My trip to Bratislava, Slovakia was fantastic and one of the best parts was the food.
I also made videos about what I did and where I stayed so I’ll link those in the description box if you’re interested
but this video is all about what I ate.
Eating well is serious business, obviously, so I asked locals for tips
on where I should go and what I should try.
Let me start with something I’ve never seen before: a cheese vending machine.
Yes, friends, this is the easiest access to cheese I’ve ever seen.
It’s at the bus station, too, so you can take some cheese for the road.
The construction is so cute it looks like a quaint little timber frame log cabin
and there’s an idyllic picture of a man and his animals.
There are different kinds of Slovak cheese inside like smoked cheese and garlic and paprika cheese.
Wait, paprika is one of those words like tomato/tomato I feel like.
Do you say paprika or paprika?
Comment below and tell me.
Let’s settle this once and for all.
Anyway there are other dairy products as well like yogurt
and you just insert your bills or coins or whatever and select what you want.
I personally love the concept of vending machines so this was pretty thrilling for me, as you can tell.
And I want to know what is the weirdest thing you’ve ever seen sold in a vending machine?
We wanted to try some traditional Slovak foods so we headed to Klaštory Pivovar Monastic Brewery –
I hope I’m saying that properly –
and you can see where they brew the beer.
It was here I had my first taste of something I was so excited to try: Kofola.
There’s so much history wrapped up in this carbonated beverage.
Back when Slovakia and the Czech Republic were Czechoslovakia
Kofola became extremely popular because similar drinks like Coke and Pepsi weren't generally available.
And Kofola is still super popular today.
You can find it everywhere.
Marc had a beer made at the brewery which he enjoyed too but the main reason we went to the brewery
is because they bake homemade bread bowls in which to serve Slovak garlic cream soup.
And after walking around in the cold all day
it was so wonderful to tuck into a comforting bowl of creamy soup.
The best part was that the bowl had a little bread lid to keep the soup hot.
I don’t know if it gets much cozier than opening up the top of a bread bowl
and smelling the steamy soup.
It's really good.
It was at this point I also realized I had bought hand cream with glitter in it by mistake
at the local drugstore and got glitter all over everything.
Whoopsie!
I can't believe I did that.
What'd you do?
I just bought hand cream with glitter in it.
Gold glitter.
It's like it's 1990 again.
We also ordered Slovak National dumplings
which are little potato dumplings with sheep cheese and bacon.
I was less sure about this dish and but Marc enjoyed it.
We also shared a platter of sausage that came with mustard and horseradish sauce
and it. Was. So. Good.
It was so full of flavour and it had a bit of spiciness that warmed us right up.
Food tells you so much about a place and its history
and we found that to be especially true at a place called Skodovka.
You know when it’s cold out and you walk by a place
and you see people inside and it just looks so snug and warm and welcoming?
I don’t know if it’s the Canadian in me but I love that feeling
and that’s exactly how this place drew me in.
The interior décor has mid century furniture
that feels like walking into someone’s living room from the 60s.
There are books, an old telephone and a radio
but the most unique thing that dominates the space
is a bright yellow car, which is where the café gets its name.
It's by the Czech car manufacturer Skoda which was founded in 1895.
It was really fun to sit near it while I pored over the menus and really took my time deciding what to try.
Marc ordered a lemon tea with honey that came with an adorable lemon squeezer
so he could get every last drop.
And I wanted a hot chocolate but couldn’t decide between white chocolate and dark chocolate
so the waiter very kindly offered to make me one with both!
He topped it with whipped cream and a cherry.
It was delicious!
We ordered traditional Slovak snack type food
which was two buns stuffed with something that we weren’t quite sure what it was.
Marc tried it and didn’t like it.
It more or less tasted like a tuna fish roll and since Marc doesn’t like tuna or mayo
it became clear why he wasn’t so into it.
If you don't like it it's okay.
Not for me.
I did enjoy it however so it meant more for me.
At the end of our trip in Bratislava we stopped at a place called Café Verne on our way out of town.
It’s named after Jules Verne who spent some time in the area
and I’m so glad we didn’t miss this place.
It was totally worth dragging our luggage around for.
I loved the atmosphere inside.
The walls were covered in art and wallpaper,
flowers hung romantically from the ceiling,
bookshelves,
and an old-fashioned cash register.
It was really busy inside and we were just lucky to get a spot to sit down.
By this point, we were fully on board with Kofola so we shared one last bottle of it.
For the record, drinks taste better in glass bottles, don’t you think?
I ate goulash that came with dumplings and Marc ordered a vegetable risotto.
Risotto?
Risotto? Risotto?
Again, clearly going for the comfort food as you can tell.
It was quite tasty and was the perfect ending to our charming time in Bratislava.
I hope you enjoyed this video about trying Slovak food.
Give it a thumbs up if you did and let me know in the comments what your favourite Slovak foods are.
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