fish’ group, opened in 2006 in Aerodrom; the speciality is red trout from Vrutok.
Bulevar Jane Sandanski 14Explore View on map
Summer terrace
The fourth restaurant of Skopje’s ‘Fish’ group, at Hotel Aristokrat, with seafood, grilled fish and a summer terrace.
Elisie Popovski Marko 59Explore View on map
A Greek head chef
A modern Mediterranean fish restaurant in the TCC Grand Plaza hotel, with a Greek head chef.
Bulevar 8mi Septemvri 2/2Explore View on map
Fish and seafood
A long-popular fish restaurant done up like a fisherman’s cabin, with fresh fish, squid and fish stew.
Skopje’s Italian kitchens, old and new.
Since 1991
One of Skopje’s first Italian kitchens, opened in 1991, with pizza, pasta, panzerotti and a popular breakfast menu.
Bulevar Partizanski Odredi, TC LeptokarijaExplore View on map
Italian in the GTC
An Italian restaurant in the GTC shopping centre beside Macedonia Square.
GTC 205Explore View on map
An old mill and a wine cellar
An elegant Italian restaurant around an old mill wheel, with a garden, a pond and a well-stocked wine cellar.
A Roman trattoria feel
An Italian restaurant on Bulevar Jane Sandanski with dishes from different regions of Italy.
Bulevar Jane SandanskiExplore View on map
Asian, Latin and café-restaurants.
Something different
A Mexican cantina on Makedonija street, the pedestrian street south of the square.
Makedonija 11Explore View on map
On the river
An international restaurant on the Kej 13 Noemvri riverside promenade.
Kej 13 Noemvri 2/4Explore View on map
Away from the noise
A calm restaurant with international cooking and a warm room, away from the noise of the city.
Zagrebska 31Explore View on map
More than a decade
A relaxed urban bistro with Mediterranean dishes, Asian-inspired plates and handmade burgers.
Radnjanska 4/1Explore View on map
On the main square
A restaurant and café on Macedonia Square, blending Macedonian and Mediterranean dishes.
A family business since 2005
A rustic, cosy ‘grand café’ by the Vardar, serving meze, desserts and full meals from breakfast to dinner.
Kej 13 NoemvriExplore View on map
Moored on the Vardar
A hotel, bar and restaurant on a boat moored on the Vardar in the city centre, with a terrace on deck.
Kej 13 Noemvri 5Explore View on map
Japanese, Chinese & Thai
The Skopje branch of a Turkish restaurant chain founded in 1997, with Japanese, Chinese, Thai and Korean dishes.
On the square since 2002
A lounge restaurant and café on Macedonia Square, open since 2002, with international food and cocktails.
Macedonia SquareExplore View on map
Lighter food and late breakfasts.
Healthy food
A small healthy-food bistro in Debar Maalo with salads, bowls, smoothies and fresh juices.
Orce Nikolov 142Explore View on map
Price guide per person: € under about 600 MKD, €€ 600–1,500 MKD, €€€ 1,500–3,000 MKD, €€€€ over 3,000 MKD.
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