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Best of Both Worlds
This tiny and proud country has everything for you – fishermen’s shacks, palaces, church in a cave, bright blue fjord, nice rocky paths for you to walk and then disappear in the woods, small hotels and resorts! My host World Association of Chefs invited me to stay in the association run Hotel Residence Milocer Hotel. It is run mostly by hospitality and tourism students. On the high end, there is the Aman Sveti Stefan, located in the centre of Montenegro’s Adriatic coastline, south of Budva and between the villages of Pržno and Sveti Stefan. Both hotels have breathtaking views of the sea, across the bay and along Montenegro’s most renowned…
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Winter in Pljevlja
Winter in Montenegro is generally welcomed in the North of the country, where the winter sports centers in Durmitor and Bjelasica begin to provide tourists and Olympic athletes alike an enjoyable winter in Montenegro. I came up to the North to teach at the Culinary school here.
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Sleepy Old Village in Milocer
I stayed at the Hotel Residence Milocer Hotel that had a great view of part of a beach and so I decided that I will take a walk there. It was less than 25 minutes of peaceful walk to the beautiful beach. Hardly saw anyone along the way………well it explains, Montenegro’s population is less than 650,000 people!! Along with ancient style stone houses, you can also see modern buildings like this below. There are also lots of new developments in Milocer. Many seafood restaurants dotted the place. Some had very unique fascinating fascade. Some restaurants called seafood “sea fruits”.
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Montenegro country markets
Montenegro is a new country and don’t have much definition on what is its National cuisine. Since the country is very small, it has lots of influence from the neighbouring countries. Since Serbia ruled it for years, the cuisine is almost the same. I saw lots of roasted seafood like cuttlefish, lamb, cured meats and cheeses. I saw wheels and wheels of cheese when I went to the Farmers’ market. There were many sheep’s milk cheese.
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Chefs In Training
I was approached by World Association of Chefs if I am keen to take on an assignment to go to Montenegro as part of the Train the Trainers Program to teach chefs and wannabe chefs on Asian food. Of course I took this opportunity to show off my skills as well as to visit this country. It was a pleasure working with all these wonderful young trainee chefs and some chef owners of restaurants. They were all very enthusiastic to learn Asian cuisine eg. Korean, Japanese, Indian, Chinese, Thai, Vietnamese and Indonesian.
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Laid Back Budva
Budva is a popular coastal town in Montenegro. This place is well known for all the Mediterranean architecture, the beautiful beaches and vibrant nightlife. Budva is the oldest settlements on the Adriatic Sea coast – more than 3500 years old!! Over the years this area was reigned by Roman Empire, the Serbian empire, by the Venetians, the French, Austria-Hungary, Italians and Russians!! Therefore, the people here seemed to have a bit of influence from these various countries. At one time, it was even part of Yugoslavia but today, Montenegro is independent and building itself to be recognised worldwide. Budva’s most famous beach is Mogren and it is nestled between high…
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My Holy Days in Montenegro
Even though I am not a religious person, I am a highly spiritual person, and I will not think twice to visit any religious place in the world. I have always felt calm when visiting a sacred place when it is not crowded, and I think there is something magical about such places. I visited several spiritual or holy places during this trip to Montenegro – churches, monasteries and an ancient mosque I loved every bit of it. There was even an magnificent mosque in Pljevlja dating from the 16th century and was built by Husein-Pasha Koljanic. Check out the domes of the mosque – it contains exquisite paintings –…
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The Old and New City
Thousands of tourists flock to Budva every year during the high season. My new friends in Montenegro said that almost everyone in Budva is rich! Apparently, some people even call this place Montenegrin Kuwait – many of the residents here sold their houses to foreign investors for big money and became millionaires. Most of the buyers were Russians, Austrians and Italians. Look at the narrow path between two rows of shops? Well, it is like this almost throughout the old town which makes it charming and interesting. I also visited two beautiful ancient churches. The first was St. Ivan’s which was built in the7th century and the second St. Mary’s…
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Traditionally Press Olive Oil
Mirovica, a little town in Montenegro has the oldest olive tree in the whole of Europe. It is said that it may be about 2000 years old! I had a chance to visit an old olive oil mill and on the same day I had a chance to visit a modern olive oil mill too when I met a lovely gentleman, Milos Davidovic in Montenegro. He owns a newly set up modern olive oil press. The people there can harvest the olives and bring it to him so that his machine can press out the olive. He believes that oil pressed in the modern way is better than the ones…
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The Le Cordon Bleu Experience
The Le Cordon Bleu in Paris is certainly one of the oldest culinary establishments around – almost more than 110 years!! Last week, I had the opportunity to step into the school, not as a student but as a “professor of cooking” as many of the chefs referred me as. Le Cordon Bleu was founded as a culinary school in Paris in 1895 by the journalist/publisher Marthe Distel. She was the publisher of La Cuisenaire Cordon Bleu magazine. In 1896,, the first cooking demonstration ever to be held on an electric stove was staged at Le Cordon Bleu in an effort to promote the magazine and launch the Paris cooking…
