By Will Hanson

The Balkans, also known as the Balkan Peninsula, is the easternmost region of Europe’s southern peninsulas. It comprises Albania, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Bulgaria, Croatia, Kosovo, Montenegro, North Macedonia, Romania, Serbia, and Slovenia. Many of those countries comprised the former Yugoslavia, which was torn apart by war in the 1990s. Balkan cuisine is balanced between Western and Eastern influences and is closely related to Turkish, Greek, Italian, and other Mediterranean cuisines.

Front view of the restaurant.

Located on Patterson Avenue near the intersection with Parham Road, across from KFC and Dollar Tree, is Balkan Restaurant. Tagged as “Homestyle Pan-European comfort food” on Google maps, Balkan Restaurant’s big, flavorful portions overshadow their quaint dining room and small bar. From the parking lot, you are greeted by large neon “Balkan Restaurant” and “Open” signs. As you walk through the door, you are hit with the warm aroma of spices, as if someone had just thrown them in your face. Even the morning after grabbing takeout from this restaurant, my car still smelled of their in-house lepinja bread and chicken shish kabobs. 

Our order consisted of a cheesesteak sandwich, Balkan potatoes, chicken shish kabobs, and falafel. The huge circular loaf of lepinja bread first caught my eye while spreading the food out over my kitchen counter. I proceeded to eat the bread as I searched for my cheesesteak sandwich in the many styrofoam containers. It was that good. To my surprise, the bread of the sandwich was the same lepinja bread, and it looked even larger when made into a sandwich. The cheesesteak sandwich was phenomenally messy but totally worth it. I would definitely say it’s my favorite cheesesteak sandwich I’ve had so far in Richmond.

Map of the Balkans region on their wall.

As for my mother, she ordered the chicken shish kabobs. While ordering, she told me that the owner respectfully corrected her when she asked for the chicken skewers. Apparently, there is a difference in the preparation between a skewer and a shish kabob. She finished her meal before I did and said the chicken was “cooked perfectly, which is very hard to do on a shish kabob.” She also ordered a side of Balkan potatoes. They looked exactly how they tasted: small circular potatoes doused in cheese. They were fantastic and tasted like a fancy mac and cheese, but with potatoes. My father even reached over me to try his fair share and described it as “soft velvety potatoes in a rich cream sauce, 10/10.”

The last dish I tried was falafel. It was my first time trying this vegetarian staple, it so I had no idea what to expect. Falafel is a deep-fried ball made from ground chickpeas, fava beans, or sometimes both. I figured I needed an open mind while trying the falafel, but that was not enough. In my opinion, it was too dry and salty. I can see why people enjoy this dish, but it is not for me.

Overall, I enjoyed trying this European restaurant and have already recommended their cheesesteak sandwich to my friends. Maybe I’ll give falafel another chance later on, but I don’t see that happening in the near future.

All photos by Will Hanson.