The Best of Tirana: Our Culinary Guide to Albania's Capital!
Our Picks for Tirana's Best Restaurants, Wine Bars, Bakeries and Other Epicurean Delights!
If you’re a regular reader of The Epicurean Vagabonds, you may have noticed that we’ve essentially adopted Tirana, Albania as our European home base. We were stuck here during the pandemic, but it turns out we love the place and we keep coming back. We recently realized that we’ve lived off-an-on here for a total of almost three years now!
At this point, you can certainly say we’ve got more than a few insider tips about Albania’s burgeoning capital, which is one of Europe hottest (and most underrated!) tourist destinations for 2024. While we’ve waxed poetic about Tirana’s food and wine scene many times here at The Epicurean Vagabonds (we actually created this Substack right here in Tirana almost exactly 2 years ago), we’ve never compiled a detailed list of our favorite culinary haunts this city has to offer. Until now!
Best Fine Dining in Tirana
Kripë dhe Piper (Salt and Pepper):
There is a reason why this restaurant is consistently ranked as one of the top destinations in the city. The kitchen dances elegantly between perfectly prepared seafood and ginormous hunks of succulently seared dry-aged meat. The waitstaff is knowledgeable, amiable and attentive while the service is very relaxed but consistently on-point. Our top choice to celebrate a special occasion like an anniversary or Valentine’s Day, Kripë dhe Piper is a must if you’re visiting Tirana.
Ujvara Resto Lounge & Gourmet:
Another revered Tirana restaurant, Ujvara (meaning Waterfall) is overflowing with amazing ambiance and impeccable food. Chef Renato Mekolli (Albania’s most famous chef, the host of Hell’s Kitchen Albania and MasterChef Albania) has created a dazzling menu featuring elevated examples of global cuisine, from sushi to tacos to New Zealand lamb. This is fusion cuisine at its finest!
La Gioia Restaurant:
Nestled in the heart of the glitzy restaurant row inside the Tirana Castle, La Gioia outshines its touristy neighbors by far. Seafood is king here. The squid saganaki and grilled octopus are out of this world. The catch of the day baked in salt, flambéed and filleted right there at your table is an unforgettable experience. That being said, the modern Italian menu is extensive and there are many options for carnivores, pescatarians and vegetarians alike.
Tirana’s Best Traditional Albanian Cuisine
The Rooms Restaurant:
Self-described as “Your cozy spot with exquisite cuisine!”, The Rooms Restaurant is indeed a perfect haven for a quiet meal in a relaxed atmosphere that’s completely elegant without feeling stuffy or pretentious. The menu has a wide range of options, including traditional Albanian classics like tavë kosi (yogurt casserole with lamb meat) and qofte (homemade meatballs), local cheeses, fresh seafood, Italian pastas and risottos, and even burgers and chicken wings for the less adventurous.
Era Restaurant:
In our estimation, Era must be the most popular restaurant in the city. At the Blloku location (near our neighborhood), this restaurant is never empty, and on many nights there’s a very long line outside waiting for a table. And it’s so worth the wait. Believe the hype! Whether you want traditional Albanian delicacies (which no one does better), sublime pastas, scrumptious desserts or even a killer pizza, Era has it all. Try the local heritage specialties! We love the feta cheese pancakes “made in Korça,” the crunchy cornbread with ayran and goat cheese, the cornflour pie with wild greens from Çamëria, and of course those archetypal Albanian favorites – qofte (homemade meatballs) and tavë kosi (yogurt casserole with lamb meat).
Best Seafood in Tirana
Sea Soul Restaurant:
Hands-down the best seafood restaurant in Tirana. Sea Soul could easily fit into our fine dining section, as it ranks as one of the top restaurants in the city, but as its name suggests, there is only one thing to come here for – the fruit of the sea. Absolutely the most beautiful, pure and delectable seafood we have eaten in Tirana. We told the chef he deserves a Michelin star. Their crudo is perfection and their grilled fish of the day is simply one of the best preparations of fish we've ever eaten, anywhere in our travels. Divine!
Noel Fish:
Calamari, calamari, calamari! We found this hidden gem on our way back from visiting the Mosaic of Tirana (believed to have been part of a 3rd-century Roman house). And we can’t stop going back . . . for a half-a-liter of great white wine on the terrace and the best calamari in Tirana! (As well as some of the freshest, most affordable seafood in the city).
Tirana’s Best Bakery
Someg Bakery:
Can we talk about the bakeries in Albania? Having lived in over 20 countries at this point, we can definitively say that Albania has by far the best bakeries in Europe outside of France. The consistently gourmet level of breads, pastries, and baked goods in general here is outstanding. And our favorite bakery is Someg, a local chain with seven locations throughout Tirana. We buy all of our bread here, and we often indulge in a sweet treat from their staggering array of opulent desserts. Make sure you try the trileçe, a three-milk cake drenched in the best caramel you’ve ever tasted.
Best International Cuisine in Tirana
Fa Mulan:
Tirana’s newest Japanese restaurant instantly became our go-to location for take-out and delivery. The flavor-packed sushi rolls are the star, but everything on the menu is impressive, from the fried tempura appetizers to the crab salad to the fish soup to the hearty rice bowls. They even serve pasta and risotto! What better solution for those moments when one partner wants Japanese and the other’s craving Italian?
Oriental City Chinese Restaurant:
We would never have survived the pandemic and lockdown without our favorite local Chinese restaurant, which happened to be the only delivery service that could find our former apartment. (Tirana pro tip: use Google Maps! Street names and addresses are infamously unreliable!). We’ve probably eaten almost every item on their impressively wide-ranging menu, and we can now say that our beloved Oriental City is home to some of the best delicacies of Chinese cuisine in the wider Balkan region. Whatever you do, don’t miss those dumplings!
Chakra Indian Fusion:
Conveniently located next to Tirana’s biggest cineplex, Chakra Indian Fusion is the best Indian restaurant in town. (It’s also the only Indian restaurant in town. Fortunately it’s excellent!) Tandoori, biryani, chicken tikka masala . . . all of your trusty standards are here. The menu may not be reinventing Indian cuisine, but why reinvent the wheel? Especially when everything here is done so well. All of the appetizers are spectacular, their naan is a highlight, and we always order extra sauces to take home for later. It’s also refreshing to see a menu in Tirana with so many vegetarian options.
Restaurant Arabesque:
Tirana’s first Syrian restaurant! We were lucky enough to visit Restaurant Arabesque’s stand at Tirana’s annual Street Food Festival. The Street Food Festival is always worth checking out (the next one’s happening in May 2024!), but what we did not expect was tasting the most delicious shawarma of all time. Restaurant Arabesque opened in 2017, and many of the staff members are refugees who fled Syria during the civil war. The flavors and spices they’ve brought to Tirana are utterly unique, and a number of locals have since dubbed Restaurant Arabesque the best restaurant in the city.
Our Favorite Neighborhood Pizza Joint
Next Pizza:
Probably not on very many people’s radar (we could find neither a website nor an Instagram), but Next Pizza is everything we want in a neighborhood pizza joint: high-quality ingredients, inexpensive, friendly staff, lightning-speed pickup and delivery, consistently reliable and addictively delicious. The portions are also enormous for the very reasonable price (their jumbo, family-size pizza just barely fits in our building’s elevator). Never knew halal pizza would be this good!
Best Fresh Pasta in Tirana
Pasta Fresca:
Is there anything better than fresh, homemade pasta made by an Italian grandma? This delightful little pasta shop is truly a local treasure. Every single item here is handmade from scratch that day, and by the end of the evening there’s usually nothing left. (Arrive early if you want her prized lasagna!) The choices are constantly rotating, and we regularly revel in the sumptuous starchy pleasures of tri-colored fettuccine, cheese & walnut ravioli, squid ink linguine and prosciutto tortellini, often accompanied by one of her exquisite sauces. And you can’t walk away without buying one of her mouthwatering desserts! (Here’s a cute TikTok video we found.)
Tirana’s Best Cocktail Bar
Radio Bar Tirana:
Tirana’s hippest bar boasts the best cocktails in town, tasty food, great music, fantastic service, funky eye-catching décor (check out the antique radios and vintage film posters) and a diverse crowd. But let’s talk about those cocktails! We’re partial to their Albanian cocktail menu, like the Tirana Mule (with Albanian gin and ginger beer) or the Kaipiraki (a caipirinha with juniper raki), but they also make a mean Manhattan, a flawless Old Fashioned, and an impressive assortment of original libations concocted by a charming team of mixologists.
Best Wine Bar in Tirana
Vena Vinoteka:
For many years our friends and colleagues urged us to open our own wine bar. And while our knees and backs thank us profusely for ignoring these exhortations, we were thrilled to find exactly the kind of wine bar we would have created had we followed their advice. Vena Vinoteka is simply one of the best wine bars we’ve ever been to anywhere. From the charming atmosphere and ingenious wine-themed décor to the small plates of mouthwatering bruschetta, piadina, escargot and qofte, this is the place in Tirana we frequent the most. The staff are all incredibly knowledgeable, warm and attentive. Every time we stop in, which is often, they invariably treat us like old friends. And then there’s the international wine selection (unmatched in Tirana) that has been carefully curated by the owner, Fatjon, a former sommelier. Without question, this is one of our favorite spots in Tirana!
Wanna Travel Like An Epicurean Vagabond?
On January 16th, 2017, with all of our worldly possessions crammed into a 5x10 storage unit in Washington State, we packed up our 2 large suitcases, 2 carry-on suitcases, 2 computer bags and 2 purses before boarding a plane bound for Montreal. As of this writing, it’s been
That is so surprising there is such a variety, and so many good restaurants in Tirana!
It all sounds and looks fabulous. It’s also interesting that almost all the restaurant names are in English.