You’ll have kindly noted a previous missive addressing Albanian cuisine. We returned late last week from the Balkan Mystery Tour 2025, a marvelous (if a tad chilly) sweep through North Macedonia, Albania and Montenegro.
All my Europhile buttons were pushed, repeatedly, and I’ve returned to America rested and ready for…well, writing a book it seems.
I’m set to write a book about beer, or so this impending contract suggests.
It is my pleasure to announce that a contract is impending with Bloomsbury Academic Inc. to write a book bearing the working title of A Craft Brewed to Perfection: A Cultural History of Beer. Writing will begin immediately, with my deadline coming in 18 months. The book is slated to be an overview of beer as an artistic, scientific, geographical and cultural marker in society; some new, some old, some borrowed, some blue; and in short, indicative of the directions I’ve been headed in life since that first clerking gig at Scoreboard Liquors in 1982.
We arrived in Tirana at midday from Ohrid, and after getting our room squared away, it was time for a late lunch at a place called Trattoria Sipas Vaktit, located somewhere in a warren of tangled back alleys off Bulevardi Zogu I. Lots of low-intensity, kiosk-driven commerce in Tirana still takes place off the main drag.
Sipas Vaktit is a modest buffet-style neighborhood eatery with little English spoken, but pointing’s easy: chicken thighs, rice, Greek-style salad, veggies, stuffed grape leaves, pickles and pickled peppers, and a couple bottles of Birra Korça, around $25 for two; not bad at all, and staff was friendly and helpful.
We saved the big traditional meal for the evening prior to departure, adjourning to the Tak-Fak restaurant on Rruga Fortuzi, four blocks north of Skanderbeg Square and close to our hotel.
Fërgesë: An expansively savory concoction of sautéed sheep cheese, vegetables and eggs, best approached by scooping with bread, and accompanied by roasted peppers.
Qofte: Meatballs made with lamb, chicken, or beef; they can be fried or oven-baked, and the spicing is not that of your Italian great-grandmother; it’s Middle eastern, with a touch of mint. The tomato-based gravy? Out of this world.
Kebabs: Self-explanatory, and the fries were uncommonly tasty.
As is often the case in this part of the world, Tak-Fak’s energetic owner brought over servings of the house rakija (fruit brandy) for a closing toast. Very smooth.
Facing a 3:00 a.m. wakeup call on Friday morning in order to get to the airport for the 6:20 flight to Frankfurt, we dined relatively early in the evening; February is not prime tourist season, and these factors account for the absence of patrons.
Yes, I understand that few Louisvillians are likely to prioritize a holiday in Albania. But it’s a fascinating destination, and a compelling perspective on what it means to be European, one skewing from what most of us imagine it to be.
Simply stated: If you’re in Tirana, check out Tak-Fak.
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“Edibles & Potables” is Food & Dining Magazine’s Sunday slot for news and views that range beyond our customary metropolitan Louisville coverage area, as intended to be food (and drink) for thought.
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Edibles & Potables: 31 years of Albanian cuisine (1994 to 2025)
