Up the road from The Philippine Kettlebell Center is Balkan Express, which I gravitate towards on rainy nights when it’s hard to find a cab.
Photo taken on iPhone with shaky, after-kettlebell hands. Will replace photos as soon as I get some good ones.
The menu consists mostly of quality grilled or fried meat, seasoned with salt and pepper. Simple, but very tasty.
My favorites items on the menu are the cevapcici, a sausage sandwich served with fries, and the chicken batak, grilled boneless chicken thigh (my favorite chicken part) topped with mozzarella and served with steamed rice. Ooooh. I could have two of each…
The Chicken Batak. Mmmmmm…. (Photo by Rosan Cruz.)
If you prefer chicken breast to thigh, then you’ll like the chicken kebab. Too white for me. Although I did finish all of it after an overly generous sprinkling of salt. (Yes, even with all that bacon wrapped around it.) The plejeskavica (pork stuffed with mozzarella) is also good.
The goulash and, in the background, the chicken kebab wrapped in bacon.
The musaka has to be ordered a day in advance so, naturally, I had to try it. Unfortunately, it was too dry for my taste. I prefer Greek moussaka. And I’m no goulash connoisseur but… well, it is hearty and, if you like that sort of thing, I suppose it’s good. Maybe on a cold, rainy night? Not my cuppa.
The small eatery is run by Marko and Martin Batricevic, from Serbia. Marko was offered a high school and college basketball scholarship by De La Salle University and has lived in the country for the past eight years. He graduated last year and is thinking of opening a second Balkan Express, possibly somewhere closer to his alma mater.
Balkan Express
87 J. Abad Santos cor. Mons St., San Juan
Tel. +63-2-330-0945
Hours: Open daily from 11:30 AM to 11:00 PM.