We’ve tried to make a reservation there before for the evening’s show. First via Instagram. No answer. Then by email. No answer. No matter. So then by phone. That worked. At least we thought so. Then when we got there, they couldn’t find our reservation. Ok. That can happen once…

Since we read in other reviews that this happens sometimes, we went directly to Lafayette last Saturday afternoon and made the reservation for last night with a hostess. We had friends from abroad visiting and were looking forward to the special evening. But it should come differently.

Arrived at 8:45 pm. There was no COVID certificate check, none of the employees wore a mask. The hostess did not find our reservation again. She asked for a confirmation, which of course we did not have. We had made the reservation directly at the place. Instead of finding a solution, she simply ignored us and took care of the other guests. An assistant then told us to go to the bar they will see what is going on. More and more people came to the bar who either didn’t have a reservation or also had problems with the reservation. Getting a drink was also not really possible, it was chaos at the bar. After about 30 minutes without any further information, I lost patience and we went back to the hostess. There was another woman there who asked if there was a problem.

YES. There is a problem. You have lost our reservation for the second time!

I explained everything to her again. She did not really listen to me. In between, she ran away several times and was on the phone. Ok. Since I live long enough in Serbia, I know that sometimes you have to be “loud” to get something here. So I asked for the manager. She claimed she was the manager.

Ok. Then it would be your job. To solve our problem, right? But maybe she doesn’t understand my English? So my fiancee explained everything again in Serbian. That didn’t help either.

A solution? There is none. She tells us they have 65 tables, 65 reservations. Period. And she ignored us again. I had two choices now. I get really loud and ask for her boss. Or we leave this place and don’t spend any money here. We decided on the second one.

I have NEVER experienced such ignorance and unfriendliness in my whole life! We went to hundreds of restaurants. In the best restaurants in Belgrade, in Berlin, in London, in Paris, in Dubai, in NY, in Zurich – you name it.

What more can I say about this? I still have no words. To be fair, the food there is good. We have already been there twice for lunch and ordered food from there. That’s not where the problem lies.

The problem is the reservation system, which is not a system, but chaos on paper lists with unfriendly & incompetent employees. We were not the only ones either, there are several reviews on the internet with the same problem and another group of people was later in the same restaurant we were in Beton Hala – we were hungry.

If anyone from the Lafayette team or management reads this post, please feel free to contact me. I don’t just complain, I know how to solve the problem with the reservations. I also know how to train employees to be friendly with customers and to be solution-oriented. I have years of experience in event management and work as a business developer and “Swiss Quality Optimizer”.

And for all of you who want to spend an evening there…

Two tips:

1.  Ask for reservation confirmation.
2. Don’t have expectations of a great evening, it may well be that they won’t find your reservation and have an alternative plan ready 😉

Is there anyone who has had similar experiences or did everything work out for you? Then feel free to leave a comment…

Update. Through a colleague who knows the owner, we have received the following message about our case.

The Reservation
Every guest who makes a reservation for the Lafayette restaurant must receive the same message, our circular. Please understand it is obvious that the protocol has not been followed. Any person who makes a reservation for Lafayette is also obliged to leave a contact phone number and to confirm their arrival on the day of booking no later than 12 noon. It is a booking protocol in our restaurant that we all respect.

-> BGfoodies: “The protocol was not followed”. Is that supposed to mean that we are now guilty that the employees made mistakes? And yes. You have read correctly. You as a customer must call, not the restaurant calls you 🙃

You can ask for confirmation of the reservation to be sent to your email. The best is to book on the Instagram profile.

-> BGfoodies: It’s nice they have a protocol. It’s just that the employees don’t follow it. And it is also not communicated. Because we had reserved the first time by phone. The girl confirmed that everything was fine. She had our number. There was never a confirmation but she never said that we need one. The last time we were there on the spot and made the reservation. The hostess wrote it on her phone with our name. She did not even ask for a phone number.

And the owner probably doesn’t know what’s going on operationally anymore.

No one answers emails, Instagram says to book by phone, and reservation messages are NOT answered. The same thing is on the website. Reservations are only possible by phone.

The problem here is with the employees and the organization. And it doesn’t matter why it didn’t work. What upset me so much was how they reacted to our complaint.

The Prices and the dress code
La Lafayette offers standard and premium tables. Premium tables are located closer to the stage. Mandatory for a standard table is dinner.

For a premium dinner and a bottle of premium drink from 15000 RSD. We have a cabaret fee which is 10 Euro/per person and is included in the bill. The minimum age limit is 23 years.

The dress code is elegant. That means that man needs to be dressed in shirts and pants and for ladies, elegant evening dresses or suits.

->  BGfoodies: It would be good to have this information on the website & co. Same with the reservation process. But there is nothing at all.

The post How to get a reservation at Lafayette Cuisine Cabaret Club in Belgrade? appeared first on BGfoodies.

When you think of Serbia, you probably think of something in terms of Balkans, SFRJ, Tito, Novak Djokovic, Nikola Tesla, great festivals, excellent beer, rakija and a loooot of meat, then beautiful women, awesome parties and loads of fun with some pretty amazing, friendly and outgoing people…

Yeah, you are right. But there is one more thing you most certainly think of as well-the thing most Serbian people love to do is- to smoke! All the time, everywhere and nobody can stop them!

Fact is that Serbia ranks the number one place in smokers per capita. This makes it incredibly difficult for a non-smoker to find a venue to enjoy in, smoke-free. It is not easy for the planet either. Health professionals around the world now accept the fact that there is somewhat of a global tobacco epidemic and that there are some serious health consequences. It is estimated that the total number of tobacco users is 1.3 billions and is expected to rise to 1.7 billions by 2025.

In Serbia almost half of men and one third of women are active smokers, and among teenagers 16.3% girls and 12.5% boys by the age of 15 years smoke. 65.7% inhabitants of Serbia are Exposed to environmental tobacco smoke in their homes, and almost every child. At work places, 55.5% of employees are exposed to second hand smoke for more than 1 hour daily.

Non-Smokers Hell

If you are a non-smoker, the restaurants, bars and  clubs can be the living Hell for you. It can be incredibly difficult for you to find a venue to enjoy in.  You know the feeling-of not having your entire wardrobe and bags, coats and hair smelling like someone emptied an ashtray on you. And you will often have to deal with smug and smirking glances after even just asking about a non-smoking area of the joint. Don’t let this surprise you. You need to be aware of the cultural differences that you will be faced with here.

There is a Joke about it: A foreign couple comes into a restaurant and asks the waiter: “Have you got a non-smoking table?”. The waiter answers them: “Sure, which table you don’t want to smoke on?”

The Signs & the Law

Most of the time you will find both signs below outside of a venue. This means that there is actually a non-smoking area inside, theoretically speaking. But  in fact, the guests simply don’t care at all about these signs. Don’t try to call your waiter and complain, he won’t give a shit about it. The only possibility which you have, is to change the venue and to hope, you will find a better/different one nearby. There are not a lot of them. At the end of this article, you will find a list included so you can know beforehand exactly what to expect and where.

Officially, a non-smoking law exists and the Serbian Government announced that it was getting ready to enforce it with more force and make it applicable anew, so the smoking would become forbidden in all the restaurants, bars and clubs. This was in the beginning of the Year 2016. In the meanwhile, has anything changed? Nothing!

If you are wondering what the Ministry of Health or at least the doctors and the medical staff of this country do against this “epidemic”, here some statistics about typical Serbian nurses:

So, the answer? Nothing. Most of them in fact-smoke themselves! 🙂

Smokers’ Heaven

You are free! There really is no other place in the world where you can feel more accepted and appreciated than here in this regard. Your passion will never again be interrupted by having to walk out and smoke, and this means you can stay, enjoy and party all night long!

Summer brings freedom for everyone

During the summer, situation for our poor non-smoker is much better. Belgrade has become world known by its open river boats, where you can party all night long under the stars and the night skies covered in various lights and moonlight.

There is nothing more beautiful than the sunrise in Belgrade you can greet while you are dancing on the river; with or without a cigarette in your hand.

Smoke or not smoke

So, be prepared to stand your grounds and not get insulted by this, for many, rude and preposterous attitude you will get.

Still, to avoid getting into this situation in the first place, like we mentioned earlier-on our website you can find the list of some non-smoking venues, as well as the list of the venues in which #smoking and #non-smoking-areas are properly segregated.

• Non-Smoking Venues
• Venues with Non-Smoking Area

The post Smoking or not-smoking: that is NOT the question! appeared first on BGfoodies.

To think about food is to remember, and to think about desserts is to yearn. Have the munchies.

Enthusiastically long for that perfect bite, moment in which it happened and memories that surrounded it. For me, Serbian desserts can be summed up into reminiscing about innocence and pure childhood joy, and struggles of adulthood and calories count which threat to hinder them.

A quote to ponder over

“There are two kinds of women in the world: those who savor, and those who don’t. The ones who savor know how to enjoy a good time when it happens. We dig in the claws and ride a rush as hard and as long as we can.

And then there are those other gals. I don’t know if they feel guilty about having fun or if they take themselves too seriously—or maybe they’re just afraid they’ll get their hair mussed if they throw their head back and have a good time. Whatever it is, they’ll push back from the table at d’Annunzio’s, still flushed from some masterpiece of chocolate-raspberry bliss, and their first words uttered will involve ‘walking it off.”
― Chris Dee, World’s Finest: Red Cape, Big City

I have never been the latter. I could never really feel guilty for the pleasure I had or am having. Not from precious food anyway.

You see, ever since we are little, here in Serbia, we are taught to eat, eat, eat. Eat up. Eat to be healthy. Eat to be strong. Eat in honor of this, that. Eat for good fortune. Eat for religion. Eat for the sake of your mom, dad, granny, grandpa, God, neighbor, bus driver. Eat to console your existence and your mortal soul. And then wait in lines at the doctor’s office praying your fat and sugar blood levels come back normal.

Serbian desserts are not to be “walked off”

Because Serbian desserts are like that. Comforting. And like Serbian women, men and culture, Serbian food is not always good for you. It presents a challenge. A chore. A thing to savor, approach with care and analyze, and then fully understand.

It is not easy to handle. It hits you with great amounts of every single flavor you can imagine and then more. You will try to fight it, you will try to escape it, because fear comes from the lack of understanding.

The passion, the brutality, the ugliness, the rough edges, unevenly cut pieces, oozing liquids, thick crusts and layers and layers of various stuff. This is Serbia. These are its people.

So, where to find best Serbian desserts?

Sorry to tell you this, but like all best things in life, great food and desserts are difficult to find. I mean authentic ones, handmade, homemade ones, the ones we actually want. The ones we need and long for. The ones that smell of childhood, of passion, of tears and sorrows, of heartaches and heartbreaks. The ones that are imprinted in our very essence and being like a layer of savory crust that eventually-comes to define us. Here are my three choices, completely personal.

1) Reforma cake and warm June
Whenever I smell linden trees blooming, my heart kinda skips a beat and however much I try to pretend that getting older makes one’s birthdays less relevant, a burst of joy overflows my body and I look forward to that one special day in which I gather my friends, family, prepare a lovely feast and of course-eat cake! The one thing never changes though. Having reforma cake on the table. Even if there is a fancy, fondant icing sculpted star hosting the ever growing number of candles, she is always there, too.

Many might disagree, but I really love and cherish this cake, and I regard it to be one of the finest human achievements. The smell of melting chocolate and dark, walnutty base covered in buttery joy for palate. Soft cream, not too sweet, not too aggressive, never dry, always moist and full flavored. Sprinkled walnut powder, or almond, or hazelnut versions can work equally as well.I prefer it cut in rectangles, but I have seen it made round and cut in triangular shape, too.

I keep searching for a place that can offer me this cake in all its glory, but bias or not-my mum still takes the cake. Literally.

The best recipe is always the family one, but you can find an example in English here if you want to try making it yourself.

So, if you are ever in Serbia, drop by around the beginning of June, and I’d be glad to introduce you to this amazing dessert that, even though it is hundreds of years old, I still feel awaits its 5 minutes of glory.

2) Urmašice or hurmašice, that is the question
Cold winters make us run for cover and tuck ourselves in the comfort of our home. I remember coming back from my primary school and whole day spent playing the flute and singing in my music school, boots soaking from snow and perhaps and occasional snowball fight (I am not confessing to anything). I would walk into my building, this old, spacious typical Belgrade high-quality old-style salon building and the instance I would enter the winding staircase I would pick up the familiar, citric, sweet, and caramel smell luring me straight towards the kitchen. Sticky countertops and mum smiling, preparing tiny saucers and pastry forks, she opens the oven and the smell is intensified by a hundred times mixed with heat and stuffy air already overtaking the entire flat and probably the entire building as well. Simple life, simple joy. But so precious, and so unforgettable. Days when we were all together, my brother crawling on the floor trying to walk, my dad watching sports on TV. Bitter-sweet memories of times gone, but never lost.

These golden, buttery bites are also known as one of the Bosnian favorites. This recipe is not too demanding, though it can get messy. They are something between a biscuit and a cake.  Dipped into this sweet syrup that oozes into the biscuit – they are soaked to perfection. Just don’t think about the calories 😉

Smell of our memories

The thing with food is that it has strong associative impact on our memory. It has a specific smell and this olfactory aspect, which is the biology’s way of treating us with emotions long forgotten or misplaced, hits us every time. One reason for this is because our brains process odors and memories. Smells get routed through our olfactory bulb. It is closely connected to our amygdala and hippocampus, brain regions that handle memory and emotion. Interestingly, visual, auditory (sound), and tactile (touch) information do not pass through these brain areas. This explains why with food-it is always more important what it tastes like than how it looks, and why I don’t care in which shape and/or size we get served our piece of cake.

It’s not only positive associations and memories that are brought back by different odors. They are also known to induce physiological arousal and trigger trauma-related flashbacks.

In any case, nothing brings you back to a certain point in life and time like a scent, smell, even a hint of it.

3) Hot days by the Danube and plum dough
I remember this one afternoon from many years ago, in a tiny village on the Danube, called Ram in Eastern Serbia. This village is near Serbo-Romanian border, just next to this old ruin of a Turkish fortress. I used to spend my summers there, a city kid living a country life, running after cows and earning my first salary as a milkmaid at the tender age of 5,6,7…It would get very hot during the day and we would go to the beach, swim with river snakes in the strong and muddy currents of the Danube, in which you swim or die and hence learn to toughen up whether you want it or not. Quick change of clothes and off to the pastures, pretending to lead the herd back home even though, in fact, cattle knows where to go perfectly fine. I would run along with my tiny stick and jump carefree over the hills and streets, then hurry up to the barn to milk them (with help provided in the beginning), earning a liter of milk and whatever I managed to drink during the process. Did you know that milk is really warm, almost hot when you milk a cow? It is very thick and fat and full of bits and pieces of hay or grass. It comes out almost as a foam. Nobody was worried about lactose, gluten and calories back then, yet we were all so happy. Tired and proud, I would climb over the fence from the neighbor’s back yard and run across a pathway towards this summer house belonging to our family friends.

One day, everyone was in the garden, the table set, dinner on the table, it was still sunny, the most beautiful dusk burning behind many river islands and over the fast Danube water, in the shady grove next to the fortress wall and I could feel my nostrils filling up with the scent of this comfortingly sweet mix of fruity and fried dessert. Summer dress code is always kinda informal, relaxed, sitting barefoot, mismatching cutlery and bunch of different chairs, plates and glasses. I put my milk in the fridge and dug in. I really cannot remember what was the dinner, the smell of dumplings being so overwhelming that whatever we ate had this sweet note anyway. And then teta Verica brought them to the table. Crumbs. Warm bites melting in your mouth. Sweet, soft, potato dough which hides a juicy, sour, runny middle. Of course these are Plum dumplings, another all time favorite which is hard to find outside the kitchens of well-experienced Serbian cooks. One after the other they magically disappeared, and she had to go back to the kitchen and make at least two more batches. We couldn’t even breathe anymore, but that did not matter. We were in it together, a bunch of us, selfishly taking this gift, consuming it, plums from the garden, potatoes from the village, milk from the local cows, fresh bread from the grocer’s where you buy on loan because it is easier and everyone knows everybody and we were all tanned from swimming in the murky waters of the Danube day in day out and drinking coffee/juice on the sun porch every morning. I remember it clearly.

The essence of sweetness

Sweet food, and great food basically,  is just a glue tying moments together, capturing life in a true selfie manner, us in the front, a memory in the background.

But food is like that. We eat it not just to be full, or to survive. We eat it to surpass life itself, to bond, to contemplate, to savor life and its pleasures. And food made with love is the food that stays in our hearts forever. This element is hard to find outside our homes. But we will keep looking. Check out what we have discovered so far in the link.

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