Insane KOSOVO FOOD!! Farm to Table SLOW FOOD at Molla Egër | Outside of Pristina, Kosovo

Hello, hello, hello, very good. Suju. The spicy sauces. This is what he makes. Oh, it smells phenomenal. It's okay? Oh, it's good. It's spicy. Good morning, everyone. I hope you're all doing well. This is David Hoffman from David's Vineyard coming at you from Arusha Waterfall in Kosovo. This waterfall is located between Dracova and Pristina and today what we're doing is we're going to view the waterfall and then we're going to go drive to the capital and on the way we're going to stop at a cave and then we're going to have a delicious, amazing lunch. My first lunch in Pristina, the capital of Kosovo, and this place is basically like 13 different pools, right? And over here we have a small cafe. You can have coffee, Raki. Right now it's not open. It's nine in the morning. Really, really early. Really cold. And what else do you know about this waterfall? This is a natural waterfall which makes this region of Kosovo very beautiful. This is a natural one and has created 13, as you mentioned, 13 small lakes and at the same time it has 13 small waterfalls, but the two biggest and most beautiful ones are in the end. So normally here you can hike, you can go up and you can see more. It takes some time. You have to be like a good hiker because it's quite a little difficult and dangerous, but you can enjoy the view from the top. Yeah, so for us, we're just viewing it here. You can get on a small boat, go right up to the waterfall. It's cold. It's windy. And yeah, guys, that's basically it for the waterfall. Are you ready to go to the cave? Yeah, let's go to the Gadima cave, a marble cave, which is discovered during 1960s, if I'm not wrong, and that's unique. It's a bit similar with the Postojna cave in Slovenia, you know, marble inside, a lot of marble. It's funny because I've been there. Yeah, I've been there. That's like right there, right between Italy and Croatia, like right in that little section. All right, guys, let's go. So this is the village just next to the waterfall. This reminds us the past and you can see a lot of Kosovars and Albanians, they like to have a huge wall in their houses because in the past we had like war, civil wars, and people doesn't feel yet happy, safe. For that reason, we have a lot of walls surrounding the house, each house. Yeah, the coolest thing about this place is that each house has like almost like a super colorful, I mean, it's similar to like a mosaic, they're going in that angle. Almost every single person has their gate really colorful. I've never seen this before, only in this village. Look at this one, another one. All right, so we stopped here in the village because we saw a guy cutting some wood. He was only on camera, so, you know, Arjan is doing it himself. All right, Arjan, do it. Okay, guys, so the way you do it, put it like that and go straight on it, right? All right, one more time, one more time. Last shot. Too hard. Yeah, done. Done. Well, that's intense. That's intense. I don't know how he does that every day. So, we're a little hungry, guys. We're stopping here at a restaurant that is like stone, something stone. Let's go inside and see what it's about. Let's try some bread. Oh, wow. Tava. That's bread in Tava? I gotta try this bread. Look at this. So good. Nice, fluffy. And what is he doing in there? So, he's doing some chicken. So, we ordered like some Chinese stuff. Yeah. So, basically, it's Tava chicken that you put it inside the bread and the bread also has some oil and some other stuff, some other spices, right? You know, we had breakfast at 7 in the morning. We're way too hungry now. It's been 3 hours. Fresh. The chicken comes from right here. It's so good. Wow. The bread. The bread's phenomenal. Perfect. Perfecto. Thank you, guys. Delicious, delicious. You ready? Yeah. Let's go Pristina. Ciao, ciao. Nice snack. Fantastic. Super tasty. So, now we are on the way to the cave. We are, we have taken this very good highway called Jafercefa. It has two lines, so easy to go straight away to Pristina. And before we reach Pristina, we have a beautiful cave. Yes, it's also known as the M9 and it connects with the E851, which is the main highway entering Pristina from Western Kosovo. And, as you can see, I mean, it's, people think Kosovo is like really, really mountainous. It is, but it's more like hills. It's not mountains like in North Albania, like Valbona, where you have these huge peaks. It's just a lot of hills, a lot of ups and downs. The best thing about Kosovo is the roads. Everywhere you go, you have great paved roads. I mean, they're really investing a lot in the infrastructure. Over here, farmland, mountains, green. You know, it's a little overcast, but obviously it's winter. It's going to be like this almost every single day. Yeah, I'm excited, I'm excited. I can't wait to see the cave and to see Pristina. I mean, Ritahora, right? Ritahora, Pebereca, Dveljipa. Yes, we are here. So we'll walk like 50 meters and go to reception, buy tickets and visit the cave. It costs 2 euros per person to enter the cave. And this is it, right in front of it, you have the entrance. And this is the cave. Getting colder as we get in. Oh nice, you got to watch your head though. It's low, it's very low. So the temperature of the cave is always 30 degrees. Winter, summer, it's always constant. So everything in the cave is natural besides the light and the paved floor. So this is how it was. It's always been like this. They never touched anything here, right? Gadima cave is discovered by a villager from Gadima in 1967. He was called Aslan. Ahmet Aslan. He lives very nearby. He was working in his garden and he missed some working tools. And then when he was checking, he found a hole. So then he comes in and he saw this beautiful natural site. Guy told me that one millimeter takes 30,000 years to be created. I think it's two meters, so you can imagine how old. Yeah, I mean it must be ancient because look at that. It's crystallized and one millimeter is like tiny. That's 30,000 years for this? Like that little? It's huge. And how deep does it go? 600 meters, yes. 600 meters, so it's huge. It's very, very long. This cave is one of five in the world with marble. And the concert we're just leaving now, I mean the concert hall, they call this because it's a bigger space and the acoustics are perfect to arrange some voicing, singing, etc. And one of the schools of Gadime, children, when they open the first day of the school of Gadime, they perform in this concert hall, let's say. Throughout the cave, you can see different things that resemble animals, maps, etc. But this one right here is like an eagle, right? So we have the head, we have the feet, but over here we have a hole and it resembles the map of Kosovo. So it's almost like a diamond in a way. Yeah. Right? Beautiful. And I mean you can keep walking forever, right? 600 meters? It's huge. Oh, what a massive cave. So marble cave. And look at all these. These are all the crystals. One millimeter. 30,000 years? Yeah. Insane. What is this? This is a lake, a symphonic lake. Yeah, it's a lake inside the cave. Small one. This is a massive cave. I mean, to be honest, I've never been in a place like this. I've been to the one, like I was saying, in Slovenia. That one's a little different. It's really big. But this one, because it's lower, you can really see the details in the marble. All these beautiful crystals. What is that? It's amazing. Oh, this is like the spot, huh? Yeah, so specialists have started counting the millimeters. 30,000 years, one millimeter. So they have calculated all and they say this cave is over 80 million years. And over there we can see the beard of Skanderbeg, they call it. So here we can do some acoustics, right? Hey! If you stand right here, it's like... Wow, it's loud. So this is the most interesting part of the cave. It's called the Garden of Love. Because over here we have two stalactites. They are called Romeo and Juliet. And they are trying to join each other. And they'll join each other after 1,200,000 years. Right here we have the end of the cave. And here you have a ton of crystals. So each one of those took a few million years to develop. And this one, as you said, so you have the tall piece on the top. On the bottom as well, this is really thick. But then it still has about 4 or 5 inches to go. So like a million years, at least a million years. Wow, incredible, I love it. And I like how they set it up. So it's really easy to walk through. They, you know, make concrete, put lots of lights so you can see. Alright guys, we are done with the cave. Let's go, let's hit the road and go straight to Pristina. We're gonna stop at an amazing restaurant. Sounds like a farm, right? What is it called? Wild apple. Wild apple? Yeah. So I'm guessing there's some apples there. Maybe some apple raki? Let's rock and roll. Let's go. So Wild Apple is right outside of the capital of Pristina. And on the way, as you can see, the road is impeccable. Beautiful road. You have just lots and lots of different villages. Never-ending minarets, housing, farmland, and lots of commercial space. Gas stations. That's basically what you see here, right? Yeah, this is the new highway. So a lot of villas around Pristina. We are a little out of Pristina, but you'll see a lot of villas on the way. After a 30-minute drive, we are here. Wild Apple. Love this already. Really rustic feel. Beautiful. Beautiful dining area, right? This is awesome. I like it a lot. So we're gonna try some Wild Apple Raki. How are you doing? Good? Good. Alright, so we came to the back to see how they make different dishes. Look right here. They have like 8 different desserts. Amazing. This is almost like a creme brulee. A chocolate tart. Got watermelon. Okay. This is where the action happens. Hello. Very good. Suju. The spicy sauces. This is what he makes. Smells phenomenal. It's okay? Oh, it's good. How is it? Spicy. It's very nice. And right here, he's doing the chicken. So this is where he's cutting the chicken. He's putting it into the tawas. They're gonna put it into the oven. Right? And over here, the way they serve it, they serve all the food on these beautiful wooden plates. Right? Like cutting boards. Amazing. And this is Philly? Philly, yeah. Philly's the best. Oh, yeah. That's so good. So we have the amazing chicken tawa right in the oven now. He showed me dessert. He also showed me this big platter that we're gonna eat. And this guy right here, he's actually cutting up the philly and throwing it on the pan. And that's butter? It's a burro. So you know. So here we have the appetizer. Everybody's getting the same thing, right? So it's cheese with pesto, cherry tomatoes. Delicious. And the onions. Yeah, yeah. These onions. Right? Besides everything we're seeing here, he's also putting in lamb tawa. Amazing. I cannot wait. I cannot wait because that's what I really want to eat. But he's mixing the philly with butter and putting it on the pan. He's basically just mixing it. Making it super. Five minutes. Five minutes? After five minutes. And it's ready? It's okay. Boom. Okay. I'm hungry. No more talking. Okay. All right. After seeing how they make all these dishes, I cannot wait to eat. This is gonna be amazing. We gotta start with some apple raki. My friend, are you ready? Cheers. This is apple? This is hazelnut. Ercan said hazelnut, but it's actually walnuts. Walnuts. Oh, it's sweet. Yeah. It's a sweet raki. Obviously very flavorful. The walnuts in the Balkans are the best. I really like it. It's smooth. It's easygoing. Perfect way to start our meal. And this is our appetizer. So we have cheese, pesto, cherry tomatoes. This is actually kueh leg. Purple kueh leg. Never seen that before. And you have basil. So I'm gonna dive in. Presentation. Oh, man. Look at this. Super soft cheese. This, mix it with the kueh leg. Perfect. Some pesto. Oh. My God. Love it. Oh, wow. Super creamy cheese. Kueh leg's fantastic. Kueh legs are awesome because they're small. And the yolk is really nice. Oh, wow. And the amazing thing about this place is that it literally is a farm. Outside, you have turkeys, you have chickens, you have, you know, all the animals that you need for a farm, right? Lots of cows. Cherry tomato. Wow. So juicy. Just cut. Mix. Pesto. Love pesto. You don't really find pesto in Albania, right? Mmm. Wow. That cheese. So fresh. It probably was produced today. My favorite style. David, here we have a mixed appetizer. We have flea, burek, yogurt, some vegetable, carrot, pepper. We'll start with some flea. It's a different way from cucas. I can feel the butter. Lots of butter. Yeah. The first thing we're starting with is this amazing cheese pesto. You eat it like this, right? Mmm. This is so soft. Wow. So many layers. Mmm. The cheese. This is the same cheese that we had in the appetizer. Mm-hmm. Mmm. And right here, we have cornbread. Corn is a huge thing in Kosovo and Albania. Oh, what is that one? Apple raki. Apple raki? Yes. Mmm. Buon appetito. Thank you. This cornbread? The best we've had on the trip. Mmm. So soft. Crumbly. This is for my friend. Cheers. I mean, it's good. But that is strong stuff. Okay. Next up, we're trying the flea. So, I saw how you made it, right? You just basically threw flea in a pan with lots of butter. Mm-hmm. Fresh. So buttery. I know. Super fresh butter. Wow. Mmm. So many layers. It's basically like a yummy crepe. It has a lot of flavor. Crispy, too. A little burnt. So, I'm going to try some flea, and then we try yogurt. Like this. So fresh. Look at that. Wow. Mmm. Oh, incredible, man. It's the freshest yogurt ever. Mm-hmm. I love the flea. Very different, huh? The butter. Usually, you just eat it. Mm-hmm. Mmm. Oh, this is so good. Look at the layers here. So, the difference between flea and burek is, basically, flea, they put it in these big pans, and then they bake it with a fire. But it's layer, layer, cheese, right? Really filling. This one's really fatty. All right, guys. Let's jump on the next round of appetizers. It looks like grits. Mm-hmm. So good. It's Kosovo grits with sucuk. So, spicy sausage, similar to chorizo. Mmm. This is amazing. Oh, I love it. Crumbly, right? This is phenomenal. Mmm. Like I mentioned before, they also make the sucuk here. So, every single thing is made here, farm-to-table. This is like a melted cheese. This is more like a crumbly cheese. Yeah. Different kind of cheese. Yeah, Kosovo is famous for cheese, bread, paper. You saw on the way, a lot of paper, left, right, side. Non-stop. Super spice. Big paper. I gotta try this one first. I love it. Look at that. Oh, man. So, it's one big pepper, pepper with cheese. The best thing ever. My favorite. Oh, it's spicy. Mm-hmm. Mmm. The cheese. Super moist. Whoa. I gotta flush it down with some raki. That was a spicy pepper. So, let me show you what we have left. Super spicy chili. Mmm. Spicy. Nice roastiness. Moist. Over here, we have cheese. More cheese, always. Mm-hmm. Mmm. We have a creamy red pepper cheese. Mm-hmm. So, red pepper mixed with cheese. Oh, I love this. This is the best. The paste with the bread. And over here, I don't even know what this is. Basically, more chilies with cheese and bread. Mm-hmm. Oh, it's good. Nice. Really creamy. Extremely creamy, actually. It's less than these because usually, like, the cheese is, like, crumbly. That's just, like, pure, like, liquid. So, this is how I do it in Italy. I open it up. I put everything in it, right? Look at that. I don't even know what this is. This is, like, almost like basturma, right? Put a piece of cheese, too. Little sandwich. Mm-hmm. So, it's cured meat, delicious bread, cheese, and the paste. And that was appetizers. Dude, what are you doing? It doesn't stop. Good job, good job. My friend, what is this? This is another kind of raki, pear raki. Mm. It smells so strong. Yeah, some of them smell light, but they're strong. Some smell strong, and they're very strong. Some of them smell strong, and they're not strong. But, you know, we'll see. Oh, it's strong. By the way, the music here is epic. Traditional Albanian music paired with raki, with lamb, with chicken. I mean, can't get better than this. Here, I'm going to try some lamb. Mm. There's nothing like lamb in these two countries, right? Always baked with a tava. That was in the tava. Put it into the oven. Incredible. And here we have chicken, the whole chicken. And that comes with rice, as well, right? Wow, look at that. The juices are just dripping. Just bite into it, right? Mm. Just going to pull off this. Look at this. Oh, man. The skin. I love the skin, but right now, I want the meat. Mm-hmm. Chicken from farms are always tastier. Always. Mm. Amazing. Thank you. Thank you so much. This is fantastic. I like chicken, but my favorite is always the lamb. There's no better meat on the planet. Mm-hmm. Mm. This is so good. Yeah, I like the chicken, but I'm going to go all out with this lamb. Wow. Mm-hmm. Oh, just pull off. Mm. Lamb. Lamb, right? Ribs and lamb. Yeah, lamb ribs are the best. Oh, look at the flesh. Yeah, I know a lot of people that don't like lamb. My parents don't like lamb. My sister doesn't like lamb. My wife loves it. Obviously, she's half Greek, so. So delicious. Mm. The chicken, the lamb, the vegetables, everything was delicious. My favorite thing was the super spicy pepper with cheese. Mm. Unreal. Of course, they're my friend. Tomola Egar. Tomola? Mola Egar. Cheers. This is a dessert they bring us. Ice cream, watermelon, wild apple. This is caramel, and down there is a cream of white apple. And this one is typical traditional Kosovo. We call this Srandetlija, but here he gives us another name. I'm not sure. You know, I'm not a huge sweets guy, but I have to try it. I'm starting off with the traditional one, right? This one. Srandetlija. Mm-hmm. Similar, but different from baklava. Lots of nuts, crumbly. Mm. Over here we have the wild apple. Obviously, that is the name of this restaurant, wild apple. Gotta try that. Mm. Almost like an apple pie. Very similar. And this is ice cream with like a biscotti, no? Mm-hmm. Wow. What is this? It's like an herb, right? The wild apple. For me, that is the best one. Do you? Yeah, I love it. It's the best. So good. It's a very unique taste. Different textures. Mm. So good. Mm. So it's like a crumbly cake with a wild apple on top. Mm. Palamanderi, palamanderi. Thank you, thank you very much. Palamanderi. Palamanderi, palamanderi. Amazing, amazing. Too much food. Oh, thank you, thank you. And before we leave, I want to show you what they have here. So right when you walk outside, they have like tomatoes, small garden. And over here they have a lot of turkeys and chicken. Over here we have more hens. Some hens. Over there we have roosters. I mean, yeah, this is sort of how it is on the farm, right? So they always have a section where they have the animals. You know, separate, always in fences. Over here you can keep walking. Yeah, just more chickens. Wow, so they can roam more over here. So there's a bigger area. Okay, pretty cool. So I'm guessing these are like wild apple trees. I don't know exactly what trees these are, but this is where these animals are, these chickens. And that's basically it, guys. Let's go to Pristina. I cannot wait. First day in the capital. Let's do it. Only a five-minute drive from the restaurant is the capital of Pristina, Kosovo. I'm super pumped. I'm going to be exploring for the next two days. I cannot wait to eat, see the bazaar, see all the sights. And yeah, that was our day today. We drove from Peja to Pristina and we stopped at many different spots. We started off at the waterfall. Yeah, waterfall, Miruša waterfall. Very beautiful waterfall. There's many different falls and like 13 different falls plus mini ponds that they all dump into, right? So you can hike up there if you want. Obviously, we're limited with time, so we just saw it. And then we left and we drove to an amazing spot, a cave. It's one of five marble caves in the world. Marble caves. What was the name of the cave? Kadima cave, 600 meters long, very old one. Millions of years old. That's what the guide said. And then we came to this restaurant, Mula. Mula Eger, wild apple. It's like a farm, farm to table experience. The food was outstanding. Lots of cheese, lots of bread. The lamb and the chicken were phenomenal. I mean, everything was unique. And the most unique thing really was the apple raki. It was strong, it was good. My favorite thing was that roasted red pepper with cheese. Oh, spicy and delicious. What was your favorite? My favorite was the lamb. The lamb, yeah, yeah, yeah. The lamb ribs. Oh, so tiny but so juicy. Lots of flesh, fat. Oh, amazing. And yeah, guys, I hope you enjoyed this video. If you did, please give me a thumbs up. Leave me a comment below. Subscribe to my channel for more awesome travel content. We'll see you in the next travel food adventure in Pristina, Kosovo. Peace. Background music playing.