Before arriving in Berat, Albania on October 1st, 2019, we spent eight days in Gjirokaster. About three hours south of Berat, Gjirokaster is yet another beautiful UNESCO World Heritage Site. We ate at Restorant Tradicional Gjoca four times. The food was great and authentic. Seated on the sidewalk in the Old Bazaar, we really enjoyed watching locals and tourists go by. However, it was watching the restaurant owners, Chef Defrim and his wife, Buko, that was most enjoyable.

Buko doesn’t speak English. Her kind smiles conceal her quiet strength. She’s usually inside preparing food. When she’s free she would sit outside and get caught up on the goings-on in town as people stop to chat with her. Once, I saw Defrim get up to let her sit when she came out with a cup of coffee. To me, she epitomizes “Behind every successful man is a woman.”

The restaurant has only four tables outside. Whenever they are occupied, Chef Defrim has to convince people to sit inside. After the stores across the street close, he would set up a couple tables at those storefronts. He’s really mellow; rejection does not faze him. When he’s not doing other things, he’s at the doorstep either trying to get tourists’ attention or chatting with the locals. I’m pretty sure things are different in the New City below, but up on the hill in Old Town, everyone knows everyone.

On two of the evenings that we ate at their restaurant, there was a food and art street festival. Everyone was out. He must have waved at hundreds of locals out enjoying the festivities. Defrim and Buko are not just nice to the locals and paying tourists. We saw a rather unkempt tourist with a guitar go inside the restaurant. A few minutes later Buko walked that tourist to an empty table across the street.

We were really sad to leave Gjirokaster and this wonderful couple. The tourist season had dramatically died down; it was the end of September. I wished we could stay to give them some more business since we genuinely loved their food.

I made a photo collage of some of the dishes we had at their restaurant, and sent it via their restaurant Facebook page. We included an English plus Google-translated Albanian message telling them how much we missed them. They must have gotten someone to write their sweet reply in English. We think of them often. That was October 11th last year. I really need to catch up on the writing.

P.S. As I was writing this, we sent them a message to see how they are doing. We just got a reply (most likely written by their son) that they are doing well. I really hope we can visit Gjirokaster again before too long.

Map of Places Visited