Vladimir Kosic offers a different fish dish every day. Along with buzara, a seafood dish, he serves grilled vegetables and salad at Lesendro. It's like being on vacation on the Adriatic coast - in the heart of Berlin.
Image: Lena Ganssmann
Advertisement
Video: Cooking step-by-step, Buzara, Montenegro
00:54
This browser does not support the video element.
Vladimir Kosic: "I started over here again."
It's no wonder that the sea has played an important role in Vladimir Kosic's life. Kosic grew up on the Adriatic coast in Montenegro, and his great passion is free diving and hunting fish with a harpoon - and then grilling his catch, of course. After finishing school, Vladimir Kosic was drawn to the city to study business in Belgrade. There, he spent many years running a bar and a small seafood restaurant until love brought him to Berlin in 2013. And he brought big plans with him - he was going to open a restaurant. Later that same year, he opened Lesendro in Prenzlauer Berg.
Vladimir KosicImage: Lena Ganssmann
Lesendro in Berlin's Prenzlauer Berg district
The name hearkens back to his home country. "Lesendro" is the name of an old fort on the coast of Montenegro. Yet, Kosic aims to bring even more of the Adriatic atmosphere to Berlin.
50 Kitchens, One City: Montenegro
05:00
This browser does not support the video element.
Buzara
Serves 4
Ingredients:
1200 g mussels
400 g clams
8 king prawns with head and tail
8 scampi with head
2 onions
4 garlic cloves
200 g cherry tomatoes
4 tomatoes
2 green onions
2 T strained tomatoes
1 splash white wine
Salt, pepper
Parsley
Olive oil
Preparation:
Sauté onions in oil. Add mussels, clams, king prawns, and scampi, and simmer in the pan. Dice cherry tomatoes and tomatoes, and add to pan together with strained tomatoes, garlic, parsley, salt, and pepper. Deglaze with white wine. Finally, add green onions and continue to cook until the mussels open. Serve with bread.
Lesendro prepares buzara
Vladimir Kosic offers a different fish menu every day. Along with buzara, a typical dish of seafood, he serves grilled vegetables and salad. It's like being on vacation on the Adriatic coast - in the heart of Berlin.
Image: Lena Ganssmann
Fresh fish on the table
Every morning, Vladimir Kosic sets out on a hunt for the city's best fish. And surprisingly, he is sometimes able to find fresher fish in Berlin than was available back home in Montenegro. "In Montenegro, we depend on our fishermen, but here the fish come from all over the world," he says. That's good news for seafood lovers - Vladimir Kosic always picks the best of the best for his kitchen.
Image: Restaurant Lesendro
Fish expert and chef
"Fish and the preparation of dishes and seafood has been my passion all my life. I learned that from the neighbors, on the sea. I have always been interested in the recipes and I make nice dinners for my friends. And also my sport is free diving, with a spear. I know how the fish behave, what they eat, where they live." - Vladimir Kosic
Image: Lena Ganssmann
Little Montenegro
Before Vladimir Kosic opened up Lesendro in Berlin's Prenzlauer Berg district in 2013, he had already been running a fish restaurant in the Serbian capital of Belgrade. His recipe of success: fish dishes that change each day. It's like a brief vacation at the Adriatic coast - right in Berlin.
Image: Restaurant Lesendro
"Montenegro smells of the sea"
In Montenegro, the food is mainly Mediterranean. Buzara is a typical dish you'll find on the coast consisting largely of seafood and tomato sauce. In Lesendro, Vladimir Kosic prepares it just like at home: with garlic and olive oil. It's that simple. And that's the way he conceives of his dishes - simple enough to allow you to taste each individual ingredient.
Image: Lena Ganssmann
Montenegrin speciality
Buzara is a very popular dish in Montenegro. "We have a saying about the dish: You cannot be hungry after buzara because you can eat a lot of bread with it and there's a lot of sauce, nice sauce. In the past, when people did not have a lot of money, but would catch something, they made a lot of sauce to go with the bread and would eat it up!" - Vladimir Kosic
