🧳 CEREN ISMET SHEHU: https://www.instagram.com/ceren_ismet_shehu/ 🇦🇱 DAVID’S BEEN HERE ALBANIA SHIRTS: https://teespring.com/stores/davids-been-here My first day in Albania continued that afternoon with my friend Ani from Balkan Pearls Tour Operator. We made the drive to the village of Surrel, which is located just 20 minutes outside the capital, Tirana. It’s an amazing farming community that’s home to one of the best restaurants in the country! Come along with me as I enjoy some insane Albanian food, including farm to table slow food, at Ceren Ismet Shehu in Surrel, Albania!
Ceren Ismet Shehu is an incredible restaurant that focuses primarily on meats like lamb, goat, and veal. They prepare the meat multiple ways, and I’d get a full experience of their whole operation!
First off, I loved their greenery of the path leading up to the front door. There were lots of plants and flowers, an open-air terrace where people were eating, and even a little stream! It was beautiful.
Inside, I could see lots of wines in racks and some goat yogurt. It was an authentic farmhouse-style restaurant with high ceilings and two stories! I met the owner, Ismet, who was smoking some lamb and goat for 3 hours. Then he would marinate it and add a wine reduction sauce. The ribs he was smoking looked unbelievable, as did the tomahawk and chicken shish kebabs!
He marinated the meat by brushing it with thyme that had been dipped in a pesto-like sauce. There were also potatoes, a vegetable soup, burek, and a type of Albanian pancake called flija! The flija had tons of layers in it and was so tasty! The potatoes were also amazing! The tomahawk was a light medium rare. It was bloody, fatty, juicy, and smoky! The flavor of the thyme was out of this world!
Ismet actually cooked for the Queen of England in 2010! From the restaurant, we headed to Ismet’s farm, which was gorgeous. I saw lots of organic tomatoes, peppers, corn, eggplant, peaches, green apples, grapes, and plums. They’re some of the freshest in the country!
Back at the restaurant, it was packed! We went upstairs to the terrace to have our appetizers, including tzatziki, goat cheese, salad, stuffed peppers, beef sausage, two cheeses, olives, cabbage, and a thick sauce.
The pepper stuffed with cheese was hot, creamy, and amazing! I loved the cheese with wild berries! There was a stuffed green pasta with a creamy cheese sauce and a shish kebab. The pasta was stuffed with cheese, which more cheese on top. I loved it the creaminess and earthiness! The kofta kebab was smoky and tender.
Next was a tava dish with squash, mushrooms, and nuts. It was super creamy and my favorite dish of the trip so far! I continued with the flija and the burek with spinach and cheese. Both had lots of yummy layers! Then, I tried a quail egg with beef around it. It was earthy and beefy!
Then, I had some goat milk yogurt, which was different, salty and natural! Finally, I tried the veal ribs with barbecue yogurt and berry jam. The ribs had peanuts on top. It was unreal with the smoked, barbecue yogurt! They blew my mind!
Ismet cut up the goat meat for me, which contained beetroot. It was so tender and double-smoked! It was so buttery! I enjoyed it with a local house wine!
Then, I had a cigar-shaped baklava with walnuts and vanilla ice cream, a blueberry cheesecake, and chocolate with ice cream with kadaif on top. The chocolate had a layer of pasta on the bottom and crunchy kadaif on top. It was sweet with a texture similar to vermicelli noodles!
The cheesecake was so amazing, and the dense baklava was unbelievable! What an incredible restaurant and an awesome meal!
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 78 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!
Normally in Albania, I know most of the people like medium rare meats, they like well done.
Yeah, I like it a little bloody. Do we just eat right here? Of course you can.
Dude, this is the experience right here. I'm gonna get a super bloody piece.
Bloody and fatty. How is it?
It's juicy, it's smoky, I love the taste of the thyme.
Wow, the vegetables man, like having that extra-ness.
Farm to table, this is like farm to my stomach, that's it.
What's up everyone, I hope you're all doing amazing.
This is David Hoffman from David's Been Here, coming at you from beautiful Albania.
I just drove 20 minutes from Tirana, the capital, over here to the village of Surel.
And this is like a farming community.
They have one of the best restaurants in the country, which is right behind me.
It's called Seren, right there, I love Seren.
They focus heavily on meats.
They have lamb, goat, veal, they smoke them, they cook them.
This is gonna be amazing, we're gonna get a full experience.
We're gonna go in the kitchen, we're gonna see how they smoke the meats.
Then we're gonna eat lots of delicious, delicious, like mouth-watering food.
And then we're gonna explore the farm around.
Annie, you ready?
I am ready.
Are you hungry?
I'm starving, let's go.
Annie, I love this entryway, this is beautiful.
You have all these plants, flowers, over here we have an open terrace.
We have a two-story restaurant.
And over here, as you can see, open air, beautiful, love it.
Like a little stream right here.
And then you walk in and this is it, look at this.
So you have tons of wine, rakija, I don't know, that's like a dessert, cheese?
It's a goat yogurt.
Goat yogurt.
So where's the meat, guys, where's the meat?
So Ismet is the owner of the restaurant.
He also has another restaurant in Pristana, which is the capital of Kosovo.
This restaurant is like his biggest, but he's also opening a bigger one nearby.
Wow, look at this place.
Very traditional, authentic farmhouse style.
Oh man, I can't wait for the food.
My man, what's up?
You doing good?
Yeah.
What are we doing?
Some stuff, meat.
Meat, veal, goat, lamb?
Goat, veal, this is meat, goat and lamb.
Okay, so what are you doing here, you're smoking?
Yeah, smoking.
Lamb and goat, so you smoke it for how long?
For two or three hours.
Two or three hours, and then you put it in the oven?
We marinate.
You marinate?
Yeah, in the oven.
And then oven.
Yes.
And then you put wine reduction.
Yeah, red wine reduction.
And that's it.
So this is re-smoking.
This is like smoking the second time, once it's done.
So these are the ribs right there.
Yes.
Oh my God, this looks so good, man.
I'm excited.
And over here, what are we doing?
We're grilling?
Yes.
Skofta.
So you have the tomahawk.
Yes.
Huge piece of meat.
Over here, we have the shish kebabs.
Then we have green onions.
One I left for you to put it here.
Oh, you left it for me?
Yeah, you can do it now, put it in.
Tomahawk.
So good, so put it.
Oh my God, it's like popping in there.
So we have three tomahawks, chicken shish kebabs.
We have everything.
Oh, what are you doing there?
Whoa, you're just marinating with that?
What is that?
This is all like, we got some spices.
Thyme, thyme.
Thyme.
Yeah, thyme, thyme.
We got thyme.
Almost like a pesto.
Yes, but different way.
Different way.
Whoa, this is going to be so good.
Potatoes.
So what is this?
What type of soup is that?
It's vegetable soup.
Normally, only kids take care of the soup.
They don't, because in village, they want to eat.
But the kids like normally shish kebabs and soups.
They like most of them.
Okay.
But I like to do like popo oven with the wood.
And then over here, we have like two different pies, right?
Yes, this is potatoes.
This is a burek.
Okay.
This is phli.
Phli?
Phli.
Phli is very hard to make it.
Like you have to do in three hours, you have to make two phli.
It's very hard.
And like this.
So burek had it a lot in Bosnia.
I love it.
It's so good.
Minced meat, sometimes cheese, sometimes spinach, right?
Yeah.
Mixed.
And then this one is a little different.
It's round.
I'll show you how many layers.
Whoa.
It's just, this is very hard to make it.
That's why it's called.
It's like a thousand layers.
Not really a hundred layers.
You have to try a nice hot, this one.
Gonna try.
So try this.
Oh my God.
So what's in it?
Just layers of dough, right?
Not cheese, nothing else?
It's nothing.
Just layers of dough.
Yes.
Wow.
I'll say I'm going to have a little more.
This is very hard to make it.
Oh my God.
So no cheese, no spinach, no meat.
Just layers.
The potatoes.
You could just smell and smoke.
Smell it.
Smells so good.
Do I just eat it like this?
Oh yes.
Yeah?
Like slow food.
Wow.
Like medium rare.
Normally in Albanian,
no most of the people like medium rare means.
They like well done.
Yeah, I like it a little bloody.
Do we just eat right here?
Of course you can.
This is the experience right here.
I'm gonna get a super bloody piece.
Bloody and fatty.
How is it?
This.
It's juicy.
It's smoky.
I love the taste of the thyme.
Wow.
The vegetables man.
Like having that extra-ness.
Farm to table.
This is like farm to my stomach.
That's it.
I know you knew it.
I've never tasted a tamahal like that.
Wow.
It's so different.
And if you really want to get into it,
dig into that bone.
I love this two-story restaurant by the way.
The upstairs is amazing.
It's super high ceilings.
Open air.
All wood.
My boy A. Smith actually cooked for the Queen of England.
Elizabeth II.
When was that?
2013?
2010.
Okay and you finished in 2013.
That's incredible man.
Wow.
Congrats.
That's amazing.
Thank you.
The Queen.
You know she only likes port wine.
Porto.
I was a student.
Okay.
I was a student there.
I was like excited what I'm doing there.
But it was good.
It's amazing.
It was very good experience.
Really it was very good.
I was shocked when the lecturer told me.
Hey A. Smith you are picked up to go with 10 students.
The best student of the school to go there.
I said what?
Oh yes.
It was very exciting because I didn't know nothing.
And it's like you have to do dear majesty and stuff like this.
But it was very good.
I was excited.
We're going to the farm here.
Neighbors one.
The first thing you get.
I can smell the pigs.
Oh wow.
This is amazing.
Look at this.
Gorgeous.
So what are they planting here?
So lots of tomatoes.
Organic tomatoes.
All organic tomatoes.
It's a pepper.
Yeah.
Spicy.
Yes.
What is this?
Are these like pepper?
Yeah.
These are peppers.
No.
What is this?
Corn.
Yeah.
These are corn.
Eggplant.
Look eggplant right here.
Amazing.
Delicious.
Yeah.
So this is apples right here.
Green apples.
Yes.
Now you got to eat it dude.
Oh yes I will.
No this is the plums.
The plums.
Oh sorry.
Plums.
My friend I think what's the coolest thing about this place is the amount of land here.
They've literally consumed it all and you know they're producing some of the best and
freshest tomatoes, apples, peaches, grapes.
You can see grapes over here.
Wow.
Tomatoes.
Oh man look at these tomatoes.
They're so big and plump.
Oh they're so juicy.
These are like village tomatoes right here.
Wow.
As you can see you have an incredible view over mountains, valley.
Now I'm really hungry.
Now we have to go eat.
Now it's time to eat.
Yes.
My friend you good?
As you can see this restaurant is really popular.
It's packed right now.
So many people here eating.
They come here for the best and freshest food in the area.
We're coming upstairs.
I think we're gonna sit on the terrace if we can.
If there's space.
I think that's perfect.
Yeah.
So this is our appetizers.
We have this is like a tzatziki.
This is goat cheese without salt.
Over here we have a salad.
Over here we have I guess like stuffed peppers, green onion.
There we have beef sausage.
Cheese as well.
Two different cheeses.
I don't know what that is.
It's like a cheese with like a berry inside.
And then over here we have olives.
We have cabbage.
And then we have another like type of sauce.
Like a super thick sauce.
How do I start this my friend?
Just start?
I want to really start one of these.
Look at this.
This is a stuffed pepper.
It's gonna be a little spicy and there's cheese inside.
It's hot.
It's creamy.
This is amazing.
The best man.
Right here we have cheese with wild berries.
So I want to start off by eating this one.
This like it's like a green pasta.
Like long pasta with a creamy sauce.
Cheese sauce right?
Look at this.
Beautiful.
Wow look at this.
So good.
I'm also gonna grab a shish kebab.
Oh and it's stuffed.
So it's like a veggie pasta stuffed with cheese and then cheese on top.
This is so ridiculous this food.
I love it.
Oh my god.
The creaminess to it.
The earthiness.
Wow wow wow wow.
And next up we have a chicken shish kebab.
So here it is.
Oh my god.
Nice like basically minced chicken.
Oh my god.
The textures.
The smokiness to it while on the grill.
It's too good.
I mean it just gets better and better and better.
And right here we have a tava right?
And this one has mushrooms.
I think there's squash in here.
Also some nuts.
Okay.
So let's get a little bit of that.
Oh yeah.
Oh still super hot.
When it comes off the tava it's always like super super hot.
This one has a lot of delicious squash.
Excited for this one guys.
I'm super excited for all the tavas.
The tavas are like creamy, delicious, earthy.
Oh my god.
The creamiest mushrooms ever.
Dude what is happening here?
Oh wow.
That's my favorite dish of the trip so far.
I've only been here for 24 hours but that one beats everything else.
I have to continue with the appetizers.
So we have the filet which I tried earlier which is like this layered dough right?
That's amazing.
I think this add a little bit of honey.
Wow.
Next I have burek.
So this burek has spinach and cheese.
This is in Greece they call it spanakopita.
Here it's burek.
What an amazing pie.
You have the spinach, you have the crumbly cheese and you have lots of layers.
This is special.
And next up we have something I've eaten before.
Many places, never in Albania right?
So it's basically quail egg.
In the middle is quail egg, hard boiled quail egg.
Around it you have this fried layer of beef.
Let's try it.
Texture is earthy.
Love the taste of beef mixed with the hard boiled egg.
It's good.
It's different.
Definitely a different type of dish right?
I'm getting full and I haven't even gotten to the meat.
So my friend here is telling me to try this yogurt.
One of a kind.
Made out of goat milk.
Amazing.
I keep it too long because it's been too long here.
Oh man you're too funny dude.
You're too funny.
All right let me try it then.
Wow it's different.
I mean it's salty.
It's light.
It's really natural right?
And that pairs really well with the burek and the phlea.
And finally we have the ribs.
Check this out.
Veal ribs over here.
A lot more fat.
This one's a lot leaner.
And then next to it we have like a barbecue yogurt.
And over here we have like a raspberry or blackberry jam.
I'm gonna go with this.
Oh and there's also peanuts on top.
Wow this is...
Bro it's ridiculous.
It's like it falls off the bone.
Look it's literally falling off the bone.
Do I dip into any of these?
This one?
I've never had barbecue yogurt before.
I'm sure it's gonna pair amazingly with this.
Dude that's crazy.
Like a smoked yogurt with all these layers of fat.
Look at this just falling off.
Some of the best ribs of all time.
This is too good bro.
How'd you do this?
I just told you before.
I know.
You want to become a chef one day?
I mean I think the key here is where you're getting the produce.
Directly from the farm here.
Not only all Albanian farms.
Like we help all the people to collect very good products.
Because the customers they come here.
They will see, they will smell, they will taste.
There's a lot of things.
That's why the restaurant needs more care about food.
This guy's too much.
He just cut it all up for me.
Took off the bones.
Here I have delicious goat meat.
I love this.
That is?
Beetroot.
Beetroot?
Yeah.
I was gonna say I was like what is it?
But wow.
Blowing me away man.
So tender this goat.
So this was smoked and then cooked?
Yes.
Smoked again.
Hard job.
I mean dude look at this.
This goat meat is just like so tender.
It's like perfect.
And again if you guys don't know about lamb, veal, baby goat.
The reason you eat that over the older one is because it's only eating or drank milk.
It hasn't had grass.
So it's definitely you know more of a buttery meat.
You know less gamey.
And always incredibly delicious.
And I haven't even talked about it.
But I also have house wine here.
So these are grapes from the area right?
This area doesn't have a grape.
But I'm taking Albania.
Okay guys.
So we still have dessert.
We have baklava here.
A little different.
This one's more like a cigar shape.
So baklava with walnuts.
You have vanilla ice cream.
Over here we have a blueberry cheesecake right?
And then here we have kaday.
Kaday is basically like almost like super tiny pasta that's fried right?
So it becomes crunchy.
In the middle it's like chocolate and you have ice cream.
So chocolate ice cream and then just vanilla ice cream on the side.
So I think I should try this one because I've never tried this before.
Whoa that's amazing.
Okay so it's like lots of layers of this.
I didn't know it was like that.
Oh my god.
So it's actually pasta on the bottom and then kaday.
And then here's like crispy almost like a crunchy pasta right?
And you get a little bit of that.
Whoa look at this.
I have to like wrap it.
Let's try to wrap it here.
Sweet.
It's almost like vermicelli noodles.
Very similar texture.
So of all three of these this is the most traditional.
But obviously this is more modernized.
This was like a dessert during autumn period.
It's amazing.
I guess I'll try a little bit of cheesecake.
Always good to try it right?
Get away from me.
That would just destroy that thing.
That's so good.
And I'm gonna try this baklava.
Baklava is one of my favorites ever.
Love the layers.
Pita, dough, walnuts.
Sweet, dense, binds really well.
When you come to Albania and you're in the capital of Tirana,
come out here to the village of Suro and come to Seren.
One of the most unique restaurants I've ever been to.
This is a must visit in Albania.
Farm to table food.
Slow cooking at its finest.
Chef Izmit does a phenomenal job with the food.
I mean, wow.
What a great spot.
The farms are literally right in front of you.
Right there in those hills.
Right around us.
All over the place.
You have farm to table slow cooked food.
The meats are insane.
Lamb, goat, veal.
They have so many different appetizers.
They have wine.
I mean, I gotta say it's one of my favorite restaurants
I've ever been to.
It's like a real eco restaurant, you know.
Super fresh.
Super delicious.
Mouth-watering food.
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Leave me a comment below.
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I'll see you in the next travel food adventure in Albania.
Peace.
