A TASTE OF YUGOSLAVIA
From Macedonia to SingaporeA quaint bakery tucked away in the heartlands of Katong V – Yugoslavia Bakery and Cafe serves up unique bakes made from genuine Yugoslavian recipes – specialising in Burek paired with homemade yogurt. We spoke with the founders, Mitre and his wife Katerina, to find out more about what inspired them to start up Yugoslavia Bakery and Cafe!
A Little Background
Coincidence brought Mitre from Macedonia to Singapore. Having worked as a pilot since his early twenties, he was offered a job with SilkAir in 2005 and decided to take up the opportunity having fall for the beauty of Singapore. Since then, he has been working as a pilot and crossover to Singapore Airlines on the six-year mark – and is still working as a Captain on Boeing777 till date!
As for Katerina, baking has been her passion even though she has a Degree in Economy from Macedonia National University. Both Mitre and Katerina have been married for 6 years with 2 kids.
The start of Yugoslavia Bakery and Cafe
How they came to start Yugoslavia Bakery and Cafe was Mitre and Katerina’s passion for food and baking and how the bakes found in Singapore comes with more of a fluffy texture as the couple is more used to a denser texture. On top of that, whenever they have friends over, they all love Mitre and Katerina’s bakes – especially Burek and urged them to start selling!
This inspired the couple and they experimented for a year with different brands of flour, milk, and other ingredients to get the perfect textures for their bakes.
Yugoslavia Bakery and Cafe's bakes is not something one can simply find back in Macedonia as the recipe has been handed down for generations within the family. Mitre and Katerina’s bakes are all traditionally made at home for celebrations, birthday parties, religious holidays but not commercially back home. The couple plans to keep these recipes handed down from their grandparents for future generations too!
Currently Katerina is running the store daily and Mitre helps out when he’s not flying.
The beauty of Burek
What’s Burek? Burek is a bake filled pastries made of a thin flaky dough such as phyllo or yufka. Common fillings are made with meat, cheese, spinach or potatoes – all ingredients at Yugoslavia Bakery and Cafe are sourced locally.
The best pairing to go with the Burek is Yugoslavia Bakery and Cafe’s homemade yogurt. The homemade yogurt is a hot seller especially among young children!
Do check out their Pogacha made with traditional Balkan Round Loaf too — choose from cinnamon raisin, chicken ham and yellow cheddar cheese, or Feta cheese spinach!
What’s next?
Mitre also spoke about his future plans for Yugoslavia Bakery and Cafe, and it involved expanding their menu offering to prepackage food that cannot be found in Singapore! If you haven’t had the taste of Burek paired with homemade yogurt yet, head down to Katong V, Yugoslavia Bakery and Cafe #01-05 today.
