We’ve made a habit of recommending people where to go and what to do in Sarajevo. As with every place rich with history and various trademarks, sampling local food is placed very high on such lists, and we wouldn’t be a good host if we didn’t have a few places to guide you to. One such place is ASDŽ. Before you say anything - yes, that is difficult to pronounce but once you taste the food there, it will roll off your tongue as quickly as it will take you to ask for seconds.
There’s a word we Bosnians often use to describe good food that we feel perfectly describes the menu in ASDŽ - saftali. Essentially meaning juicy, saftali for many is close to a feeling that evokes certain memories of home, especially from days of old when our mothers, grandmothers, and their mothers took time to carefully prepare a meal. The house starts to ooze different smells coming from the kitchen, and you just can’t wait to get a spoonful of it in your mouth.
That’s how we feel when we enter ASDŽ. It’s located in the very heart of Baščaršija and in the same street as yours truly, so you just know we’re regulars there. What can we say - we Bosnians come from a long line of people that appreciate home-cooked traditional food, and like to pamper ourselves when we’re hungry (sometimes even when we’re not).
ASDŽ first opened its doors during the war period in 1995. The owner Sada is a very dear person to us that has managed to not only run a business in trying times, but to excel and create one of the best places in the entire city to eat, especially if you want a taste of authentic Bosnian food.
Speaking of food, traditional Bosnian cuisine has numerous delicious specialties, the majority of which can be sampled in ASDŽ, with various soups, pies, and other local Bosnian dishes (sweets included). Everything is prepared according to recipes that were passed on from one generation to another, using only local ingredients and no artificial ingredients whatsoever.
Bazerdžan favorites are stuffed zucchini (filovane tikvice), vine leaf roll (japrak), edamame/green beans (buranija), and the ever-popular Bey’s soup (Begova čorba). There are more dishes we could mention but we’ll leave them for you to explore and sample - you’ll thank us later.
If you like what you see and want to know more about Bosnian food, check out ASDŽ on TripAdvisor, Facebook, and Instagram. Also, take a look at Food Dictionary, a comprehensive guide of the culinary offer in Sarajevo that is totally independent, with no paid ranking at all. You can get your quarterly-updated report on all things Sarajevo food via Android and iOS apps and get those taste buds in action.
Image credits: ASDŽ