Friday’s Featured Food: Hot Kaurma And Shurpa Stew At Boulevard Cafe, Comrat, Gagauzia

March 2024 saw me finally arrive in Gagauzia. My oh my what a journey! This is a fully autonomous republic in eastern Europe, which borders Moldova. I crossed the border by marshrutka from Chisinau in Moldova to Comrat in Gagauzia. Comrat is the capital city of Gagauzia and I toured the city’s top 12 sights.

Backpacking In Gagauzia: Top 12 Sights In Comrat, The Capital

Backpacking In Gagauzia: Top Sights In Comrat, The Capital

Now I will report on my excellent lunch here. Unusually for me, I didn’t have a beer over this lunch, I went for wine. Also unusually for me, I had a two course lunch! Normally I don’t eat that much! I headed to the city’s central and famous Boulevard Cafe for this Gagauzian treat!

Lunch At Boulevard Cafe, Comrat, Gagauzia

Boulevard Cafe is bang central in Comrat, at 203 a Lenin Street. It sits a 30 second walk from both the Lenin statue and the main Orthodox Church. Nice and easy and lovely. The restaurant opened in 2013 and I was here in 2024, the 100 year anniversary of Lenin’s death.

Boulevard Cafe on Instagram

Boulevard Cafe on Facebook

Friday’s Featured Food: Kaurma And Stew At Boulevard Cafe, Comrat, Gagauzia

On arrival in the restaurant, I found a cosy table by the window. It wasn’t too busy. Two pretty Gagauzian girls came to me. One gave a menu and I sat down. It was hard to choose…

The menu at Boulevard Cafe

My Food at Boulevard Cafe, Comrat, Gagauzia

I decided to go for a Gagauzian dish called hot Kaurma – lamb, cheese, tomato, herb, spice for 108 Lei, £4.87 in Northern Irish pounds.

Hot kaurma

And I also ordered the Shurpa Gagauzian soup/stew which was also with lamb meat! So I had two dishes with lamb, but this was perfect because of the Turkish influence! The Turkish influence here is clear to see – lamb was always quite popular when I backpacked Turkey and here in Gagauzia, Turkish flags fly by the bar too…Gagauzia’s autonomy is intended for the local Gagauz people, a Turkic-speaking, primarily Orthodox ethnic group, whilst Moldovan/Romanian and Russian are also spoken. No Moldova flags in this bar though 😉

Turkish flags by the bar

The Shurpa was also quite a big dish and to be honest usually one of these is enough so I ended up spending an hour and a half in here attempting to finish both dishes! The Shurpa was 82 Lei which is about £3.82 in Northern Irish pounds.

My Shurpa stew/soup with lamb

The soup/stew dish comes with bread. There is no way I will eat all of this, so I only have one piece of bread!

Friday’s Featured Food: Kaurma And Stew At Boulevard Cafe, Comrat, Gagauzia

My Drink at Boulevard Cafe, Comrat, Gagauzia

In Moldova and Gagauzia, wine is the speciality so I dropped my usual beer tendencies. However, please note that in nearby Transnistria (where I backpacked in 2014), Brandy and Beer are more common. I went for a local Bostavan red wine and I opted for the first one on the list – a Cabernet Sauvignon.

A Bostavan Cabernet Sauvignon Wine in Comrat

Also, rather curiously behind the bar was the word JOHNY!! As part of JOHNY JOSPER’s Cafe Bar. Perhaps this restaurant and bar has two names!

Johny Josper!

Here are the prices –

Bostavan Cabernet Sauvignon – 26 Lei (£1.17 NI pounds)
Hot Kaurma – 108 Lei (£4.87 NI pounds)
Sherpa With Lamb – 82 Lei (£3.82 NI pounds)

Total Bill – 216 Lei (£9.83)

I left a 24 Lei tip. My waitress brought me a Gagauzian flag as a souvenir to take away. A lovely touch, thanks so much!! I posed with it beside my travelling Northern Ireland flag. The food was delicious!! And so was the wine, what a great experience to dine in Gagauzia!