When I returned to Belgrade from my US and UK business trips in October of 2019 I had only a week with my mom before she flew to the US. I wanted to do something special with her the last weekend she was with me. We decided to go to Zemun together on a Saturday afternoon. It was early autumn, the trees on the Belgrade side of the river were just turning yellow. I’ve been told that Zemun became a part of Belgrade after the fall of the Austro-Hungarian empire, this little city within a city boasts lovely cafes and restaurants. One of their many claims to fame is their riverside lounging, café boats and many charming restaurants along the river walk. The town has much more to offer than just suburban life. The river walking path twists around the bend where it at a funky café and restaurant. Stairs then lead up to the top of the town.
Zemun is a town on a hill, located alongside the Danube river, close to Novi Belgrade. The little city rests across the river from Belgrade old town, it’s about a twenty-minute drive from Belgrade’s center. The 78, or 83 buses deliver patrons in front of the pedestrian street which will lead to the river walk. Along the river the many restaurants all offer great meal options most of them with good reviews, but one Danube river side restaurant stands out above them all. With almost perfect reviews and amazing pictures on Tripadvisor, Saran. The restaurant was very busy, but we managed to get a gazebo table in the late day sun. In the future I would make a reservation to secure a table, just in case.
This charming restaurant has a terrific menu of fresh water fish and we decided on the famous perch served two ways. The first option we took as an appetizer a perch fillet coated in sesame and pumpkin seeds. Our main dish was a whole perch roasted with vegetables and covered in a white wine sauce. It was delicious! After a fantastic dinner we wandered down to the other side of the walk. We stopped at a café for an ice coffee then continued to steps which took us up the hill to the top street of Zemun. While up there we found the military monument tower with an amazing view and a beer garden.
