What to eat in Gjirokastër

Gjirokastër eats in and around the bazaar, and the dish that belongs to the town is a starter. Qifqi comes first, then a grill or a home-style plate, and a fig pudding closes the meal. Nearly everything sits among the stone lanes under the castle. Lunch never costs a long walk.

Qifqi are rice balls bound with egg and seasoned with mint and pepper, fried in some kitchens and baked in others, so ask the kitchen which it is before you order. Locals treat them as the signature dish. They arrive as a starter, small and hot, ahead of anything heavier.

Vojsava Restaurant in the bazaar serves qifqi, and it is where to sit on your first evening. Order them before the main course and let the plate set your expectations for the rest of the menu, because a kitchen that gets this right usually gets the grill right too. A good version is crisp outside and soft inside, with the mint doing the work that cheese does in other kitchens.

Byrek and quick bites

Byrek is the answer when the castle has eaten the morning and a sit-down lunch feels too long. Bakeries sell it hot, it fits in one hand, and you can eat it on the cobbles while the next house is still a steep ten minutes away. Cheap and fast. The price is for Albania as a whole, not only Gjirokastër: €0.90–2.20. For cake and a proper coffee, Kalimera Patisserie in the old town is the stop between the tunnel and the climb up to Palorto.

Grills and home cooking

Grill House 13 stands in the bazaar and does what the name promises, meat over fire among the stone shopfronts. Furra Restaurant & Rooms sits beside the bazaar and rents rooms too, which makes it a good lunch before an afternoon rest. Edua, on Rruga Gjin Bue Shpata, serves Albanian dishes, and it suits anyone who wants a plate of home cooking after the bazaar grills have had their turn.

Under the castle, Hotel Bar Restaurant Kodra in the old town and Bar Restaurant Kujtimi both cook Albanian food, and Kujtimi is the nearer to the walls. Where the menu has tavë kosi, lamb baked in yoghurt, order it on a cool evening rather than a July afternoon. The verdict is easy: take the grill on the first night because it is quick and the bazaar is lit, and save tavë kosi for a slower second evening.

Oshafa and sweets

Oshafa is a pudding of dried figs and milk, and it is the correct way to end a meal here. Look for it among the sweets of the old town, where Kalimera Patisserie is the first door to try after dinner, and if the pudding is not on the shelf, take a cake instead, since the pudding is a bonus and not a duty. Eat it sitting down. The hill can wait until the spoon is empty, and the lanes look better lit than they do at noon.

Te Fuçitë, The Barrels, stands on Rruga Valere about 4.5 km north of the old town, which means a car or a taxi. It earns the trip as the one dinner outside the stone, best taken in the evening once the houses and the tunnel are done. Fix the ride back before you sit down, since 4.5 km is too far to walk back after dinner.

The byrek price is for Albania as a whole.

2 daysThe two-day itinerary shows where lunch falls between the castle, the houses and the tunnel.Gjirokastër in 2 days →

Where to stayMany guesthouses sit right beside these restaurants, and the stay page sorts them by lane and by season.Where to stay in Gjirokastër →

Getting aroundThe getting-around page covers the climb from the bus station to the bazaar.Getting around Gjirokastër →

When to goThe when-to-go page explains why summer lunches belong in the shade and autumn ones on the terrace.The best time to visit Gjirokastër →

Day tripsThe day-trip page picks up where dinner ends, with Sarandë, Butrint and the Blue Eye.Day trips from Gjirokastër →