Sarajevo Vegan Scene: Tavola Italian Restaurantby Randi / August 28, 2013
Karuzo is a shining star in the Sarajevo vegetarian scene. (I mean, there’s not really a scene.) Karuzo is the kind of restaurant that focuses on your experience, works with you, and provides you with great food (and dessert).
So, NB: You really need a reservation – not because it’s crowded, but because the one owner/chef/waiter/host needs to know to expect you! We showed up for lunch one day, but O/C/W/H said it would take awhile to get food to us since he wasn’t expecting us and nothing was prepped yet. So instead we came back later for dinner. It was a good move! A varied and extensive menu was available, even with some specials added to the regular long menu.
So, NB: You really need a reservation – not because it’s crowded, but because the one owner/chef/waiter/host needs to know to expect you! We showed up for lunch one day, but O/C/W/H said it would take awhile to get food to us since he wasn’t expecting us and nothing was prepped yet. So instead we came back later for dinner. It was a good move! A varied and extensive menu was available, even with some specials added to the regular long menu.
Lentil soup with chard
To start, we ordered two soups – one Thai mushroom, one lentil soup with Swiss chard and spiced tofu. Both were great! The Thai mushroom soup had the right amount of tanginess and an interesting mix of vegetables. The lentil was much brothier than lentil soup as I know it, but it was good and still comforting. Boyfriend was nervous about the tofu (he hates tofu chunks) but it was shredded so tiny that you couldn’t tell it was tofu.
 Thai mushroom soup |
 Chana dal |
Seitan with vegetables
For our entrees, I ordered the homemade seitan with vegetables. I couldn’t pass up the chance to have his homemade seitan, and while it was much different from seitan that I’ve had, it was pretty good. It was cut into matchsticks, which must have helped develop the good texture.
Boyfriend ordered the chana dal, because he can’t go too long without Indian food. This was also delicious, which was impressive considering we weren’t in an Indian restaurant! The beans were on a bed of really good rice, sprinkled with herbs, scallions, and cashews. Everything was just great.
Well, I thought I knew what great was, but then the dessert came. The man (I really should have gotten his name. Maybe it’s Karuzo? Robinson Karuzo it is) said he had a special ‘strawberry surprise’, a towering take on strawberry shortcake, with plain and chocolate-coated cake rounds, berries, and ridiculous vegan cream.
Boyfriend ordered the chana dal, because he can’t go too long without Indian food. This was also delicious, which was impressive considering we weren’t in an Indian restaurant! The beans were on a bed of really good rice, sprinkled with herbs, scallions, and cashews. Everything was just great.
Well, I thought I knew what great was, but then the dessert came. The man (I really should have gotten his name. Maybe it’s Karuzo? Robinson Karuzo it is) said he had a special ‘strawberry surprise’, a towering take on strawberry shortcake, with plain and chocolate-coated cake rounds, berries, and ridiculous vegan cream.
Strawberry surprise
I was astounded by the cream. My boyfriend joked “The surprise is that it’s not vegan!” but I was assured it was. This was so freaking amazing.
All in all, we had a great time at Karuzo. We expected it to take a really long time, and while it wasn’t quick, the service was fine. We talked with the owner about veganism and special diets for a while, and looked through his cookbook (which is available for sale). It’s a very cute restaurant, tiny and narrow, with perhaps seven tables lining the inside, and a handful outside. It’s decorated like an old ship, with dark wood, nets, maps, and other knickknacks. Also – it takes credit cards. Very few places in Bosnia do, so this was a huge benefit. Not that it was a huge problem here to come up with cash – for this kind of higher-level dining experience, it cost only 63 marks before tip, about 30 euro.
All in all, we had a great time at Karuzo. We expected it to take a really long time, and while it wasn’t quick, the service was fine. We talked with the owner about veganism and special diets for a while, and looked through his cookbook (which is available for sale). It’s a very cute restaurant, tiny and narrow, with perhaps seven tables lining the inside, and a handful outside. It’s decorated like an old ship, with dark wood, nets, maps, and other knickknacks. Also – it takes credit cards. Very few places in Bosnia do, so this was a huge benefit. Not that it was a huge problem here to come up with cash – for this kind of higher-level dining experience, it cost only 63 marks before tip, about 30 euro.
Karuzo, Sarajevo
- Water speed: We were given a big glass pitcher, which I love. Took a bit to get it refilled, but that’s understandable given the setup.
- Bathrooms: It’s down the stairs, past the small kitchen, and behind a birdcage (with a bird in it). I kind of love it.
- Service: Understandably slow, given that one man is doing literally every job, but not maddeningly so
- Food: Great! Especially dessert. Oh man.
- Bonus: Takes credit cards and has free wifi! Bring your smartphones!
Related Posts
New Orleans Inspirations: Cream of Root Beer & Cream of Almond Shaved Ice
One of my absolute favorite places in New Orleans was the old school (and regular type of old) shaved ice shoppe Hansen’s Sno-Bliz. Born in 1939, Hansen’s sells amazing snow cone treats that somehow have fluffy ice and sophisticated, absolutely delicious syrup flavors. I had many wonderful flavors there, but missed out on the cream flavors (because cream). So we are recreating them here with our trusty beloved Vitamix! (NB: You can participate with any method of creating shaved ice.)
Husband had the most incredible sounding combination one day – cream of root beer and cream of almond. I was hella jealous and I swore that I would recreate an even better version myself. I believe I have done that, even though I never tried the original and so cannot compare. But mine’s better. And it doesn’t hurt cows.
CREAM OF ROOT BEER & CREAM OF ALMOND SHAVED ICE
|
PART 1: ROOT BEER SYRUP
Ingredients:
Directions:
PART 2: ALMOND SYRUP
Directions:
|
|
The most interesting part of Hansen’s Sno-Bliz was that they first put the shaved ice in a cup, then poured in your syrups, and then put the whole thing in a machine that added more fluffed ice on top. After that, they’d put more syrup on top of the new ice! It was a multi-part process, so this is too. (Although I guess it doesn’t have to be, but you know what they say about easy things not being worth doing or something like that.)
Ingredients:
PART 3: SHAVING THE ICE
Ingredients:
- 2/3 C plain almond milk
- 3 C cubed ice
Directions:
- Crush in your high-powered blender until completely slushified.
|
PART 4: SYRUPING AND RESHAVING
Ingredients:
Directions:
My root beer slush, before the second ice blend, fell a little flat…because I forgot to cool the syrup. 
And then of course mix the two flavors together if you want for a delicious combination! Enjoy !
|
Pouring the syrup straight from the pan 
|
It Is Impossible to Roll Cakes, But Let’s Make a Yule Log!
lolz
Some people might say that Yule logs – rolled up filled cakes, similar to jelly rolls but with a stump – are only for Christmas. Nothing says seasons greetings like a hacked tree stump, especially when it’s made of icing and food coloring. My intention with this post was to jollily say, ‘Hey I disagree! Yule logs can be for an anytime party, especially New Year’s Eve!’ But alas, I now firmly believe Yule logs are for never. FOR NEVER.
First of all, how do you even. If you made an edible or even delicious cake, as I am wont to do, then why do things that will 99% guaranteed destroy it? Why not just eat it? It’s probably going to crack if you try to roll it up. That’s because it’s not a stone cold piece of crap cake that you could have built in shop class. I’ve heard that it may be easier to roll cakes while they’re still warm; that might prevent crackage. BUT then you can’t add the filling because it’ll melt! So what the hell is the point! Is it even worth it? Why not just have a regular old frosted cake? It saves you the anguish but tastes and looks just as good. Why do we do this to ourselves? Regardless of that last question posed, I do expect you to make this. I want to know how it goes and how badly yours falls apart. Also, the recipes are f-ing delicious, if I do say so myself and oh I just did so there we go. Great cake, great filling. I’d be so happy with myself if I didn’t have a disintegrating pile of broken cake on my stove right now.
Maybe you think my New Year’s resolution should be to learn how to do this better, become a master at rolling cakes so my next related post might be an actual tutorial to help others who want to success at tree stump cakes. But no. I don’t believe in rolled cakes anymore. I’m also not going to improve my food photography, in case you were going to ask. Ain’t nobody got time for that.
Maybe you think my New Year’s resolution should be to learn how to do this better, become a master at rolling cakes so my next related post might be an actual tutorial to help others who want to success at tree stump cakes. But no. I don’t believe in rolled cakes anymore. I’m also not going to improve my food photography, in case you were going to ask. Ain’t nobody got time for that.
I decided to make a gingerbread-ish vanilla cake to go with this fancymazing chestnut puree we found at Fortnum & Mason, which I think is the English version of Williams Sonoma, probably with its own ludicrous holiday catalog (for ludichristmas, as I like to say). We went sometime in November or December, which you should never do because it is wall-to-wall tourists taking pictures and buying $18 jars filled with 4 shortbread cookies. (Remember that’s in pounds.) But the saving grace of this experience was finding vanilla-scented chestnut puree in this adorable little tin. It was pretty cheap too, considering where we were and how much they could have charged. We always buy little interesting foodstuffs, usually when traveling, and then forget to use them before they expire, or we even actively try to ‘save’ them for the right occasion which also leads to forgetting to use them. Such dumb! So waste! With this little chestnut tin, I decided early on to use it…early on.
I figured New Year’s Eve would be a great time to celebrate with a special chestnut-puree-filled cake, since we decided in advance that we’d be homebodying and what better activity for homebodying than eating a ginormous cake with two kinds of frosting? These recipes really are delicious, so I highly recommend making that as a standard iced sheet cake one day. After you try rolling this shiz.
VANILLA GINGERBREAD YULE LOG CAKE WITH CHESTNUT CREAM FILLING
|
For the cake
Ingredients:
Directions:
For the chestnut cream
Directions:
Assemblage:
|
This is the salt I use in all my dessert baking now. It’s so good and interesting! 
For the buttercream (to cover the rolled log) This is where it got even funnier. I was planning to make a tofu mousse to top it with, but when I went to add my soft tofu to the bowl of whipped butter, shortening, and icing sugar, I saw that my tofu expired. Normally I’d be like eh whatevs, but it expired 3 months ago. I think it’s safer not to risk a 3 month incubation period. So my buttercream base for mousse became just over-liquefied buttercream. Here’s the recipe but with less cream than I used because liquid. Whip until smooth:
then refrigerate to help harden. 
The good thing about cakes you’re going to flip over is that you can scrape off the original top and eat it without anyone noticing. 
Whipping my chestnut cream, feeling the flow |
PICTURE SHOW!!!! BY RKOOOOO
OH HERE WE GO! 
GOD’S WORK 
LUDICHRISTMAS |
BEAUTIFUL 
CHRISTMAS MIRACLE 
|
YUP AFTER DOUSING IT IN THE BUTTERCREAM I FIGURED WHY NOT SPRAY IT WITH EDIBLE GOLD SPRAY PAINT THAT WILL TOTALLY HELP RESHAPE IT AND EVERYTHING.
HAHAHA DID YOU SEE THAT
SILENT NIGHT |
HOLY NIGHT |
Now I realize why all other yule log/jelly roll recipes use chocolate cake, or at least cakes and frostings that would be different colors. You can’t even see my beautiful hard work! But you can taste it. It was really good! Can you even believe this. HAPPY NEW YEAR!
ART IS EVERYWHERE |
I AM ART |
