Saraj

Bosnian Lunch on a Friday in West Des Moines.

I met Chad a few weeks ago for lunch. We decided to try out Saraj. I tried their bread from the grocery store, so it was time to try the restaurant.

We arrived around noon. There was plenty of parking. We sat ourselves and were greeted promptly. The menu was decent-sized for a small restaurant. They offer Bosnian sodas, Bosnian wine, beer, and coffee drinks. Chad ordered a Bosnian coffee. The coffee was served in a cute little copper pot, which of course I loved. The coffee was piping hot and served with two cubes of sugar. We love strong coffee, so this was a good fit for us.

I wasn’t sure about this salad at first. I thought it was a lettuce salad, but it turned out to be a lot of cucumber with red onion and tomato. It was crunchy and refreshing. It was a nice starter before we received the rest of our meal.

I ordered the Zeljanica. Chad ordered the Bosnian Gyro. The Zeljanica was phyllo dough stuffed with spinach and cheese. The Bosnian Gyro was served on lepina filled with beef gyro meat, lettuce, tomato, onions, and Tzatziki sauce.

The Zeljanica was served to us piping hot right out of the oven. The skin was bubbily and crispy, served with a side of sour cream. As I took my first bites, I was expecting the dough to be filled with lots of spinach and cheese. I also was not expecting the cheese to be more of a cottage cheese type filling. The phyllo was excellent. However, I would have liked to taste more spinach and cheese. It left me with something else to be desired. Next time I think I will have to order the Burek filled with ground beef.

This Bosnian Gyro was delicious. The lepina was hot and crispy. Fresh lettuce, tomato, onion complimented the sandwich but the real winners were the meat and the Tzatziki sauce. This gyro was huge! It took up the entire dinner plate. It was $9.99 for the sandwich, but we felt well worth it. There was so much we had to take half of it home.