Bernie’s Balkan Kitchen

Bernie’s Balkan Kitchen
7340 Kingsway
Burnaby, BC

In the last couple of weeks, I have been going to Edmonds area for some errands. It is both good and bad – if you go a bit past Highgate to the east, there isn’t much to see. If you go the other ways, specially north east and west, there are some interesting places to go, like Lhy Thai. On one of these errands, I decided to stop in a place that I have meant to go for some time: Bernie’s Balkan Kitchen. However, due to their odd schedule, it has been in to go list for a while. But, one day…

Of course it begs the question: Why I wanted to go there. As I have been making reference to for some time, I have been trying to have cuisines from different parts of the world and, in this case, it goes Eastern European/Middle Eastern. However, rather than cabbage rolls and similar somewhat stereotypical dishes, I wanted to come here for something else: Burek

Of course, the first question is: what is burek? According to Wikipedia, it is baked or fried filled pastry, usually made of thin dough of phyllo. But, then again, that is a somewhat generic description: An empanada or a turnover can fit this description as well. So, rather than scratching my head, I just went there and order one. And, in the picture above, my full order with a small goulash.

As a reminder, goulash is a soup/stew made with beef. Since I have only one yardstick – Danube Restaurant – the comparison would have been pretty straight forward, right? Well, not necessary; it was partially apples to oranges. In this case, it was almost a stew and the chunks here were larger than those from Danube. However, the broth/soup itself was slightly below par compared to the one in Danube, as it did not feel as spiced as the other one. However, it is possible that, since it is “on display” rather than in a kitchen, there will be some compromises. Regardless, it was a good soup… Errr… Stew…

The burek… There were two options: beef or cheese. Sorry, beef for me! Before I continue, I did not intend to order this much food. When I was told “a slice”, I thought it would be something akin to a pizza slice; nope, not here. I found afterwards that it is supposed to be almost a meal by itself and since I ordered soup… Argh…. When I found out it was made of phyllo, I was under the impression of something similar to baklava, i.e., really thin “leaves” and somewhat crispy. That was true for the top layers. However, as seen in the picture above, the middle layers was thicker, as if it was dough rather than phyllo. I guess that still falls inside that definition. Tastewise, I was torned. It had an interesting chewiness but I found it lacked some meaty taste. Don’t get me wrong, you knew the beef was there, but the flavour was on the unidimensional side. Had it been made with some veggies, similar to anb empanada filling, I think I would have liked it more.

When I arrived and was looking around, the owner was waiting for my decision and suggested me to try a chevapee (or cevapi). Think one of those breakfast sausages (in fact looked like one!) but darker. Fortunately, looks were deceiving. It was really juicy and had an intense meaty taste. Yummm! Another item I noticed I noticed was their burgers. Sizewise, it would be something larger than a quarter pounder (or a “Royale”). It had the same colour/description as the chevapee so I can safely assume it taste similar. However, c’mon, I am not here for burgers!

While eating my order, there were several customers walking in and, more interestingly, some of them (including an elder couple) were speaking in another language (not English for certain). I guess it has its own share of customers. As for me, the burek was a bit of a coin toss. I would share it with somebody, though not necessarily would eat it by myself. On that note, you can purchase it frozen and bake it at home, which can work if you have a small party. Would I come back… Despite it had its share of ups, in the end, I am not completely convinced. I guess after I visit it with somebody else? Until then, I will put it on hold.

Tagged under: Burnaby • European • Soup