Our train was more than 1.5 hours late arriving in Belgrade. With less than 90 minutes before our next train left for Ljubljana, Slovenia, we couldn’t give the cats the dry food we brought them. You may recall a Smarty Cat that led us to the front door of a pet food store, and earned lunch for twenty of his closest friends.
So, off to the grill place at the edge of the local park we went. Khaleel recognized us immediately. He spontaneously asked, “Two very spicy?” Kenric kept repeating “not so spicy like last time!” Khaleel’s boss, of whom he spoke highly, was there this morning. After hearing that we were only in town for 90 minutes, and all we wanted was to say “Hi” to him, and enjoy his tasty creations for breakfast, he was even more amused and proud. His boss was happy to hear that we like their food so much.
Khaleel was very generous with the “everything” toppings. We kept saying how excited we were to eat the burgers again. It’s true. None of the similar burgers we had in other cities even come close. We skipped dinner last night to save our appetites for this long-awaited breakfast. I noticed he mouthed a prayer to bless Kenric’s burger before handing it over. I didn’t look to see if he did the same with mine.
The two pljeskavica came to 400 Serbian dinars (USD $4.00). Kenric gave him 150 dinars ($1.50) as a tip. He profusely refused, but finally relented. His boss came over to see what the commotion was about. Khaleel told him, “They gave me this.” “Masha Allah.” (Something like “Thank God”.)
As we were stuffing ourselves (yes, just as good as we remembered), I noticed Khaleel giving the two bills (100 dinar and 50 dinar) to his boss. His boss shook his head, and told him to keep them. Then, his boss walked off somewhere.
After Khaleel was done making a burger for another customer, he came out for a smoke. He asked where we’ve been and where we’re going. I wanted to show him the photos of him that I posted, but of course, I had no cell reception there. Another customer came. We rushed and ate quickly. His boss came back with bottles of beverages to restock the cooler. I quietly told the boss that the last time we were there, Khaleel told us that he is really thankful for him. He looked over at Khaleel, and smiled contently.
He offered me a bottle of water. I said, “No, thank you.” He asked, “Why?” I really had no reason, especially since I had just eaten a very spicy burger. He offered Kenric a bottle too, but we said we would share. I washed my hands, told them we had to run back to the train station. His boss shook our hands. We promised them we would be back if we are ever in Belgrade again. Khaleel came over from the grill. He avoided shaking hands, and showed us his oily palm, so we errrr….fist bumped.
Map of Places Visited
Pljeskavica Stall
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Pljeskavica Stall44.811491, 20.454912
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