Kafana

Wow! I went here on the YEG Food Crawl last week… and of all the places we went this was the one I absolutely had to come back to this week. The beef barley soup was amazing… maybe the best I’ve ever had… including my mom’s! (Disclaimer: she was with me and agreed) we had the salad and Gypsy platter for two. Tons of food… all excellent! I had to promise to bring her back again! So delicious…

I’ve never had Balkan food before, so Kafana was something different. The food is similar to Greek but with its own unique flavours.
I ordered the chicken roll, which was a chicken breast pounded and wrapped around cheese and then wrapped in bacon. This was served with rice and grilled vegetables. The rice was seasoned to perfection, the veggies were tender and flavourful, and the chicken roll was as fantastic as you’d expect a chicken-​cheese-​bacon combination to be (i.e., very).
The décor is nothing fancy, but the atmosphere is relaxed and the food is good. The layout of the place is a little strange, with a bar in the front and the dining room in the back, but the folks in the bar were laid back, friendly and not at all rowdy (despite looking like they’d had more than a few) so having to go through the bar to get to the restaurant isn’t an issue.
The dining room is very quiet (at least on a Tuesday), so it’s a good place to have a conversation, read a book, or run a membership renewal phone blitz for a political party (as I was doing during my visit).
The staff is attentive but not on top of you or pushy about trying to «up sell» you.
Overall, Kafana is a nice addition to the Little Italy /​McCauley neighbourhood and I will definitely be back to try their other menu items.

I just made my third trip to Kafana last night, and I’m delighted to report that it was just as lovely as the first two visits.
If you’re going specifically for a meal, a word of caution: the menu is small, and if there’s picky eater among your group, Kafana doesn’t do chicken fingers and fries. I find this charming, however, and the few items they offer are so fantastic that it hardly matters. The cevapi (rolled meat on a grilled bun) is freaking awesome, and I’m in love with the sopska salad (the menu doesn’t lie – it is like a Greek salad, but much more delicious). They also have a rotating cast of specials and soups, helpfully listed on a dry-​erase board that lives on the bar in the front room.
The service is thorough and attentive, but they don’t smother you or attempt to rush you out the door. The atmosphere is super laid-​back. While there are TVs in the front room (last night, both were switched to news channels), they’re not turned up to the threshold of pain. It’s easy to carry on a conversation at a normal volume, and I’ve seen several guests with a book in hand. They serve beer and some alcohol, but nobody’s ever been too rowdy while I’ve been there. That said, I haven’t seen any children inside, and it doesn’t feel like that kind of place.
See you there!

Once upon a time there was a sleazy Italian sports bar on 95 Street that was transformed into a Balkan and Serbian restaurant called Euro Taste. Then, about a year later, two of the waitresses got together and bought the place, changing the name to Kafana. Sounds like the Canadian dream, right?
Kafana is like culinary mullet in reverse — a bar in the front, and a classy dining area in the back. The décor has not changed much — the dining area is very open and spacious. The menu is currently in transition, but is staying Balkan.
I opted for kebabs, or raznici, as they are called. You can mix or match two choices of beef, pork, or chicken, so I had on skewer of beef and one of chicken. The meat was cooked to perfection — marinated, juicy, and bursting with flavour. Plating was attractive, with roasted vegetables and rice pilaf rounding everything out. The two large crusty buns were a nice addition, although impossible to finish.
I was having a meeting with the person who happened to be the person who informed me of the change in ownership. He had a small order of cevapi, which is minced beef rolled into little cylinders and served on a toasted bun with a side of onions. For an extra couple of dollars, you can get sour cream or a vegetable spread. The look of the meat reminded me of a smaller version of the Mediterranean kafta. From what he described, it tasted similarly also. He also liked the vegetable spread, which added a dash of colour to the dish.
I also had a cup of cappuccino, which was excellent. It was so quiet in the dining area that I would find it an excellent place to just have a cup of coffee with a book, or a private meeting with a friend.
I am looking forward to seeing the new menu.