Balkan Express: Home of Eastern European Food & Burgers

After a tiring 1st half of the day from baking RJ's birthday chocolate cake last Thursday, Fred suggested having lunch in the new Eastern European restaurant just along Jose Abad Santos (just near 12 Baskets Bakeshop). Here are his exact words, "It's a little expensive but their food is really REALLY good!" Of course if it's that good, how can I say no?

Balkan Express (photo courtesy of spankyenriquez.blogspot.com)

Balkan Express prides itself with delicious home cooked Eastern European food. Their regular meals range from Php180-330. They also serve baked pork knuckles but this is on an order basis since it's really pricey at Php1400/kg. 

Oops sorry for the tissue holder!

Fred ordered his food for take out when he first discovered the place so it was going to be our first time dining in. I really like the restaurant's interior. It's homey, bright, sunny and happy. The wooden furnitures add a warm and comforting feeling to this place. 

The owners of this place are from Serbia. Too bad we didn't see Marko Batricevic, one of the owners, when we were there. Marko is the "noisy" one among them. He's really cheerful and friendly to the customers. 

Marko Batricevic is a UAAP player for De La Salle University. He's part of the UAAP winning team back in 2007 and he's set to graduate this year. He's really REALLY tall so it's impossible to miss him when he's in the store. His Serbian family has been living in Manila for 7 years already and if I'm not mistaken, this is their first venture in the food business here.

Marko Batricevic (photo courtesy of www.ourawesomeplanet.com)

They serve authentic Serbian dishes. His brother Martin is the guy behind those incredible dishes. The names of their dishes are also a little bit hard to pronounce since they are in Serbian. 

I kept laughing when Fred tried to order the Pljeskavica. He was like, "I'll have the Ple-jes-ka-vi-ca?" 

Don't ask me how to pronouce "Butkice", I'll just laugh. :P

menu photos courtesy of spankyenriquez.blogspot.com

I ordered the Cevapcici since it was a little easier to pronounce than the other dishes, I kid! I was like, "I'll get the Ce-vap-chi-chi? Yeaaah, that one on the lower right." 


All that pronunciation struggle in ordering was worth it when our meals arrived because they were SO GOOD! 

Cevapcici (Php 180)

My burger was so fantastic! The meat really was the star in this burger. It was juicy, moist and absolutely flavorful. Even though it was a little messy for me to eat since I'm petite girl, I just chomped on this baby! I had mayonnaise all over my face but it didn't matter. It was just damn good. In my 22 years of life, these are the best burgers I ever had. Seriously. The meat fingers kept rolling out of the bun since I couldn't bite on the burger that big but I didn't mind. I liked eating the meat fingers by themselves too!

My meal was also served with fries. I also enjoyed the fries. They weren't too salty or oily. Plus they taste like real potatoes. I really loved dipping them in the white sauce with mustard. Delicious!

Pljeskavica (Php180)

Fred had the Pljeskavica and he said it was also delicious. The owners asked him how his meal was and he happily exclaimed, "The meat was really flavorful." 


I never realized how delicious Serbian food was. I'll definitely take RJ here one of these days. I'm sure he'll love it as well! I hope they can put more information about Serbia in the place. I'm now definitely intrigued about their country after tasting their succulent meat! Yum yum! 


Go to this place if you're in the vicinity. Fred told me there have been celebrity sightings in this restaurant such as Ai-ai de las Alas. I'm not surprised because they have excellent food here!




If you're looking for more reviews about this place, click here, here and here! Hooray for food blogs! 


More info on Balkan Express:
Address: 87 Jose Abad Santos St. corner Mons St.
Little Baguio, City of San Juan
Contact No: 33-00-945
Owner: Marko Batricevic
Store Hours:  11:30am - 11:00pm


~It's the little sweet notes everyday that matter. :)~


Thank you to the following for their pictures:
spankyenriquez.blogspot.com - menu pictures and restaurant signage
ourawesomeplanet - pictures of Marko Batricevic in the store