Pancake Quest
People visit Korçë for the medieval churches, museums, and prehistoric sites, but I came for the petulla të fshira
Korçë has an old town featuring winding, delightfully quaint streets. Once the car is safely parked without a scratch, these streets make for delightful wanderings. The city has cobblestone, museums, ruins galore, and even an Illyrian tumulus (burial ground) nearby. A tumulus!
It’s a relaxing, comfy-sized city tucked in the mountains. If you enjoy old churches or find yourself looking to raise an Albanian family, I can’t recommend it enough. Or, if you’re a single, barren heathen like me, come search for the holy grail of savory pancakes, petulla të fshira.
I first tried this culinary delight at Era Restaurant in Tirana a year ago. Each layer is brushed with garlic sautéed in butter, cooked crispy in a pan, then stacked. Oh, and don’t forget the homemade, fresh cheese.
I’m not saying this concoction was tasty, what I’m saying is that a year later, when I met an American man at a Tirana hotel near the airport who said he hadn’t found Albanian food “all that good,” I nearly slapped him poolside. How dare he?
I was too flabbergasted to respond as he went on about being a “foodie.” I observed a moment of gratitude that I am no longer waiting tables, where my job would be to act as if I agree, even as I want to yell, “NO ONE WHO KNOWS ANYTHING ABOUT FOOD WOULD SAY THEY ARE A FOODIE!”
Now I can just walk away.
Let’s go back to wandering the sunny streets of Korçë.
Ahhhhh. That’s better. If you visit in May as I did, chances are you’ll enjoy a crisp, sunny, and cool day, which makes walking a pleasure. The city is small enough that you don’t have to bother with public transportation. Use a guide or travel blog as a reference if you want, but I found all The Sights on my own. The parks are green and tree-lined. Pretty fountains spray water.
I have read multiple times that Korçë features a “relative lack of trash” (that’s “free of litter” if you’re British), compared to the rest of the Balkans. I have thoughts, like have you been to the United States, but I’ll park that observation here for now.
Sometimes I feel sorry for the tour bus people, because they are forced to stand and gawk at churches for hours. Whereas if I’m not in the mood for medieval art (not my favorite era), I can skip it! That’s one of the joys of traveling alone. You’re free to make an itinerary, then shred it. The only person I have to consult is myself.
Although, honestly, I find myself a difficult travel partner at times.
In my journey, I found the food truck area, where I bought a chicken kebab “all the way,” meaning fries, mustard, and ketchup. I don’t know that it was the most special kebab ever, but for the equivalent of ONE DOLLAR, can’t complain.
Right after shoving down this impulse buy, I remembered I was here for the pancake, a rich food best approached hungry. Albanian food, served bountifully on huge plates, is better shared, but I only have my one stomach, and this one day.
I walked more tree-lined streets until I found a restaurant with a beautiful and enormous outdoor eating area. It was a weekday afternoon and quiet, but I bet this place cranks on weekends and during celebrations.
Instead of dancing the valle all night, I got out my Kindle. A few families selected tables near me, making me feel as if I didn’t have leprosy, which was nice, and maybe I’m part Albanian Disney princess because the animals always find me, too. And no, they didn’t beg for food. Albanian animals are unfailingly polite.
The families —grandma, grandpa, mom, dad, the kids — order platters of these locally-famous meatballs, fries, and Village Salad, what we would call a Greek salad — lettuce, tomato, feta, olives, and red onion. Korçë is close to Greece, hence the food parallels.
I watched this clip made by a comedian recently (can’t remember the name!) who said traveling to foreign countries is like the first time you have dinner with a functional family. The bummer is that you can’t stay there because the family isn’t your family, and now you know the difference.
This lunch counted as a twofer: functional families in a functional country. Not everyone would say that about Albania, but I speak as a waitress survivor of Friday night shrimp buffets at an Alabama Shoney’s, which taught me something about family night in America and a lot about how much abuse a teenage girl can take as she picks dimes out of water glasses. Once, this one girl received an entire five-dollar tip, 10% of the bill. We were so shocked at the generosity we stood in our green polyester skirts and gawked a full minute before shift manager Polly yelled those buffet plates weren’t gonna clear themselves.
Phew! Let’s leave the summer of 1987 and get back to Korçë, 2025, where families smile and talk, and the kids play or talk instead of staring at electronic devices.
I started with a salad, because at 56, if I order a platter of meatballs, my body will tell me about it for the next three days.
The salad was crisp and fresh, about $5, and I dare Applebee’s to put one on their menu. After that, TBH, I was full, but here’s the thing about food writing. You might have flown across the world in search of a pancake, then eat a street kebab and a large salad before the pancake even arrives. But here it comes anyway!
Buttery. Crispy. Cheesey. More of those local crunchy walnuts. And the size of a deep-dish Chicago-style pizza. The dough is ever so lightly sour, which adds acidity for balance.
I didn’t want to be the Lady-Who-Asks-for-a-Box-Because-Ooooh-This-Will-Be-So-Good-for-Lunch-Tomorrow, but at some point, I had to cry mercy, and I couldn’t imagine leaving the second half. Not my precious!
I wound up living off this pancake (which was still good, just like day-old pizza!) the next day as I crossed the Accursed Mountains. What if I’d driven off a cliff? I would have needed that pancake until the rescue team came for me, or at least died clutching something delicious.
Korçë pancake: 10/10 stars.
That sounds so delicious! Love your descriptions.