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Mali Pariz

This Belgrade restaurant is used so frequently by the diplomatic community that it has achieved de facto status as the office canteen.

Trencherman

Belgrade

Belgrade Insight

One can only suspect that the BIS (the Serbian Intelligence Service) have a very close relationship with the staff at Mali Pariz. Outside of official receptions, there can be few other places that combine so many diplomats from across the globe with sufficient alcohol to make them voluble enough to spill the occasional ill-advised sentence. Whether the table decorations contain well-concealed microphones I cannot say, but unless they were interested in the minutiae of my day, any listeners would have had a dull lunchtime.
I have to confess that I was not looking my best when I arrived. Hassled, late and in sportswear (well, life hands me quite a few calories), and I suppose that’s why it took the staff quite some time to recognise my presence and hand me a menu.
As it turned out, my diplomatic lunch date was held up by important affairs of state, or at least that’s what they told me on arrival, so I had time for the heartbeat to slow and to make myself look a little more presentable.
The menu at Mali Pariz, is not exactly Parisian and contains few surprises and little which you wouldn’t find at any of Belgrade’s more upmarket restaurants, but there’s enough to keep even a picky eater happy.
I don’t know if you’ve ever worked in a place with an in-house canteen, but when I did, I settled down into a lazy routine, ordering the same reliable, dish on every visit and my lunch date too, seems to feel the same way: rucola salad and octopus na zaru, were ordered without bothering the menu.
My choices took a little more consideration.  I picked grilled goat’s cheese with a mixed salad, followed by a fillet steak with a truffle sauce.
You can’t lunch with a diplomat without a little lubrication. The talk of procedural motions, EC regulations and committees would otherwise be just too soporific. So, a Frescobaldi Remole was ordered to dull the pain.
A blend of cabernet sauvignon and sangiovese grapes the wine is light, but with good fruit upfront and a hint of spiciness. This diplomatic anesthetic was also reasonably priced at 2,100 dinars.
“Light on the pine nuts, but otherwise excellent as usual,” was the report on the salad, and I must say it looked good, was generously sized, and generous with the parmesan too.
The grilled cheese was just a little too salty but the texture was a nice combination of crispness on the outside and a crumbly softness inside, and it came with a good, well-dressed salad.
McCain’s local foodservice sales team deserves international recognition. Somehow, their skilled professionals have managed to convince chefs at some of Belgrade’s better restaurants that pre-frozen, ready-to-fry, lightly-spiced potato wedges are the ideal side dish. So, there they were, alongside my fillet steak and nicely grilled vegetables. The steak, by the way, was well seasoned, very rare as ordered, and, as I have come to expect in Serbia, very big. The earthiness of the truffle came through well in a sauce with was just a little sticky and cloying.
The octopus was excellent. Well presented, full of flavour and tender, served with a salad garnish and some chard and potatoes.
Desert was some run-of-the-mill vanilla ice cream and a floating island. There are many variations on this theme, so it’s always interesting to see what comes. This one was very traditional – poached, whipped egg white over creme anglais  - no messing around with the blowtorch and no additional flavours in the custard, but was none the worse for it.
A cup of coffee later and my lunch date left me, and went back to building world peace and the brotherhood of nations or whatever it is they do.
So, not a bad office canteen, although not perhaps the cheapest in town, and certainly worth a visit from those of us who have no strong opinions on world affairs and are just looking for a reliable venue for lunch or dinner.

Mali Pariz
Bircaninova 17
Tel: 011 3621496

Price guide: 2,500 – 3,000 per head for three courses with a modest wine.