A Balkan Bounty

It’s always fascinating to discover that an ethnic group has assumed a sufficient enough density in the suburbs to support their first market and restaurant. And unbeknownst to most residents of Northern Virginia, apparently enough Bosnians have settled here to merit the presence of Plava Laguna European Food Store, a Bosnian food mart, as well as Restaurant Cosmopolitan. Sadly, Restaurant Cosmopolitan, which opened in 2004, has closed temporarily, and will reopen as a smaller scale carry-out rather than the full service restaurant and bar of its previous incarnation. We chatted with one of the proprietors, who hilariously mistook me for one of his fellow countrymen, and he said that their new carry-out, Cosmopolitan Cafe, should open in a few weeks.

Although we were unable to satisfy our craving for cevapi and pljeskavica, we were happy to poke around the two aisles at Plava Laguna, which is well stocked with plenty of adjvar (the preeminent Balkan condiment consisting of a puree of roasted red peppers, eggplant, and chilis), as well as jars of pickled vegetables, and even Macedonian jams, including one jam that offered the unlikely flavor combination of pumpkin, grape, and eggplant.

Candy fetishists should note that Plava Laguna easily has the most extensive array of Milka chocolate bars in the area, a respectable collection of Kinder chocolates, and is the only D.C. area source (that we’re aware of, at least)
offering a nearly complete product line of the Croatian chocolate maker Kras. I first became acquainted with Kras during my final six months in New York, when a Bosnian entrepreneur opened a coffee shop and gourmet chocolatier in a narrow storefront in the Fulton Street subway station.

He proclaimed Kras’ Bajadera to be one of the finest chocolates in the world, and though skeptical, I bought a box and found that he was right. Bajadera are comprised of a thin top and bottom layer of milk chocolate sandwiching a sizable middle layer of almond and hazelnut nougat. If a chocolate is capable of tasting elegant, then this is it: smooth and slightly buttery with a faint taste of the hazelnut and almond blend and a wholesome dairy finish. Thankfully, Plava Laguna has an excess of Bajadera.

We’ve enjoyed several of Kras’ Dorina chocolate bars, and though all of them are worth trying, our favorite is the milk chocolate with puffed rice. Unlike the brittle crunch of American bars like Hershey’s Krackel, Dorina’s puffed rice are full grains puffed to Kashi-like proportions. It sounds off-putting, but it’s so novel to have a chocolate bar with such a fibrous texture, that it works. And the malted taste of the puffed rice perfectly complements the milk chocolate.

The other powerhouse Kras offering is Bananko, a small, banana-shaped confection filled with lightly banana-flavored marshmallow fluff over a thin wafer of biscuit, all of which is covered in chocolate. Though we enjoyed our Bananko at room temperature, they’re apparently  even better when they’re frozen. Plava Laguna offers Bananko both individually and by the case.

Who knew that Croatia is host to one of the world’s great chocolate companies? Hopefully, other chocolate lovers will have the opportunity to discover Kras, so that it can some day enjoy a reputation as widespread as that of Milka, Kinder, Cadbury, and Hershey’s.

We were also stoked to discover that Plava Laguna stocks the Slovenian soda Cockta. Cockta is primarily bitter with a faint citrus sweetness, not entirely dissimilar to the Italian bitter soda Chinotto. It’s worth trying at least once- besides when was the last time you had the opportunity to try a Slovenian soda? And according to the Cockta website, the fact that it’s caffeine free means that Cockta “is good and safe drink for every generation, even for the infants.” So be sure to swap out that formula for some Cockta.

If you’re still intrigued by Cockta then the following passage, which offers a surprising degree of candor about Cockta’s marketing and packaging efforts, should sate your curiosity:

The mystery of a special Cockta flavour lies in the supplement of eleven different herbs. Its basic ingredient is a dog-rose berry offering its specific flavour. Its irresistible freshness is reached, however, by a drop of lemon and orange flavours.

Cockta is a beverage made of completely natural ingredients, suitable for seniors and juniors since it does not contain neither caffeine nor orthophosphoric acid (aggressive ingredient significant for cola drinks).

The outlook and prestige of a beverage is of utmost importance should we wish the young to drink it. Kolinska is completely aware of it so Cockta got a completely new look. New logo and label communicate with younger generation. The colours that are already known and accepted and a new attractive bottle preserve a part of nostalgia respected by all generations.

Check out Plava Laguna European Food Store at:
5900 N. Kings Highway
Alexandria, VA 22303

-AC