My afternoon began with a 10-minute drive from Shkodër to the small village of Shiroka! It’s located on the shores of Lake Shkodër, the largest lake in the Balkans. It’s close to many significant locations, including the neighboring country of Montenegro across the lake, the Albanian Alps, and the city of Shkodër.
We arrived at a row of lakeside restaurants. We’d be having lunch at Sunset Restaurant, which is one of the best eateries in the area. They make fish from both the lake and the Adriatic Sea, which is just on the other side of the mountains.
We dined al fresco, at a table on the terrace right by the water. They also have an outdoor terrace higher up, as well as an indoor dining hall with huge windows, which give you stunning views of the lake. We’d start with some white wine and then enjoy a few plates. They even have pasta, which is big in Albania due to the Italian influences in their cuisine and culture. The wine was delicious and perfect for the weather!
Our meal started with a Greek salad with lettuce, olives, feta, cucumbers, and tomatoes. The salad was so fresh, and everything is farm-to-table. The feta cheese was so nice, and the Albanian olives were super tasty. The food and wine with the view of the water was the best!
Next was bruschetta, which was basically flatbread with tomatoes, oil, and cheese on top. It’s almost like a pizza. The bread is soft but has a crispy exterior, and the fresh tomatoes and fresh cheese were excellent!
Then, we got two types of fish, including a fish from the Adriatic Sea that had been baked in salt and some lake trout cooked in a tava with a nice tomato sauce. The Adriatic Sea fish was caked with salt. You have to dig it out!
The salt-baked fish was nice and buttery and had a nice salt level. It was a lot less salty than I thought it would be and was super fresh! I had to dig through it a bit to make sure there were no bones or spines. They also give you a nice amount of fish! They give you so much that I was already getting full.
Next was the lake trout in the tava from the lake. It was so buttery and fell apart in my mouth! I also got a bit of a trout organ, which was really nice. I had to be careful because of possible bones, but it was so fantastic. It was some of the best trout I’ve ever had! It was also nice and hot. I liked it better than the salted fish even though it had lots of bones.
What a great experience! It was super relaxing.
Then, I headed inside to the kitchen to see how they made everything! Inside, I watched them make lots of dishes, including fish, meat, and cheese tavas in a super hot oven!
Then, we hopped in the car. Along the way, my friend Andy from Travel Albanian Alps told me that Shiroka is known for its fish, so no one goes there for anything else. You can also swim in the lake there. It’s a great place to visit with your family!
We crossed the river and passed by Rozafa Castle, where you can get incredible views of Montenegro, the Alps, Shkodër, the rivers, and more. We made it back to Shkodër, and I learned that here, the people take a siesta in the middle of the day like the Spanish and Italians do!
My name is David Hoffmann. For the last 12 years, I have been traveling around the world in search of unique culture, food, and history! Since starting David’s Been Here in 2008, I have traveled to over 1,100 destinations in 77 countries, which I welcome you to check out on my YouTube channel, travel blog, and social media sites.
I focus a great deal on food and historical sites, as you probably have seen! I love to experience the different flavors that each destination has to offer, from casual street food to gourmet restaurant dining. I’m also passionate about learning about the local history and culture.
P.S. Thank you for watching my videos and subscribing!
Trout, you can still find some bones so you gotta be careful. This is incredible. It's fantastic.
Good afternoon everyone, I hope you're all doing well. This is David Hoffman from David's Bin here
coming at you from Scirocca, Albania, a small village located on Lake Skodar, the biggest lake
in the Balkans. Right over there we have Montenegro, border of Montenegro, Albanian Alps, and then over
here we have the cultural capital of Albania, Skodar. From there to here it's a 10-minute drive
and this is a strip of restaurants, all they got here. Just lots of restaurants,
non-stop fish restaurants, and today we're eating at Sunset Restaurant. It's one of the
best in the area and they make incredible fish from the lake and also from the Adriatic Sea
because the Adriatic Sea is literally over the mountains on that side. Alright guys, I'm hungry,
I'm ready, let's go eat some fish and explore the area. Follow me. Andy, love the view bro.
Thanks mate, enjoy it. It's the best you're gonna get for today.
This guy's too much. So we're waiting for our white wine, we have like three or four plates coming.
Oh my god, fish, they also have pasta I saw, so obviously Italian influence. And here we go,
here's the wine. Let's try this wine. Albanian white wine, delicious. This is like perfect
for this, this weather. This, I think it's a greek salad. Yeah, it's a greek salad,
definitely it's a greek salad. You can tell it's a greek salad because they added the olives. I
feel like if it's just, yeah, but sometimes you, like, shopka salad in Bulgaria is the same but
with no olives, right? Yeah, but to you it might look like a russian salad, but it's not a russian
salad, it's a greek salad. But taste it and see if it's greek or bulgarian or albanian. Look how
green that is. This salad with this view, the wine. I'm starving, it's already almost 2 p.m,
waited way too long to have lunch, but it's all good.
So fresh, nice lettuce. The best thing about everything you eat in Albania is that it's
farm to table. Straight up, it's grown in the farm right here, they bring it here. Nice spread of
cheese. Is it good? Good, enjoy. And this is an Albanian olive, they have loads of olives here.
So tasty. Yeah? By the lake, have some fish, have some fresh vegetables. Dude, cheers.
What a view. Good view, good wine. So tomorrow we go straight up in there, right?
Just straight up there? Past these mountains, we're gonna pass them. At least from Skoda to where it's
gonna be around about 89 kilometers, just driving in the mountains, so it's gonna be fantastic.
And this is bruschetta. Dude, amazing. If you guys don't know what this is, it's basically, you know,
plain pizza or plain dough, and then they add tomato on top, they add some oil, and it's
incredible. Nice cheese. This bread is made like a pizza. Wood oven, it's, you know, nice and crispy,
nice and soft. I love the cheese. The tomato is super fresh. Wow. You want to slow down with this,
there's a lot of fish. Oh my god, what is that? You have to get a hammer and hit it.
I haven't got a clue yet. I'm just trying to figure it out how to open. So the fish has been baked with salt,
salt throughout the whole thing. We have to basically dive in and cut it open. We have two
different fish plates. We have the one of the trout from the lake in the Tava, and then over here we
have the, basically it's an Adriatic sea fish, I don't know exactly which one it is, but it's baked
in salt. So it's salt and then they crush it open, they break it, and then he cleans it out so you
don't get any spines. He slowly cleans it and then he serves us. So here we go. Salted fish from the
Adriatic sea. Let's try this. I'm sure it's gonna be super salty. Good.
Oh, I mean, I love the salt level. Not extreme salt, but you do get it. Nice buttery fish. And I don't know
what's happening here, but there's like a freaking hornet. Wow. So fresh. As I said before, the
Adriatic sea is literally like five kilometers that way. Right there. Fresh fish.
Oh, this is bomb fish. Look at this delicious flesh. Just make sure there's no bones, no spines.
Right, there you go. A little bit of the bone. Take it apart. Another one here. Be careful with this.
It's my enemy. I love fish, but I hate, hate the bones. The lake for sure. This is probably trout.
And they don't skimp out with how much fish you get. And for two people, that fish is perfect.
You know, the Greek salad, bruschetta, the fish. I'm already full. This other fish is just excess,
but I really gotta try it because obviously that's from the lake. Tomato sauce.
Salty. This is nice and it's not as salty as I thought it would be. So it's great. There you go.
This one is for you, Dave. I hope I don't choke to death. And this is the trout that was cooked in a
tava with tomato sauce. I can't wait for this. Oh my god. Literally falling apart in your mouth.
Buttery, still really hot. Wow. I don't even know what this is. It's like an organ.
Trout. You can still find some bones, so you gotta be careful.
One of the best trouts ever. Wow. It literally just falls apart. And the heat to it, you know,
obviously eat it right when it comes to your table. Don't wait. Don't let it get cold. This is,
this is incredible. It's fantastic. I actually like it a lot more than the salty fish.
Freshwater fish is very different than saltwater fish. Just gotta get into those bones though.
Uh-oh. Lots of them. No, thanks. You sure? Yeah. It's a big piece here. No, you can eat it.
That's it, my friend. Delicious trout from the lake while you're watching the lake,
drinking wine. I love Albania. What a beautiful spot. Give me five.
What a great experience here. Delicious fish, view, the wine. I mean, the whole thing is really
relaxing. As you can see, they have two different terraces. Upstairs, it's more like a garden
terrace. Down here, I think it's way better. There's a few tables right here with umbrellas
and then the view of the lake. So beautiful. You can also sit inside if you want air conditioning.
They have a great dining hall with glass all around, so you have beautiful views of the lake
as well. Now, let's go upstairs. Let's go into the kitchen. Let's see how they make some fish.
So here in the kitchen, they're doing so many different things. They're making fish,
but right here, they have the super hot oven. They throw in the tawas. You have fish tawas,
meat tawas, cheese tawas. I mean, I can't even be here. It's too hot. Literally.
Oh, it's like 500 degrees. We are done with sunset. Sunset restaurant here in Shroka.
Let's do it. Let's rock and roll. Hot, huh? Too hot. Albania in summer. It's scorching,
but it's worth it. Especially people here come just for the fish. No one comes here for pizza.
No one comes here for meat. Shroka is known just for fish because of the lake, and that's it.
So you can't go out on the lake on a boat, right? You just come here. You have fish. You can swim.
Oh, you can swim. You can swim if you want to. Come here, relax with your familia, have fish,
drink something, and enjoy the view and the lake and the fresh air. And they have a boardwalk.
You can see it right here. Yeah. Shroka is a tiny village. I mean, we started at sunset.
In two minutes, we got to the end of it. That's how small it is. But it's a great place to come
with families, relax, enjoy your weekend, have some fish, have some wine. The best restaurant
for sure is at sunset. I think it was the best. Also, seating. Like you're right next to the lake.
The rest of them are like at the top. It has a beautiful view. It's the best part. I think it
has a beautiful view. You feel like you're eating somewhere. Well, you feel like you're eating
actually on the lake instead of the rest, which are here, which have nothing to do with the lake.
So we just crossed the river. And right in front, we have the castle, the main fortress. It looks
over everything. From there, you can see Montenegro, the Alps, the city, rivers. I mean, it is
the best place if you want to get a bird's eye view of the city and surrounding area. And yeah,
this is Shkodra, right? Shkodra, cultural capital of Albania, northern capital. People say that.
Shkodra is quite nice, actually. It's not big. It's quite a small city, but it's with everything
inside. Basically, we have the lake here. We have the sea only 23 miles from Shkodra,
Velikoja seaside. And we have the mountains over there, which are really famous right now.
We have the biggest national park, Theth, which is really famous all over Europe and almost all
over the planet. And we have Valbona, which is famous, too. And Lake Komane. So without coming
to Shkodra, you can't visit none of these places. They call it Siestra. And basically, the people
go home, relax with their families. Someone has a nap for a couple hours, and then everybody
shootbacks out around 5.30, 6 o'clock in the evening until 12 midnight. One depends.
Very Spanish and Italian, I love. Siestra time. Mixed up. Yeah, yeah. And that was Shiroka
Sunset Restaurant, the best place to eat fish here in Shkodra. It's only a 10 minute drive,
right there on the lake. Beautiful views of Montenegro, the Alps, the city. I mean,
super epic. I gotta say, the fish was phenomenal. The tava, the salty fish, wow. But the trout,
I gotta say, the trout was, for me, the best. Obviously, the bruschetta, the salad, nice white
wine from the house, and the experience. I mean, you go in, family-style restaurant,
everybody's super friendly. It feels high-end, but it's really local. You know, everything is
locally sourced. All the vegetables, all the fish. They also have meats if you want to,
but obviously, you're up here, you're by the lake, you're by the Adriatic Sea, you gotta have fish.
And then, we came all the way back to Shkodra. We saw it basically dead. It's dead right now.
But yeah, guys, I hope you enjoyed the video. If you did, please give me a thumbs up. Leave me a
comment below. Subscribe to my channel for more awesome travel content. I'll see you in the next
travel food adventure in Shkodra, Albania. Peace!
