The best restaurants Polog And Reka

This restaurant is run by Borka and Pavle Lukanovski, nicknamed Baba and Dede (Баба и Деде). They are among the very few inhabitants to live in Galičnik year-round, completely isolated during the coldest six months. Helped by their children in summer, they offer good, purely local dishes, i.e. much the same as at Hotel Neda, but here it's more family-style (the cheese, lamb, eggs and rakija are homemade). You can sleep on site: the rooms are fairly modern and comfortable, with WiFi and good bathroom facilities.

We love this restaurant's terrace overlooking a large sandy beach on Lake Debar. The menu is also pretty good, with stewed Albanian dishes (very similar to Macedonian cuisine), farmed trout, grilled meats, squid, salads, oriental desserts and the famous Tirana-style trilece. After all that, you can go for a swim (the lake water is 23°C in summer... but 5°C in winter) or rent a canoe or small boat nearby. Perfect for a stopover on the road between Ohrid and Skopje.

Perched at an altitude of 1,335 m, near the village of Lisec/Лисец, the "Šar paradise" restaurant offers magnificent views over Tetovo and the Polog plain. Good Albanian and Macedonian dishes from the Šar mountains, veal and grilled meats, salads, home-grown trout and the house specialty, tavë sharrit, a beef cassolette simmered with cheese, shallots, peppers and mushrooms, are served in the large garden or panoramic rooms. Children's playground, small museum and friendly waiters.

This restaurant (Ресторан Панорама) enjoys a beautiful view of the Vardar spring and surrounding mountains. It serves mainly locally raised and grilled trout (Macedonian, rainbow or golden), farmed carp from Lake Tikveš breaded in cornmeal and imported sea fish (sea bass, gilthead bream and salmon). And also: good veal, baked potatoes, salads, roasted peppers, cheeses and homemade desserts. We love the terrace, but we're not crazy about the interior decor, with its stuffed bears and pelicans.

Here you can enjoy grilled fish and meat, pizzas and rolls baked in a wood-fired oven. The restaurant is especially worth a visit for its shaded terrace offering a breathtaking view of Lake Debar. Right next door, between the power station and the restaurant, there's a weir on the lake shore. This is a huge water discharge pipe, installed here to relieve the dam in the event of flooding. Built vertically, this type of system gives the impression of a huge hole in the surface of the lake as soon as the water levels rise.

This restaurant (Мерак) is set along the Treska River, at the entrance to the village of Popolžani/Пополжани (approx. 110 Macedonian inhabitants). Some tables are set directly on the water's edge, while others are spread between sheds and the main wooden building built in the čardak style. The cuisine here is traditional: grilled meats of all kinds, casseroles, mushrooms, cheeses and salads. On the whole, it's not bad. But it's above all for the setting that we recommend this address.

This café-grocery (Bakkal-Kahve) offers Turkish-style tea and coffee, as well as burgers and kebabs. There's nothing charming about the place, but it does have a terrace. In any case, it's one of the few shops in Kodžadžik. More stores, cafés and restaurants can be found in the villages of Centar Župa (approx. 350 inhabitants, 8 km to the northwest) and Novak (approx. 750 inhabitants, 2 km to the southeast). But as far as we know, there is no tourist accommodation in this mainly Turkish-speaking region to the east of Lake Debar.