Novak

Celebrity restaurant.  The words alone are enough to strike fear into the heart of the discerning diner.  Anyone who’s actually been to the Fashion Cafe in London or J-Lo’s Madre’s, in Pasedina or De Niro’s Nobu operations around the world, or any other of the mryiad examples, will know that it would probably have been a better idea for them to aviod the restaurant business as a second career. But we go there, and give them succour – it’s the celebrity bit that reels us in, the restaurant is almost incidental.

So to check out the opportunities presented by the delicate melding of tennis and gastronomy, we took a trip to Novak.

First impressions are that someone got the location badly wrong.  The base of a residential apartment block in New Belgrade doesn’t really strike one as prime restaurant territory, but on deeper consideration it’s actually quite smart – in walking distance from the Arena, the Sava Centar, and the In, Continental and Hyatt hotels and with very little competition on the New Belgrade side of the river.

The otherwise pretty chic interior is marred by what I suppose are the key features of the design – huge flat panel TVs (all showing Novak, of course) and a Perspex tube, perhaps 75 cm in diameter, stretching from floor to ceiling which was stuffed with dayglow yellow tennis balls.

We’d booked for 8:30, but I was almost embarrassed to tell the waiter this when we arrived because it wasn’t at all busy. There were four other diners and a table of two sat in the window lingering over coffee and cakes.  As it turned out, however, things picked up pretty smartly and within half an hour or so, upstatirs was pretty full and at least one couple were staring deeply into each other’s eyes in the slightly more classy and intimate downstairs seating area.

The menu is pretty eclectic – Mexican, Italian, Serbian, everything from Chimichanga to Tiramisu with a nod in many directions along the way. There are some good choices and someone’s spent some time  producing a contemporary offering. The loose Novak theme is kept up with the ‘Tennis Club Steak’ and the ‘Tennis Club Cup’ but apart from these two, sense prevails. When you’re paying this much money for dinner you really don’t need a TGI Friday’s style menu.

Thankfully, the waiting staff are not tennis themed either – no ball boys or umpires.  In fact they’re professsional and attentive. We picked a trio of mushrooms and a chicken chimichanga to start, followed by a steak in a port reduction and, of course, the Tennis Club Steak.

The wine list was very limited - two Serbian reds, maybe three others from the region, and another 6 -8 from elsewhere.  We settled on The Tikves Merlot Special Selection.  Tikves produce a range of wines for just about every pocket and this one comes in at the upper end of the offering.  The nose was musty  and flat, but given a little air it picked up considerably and in all was an acceptable medium-bodied merlot with a longish finish.

The mushrooms, when they came, were a good mix, heavy on the ceps and light on the field mushrooms, nicely sauteed, none too oily and well seasoned.  The chimichanga was huge. Far too big for a starter.  But the tortilla was good and the filling packed with a fair amount of chicken. On the side was some creamy, almost risotto-style rice, mixed with little chunks of vegetables. The Mexican flavours were muted to say the least.  It was just about possible to pick up a little spiciness from the tortilla filling but otherwise there was little about this that said Mexican.  It wasn’t bad, it just wasn’t Mexican.

I’m not sure what the relationship is between the ‘Tennis Club Steak’ and tennis, but it was pretty good nevertheless.  A large piece of fillet, well grilled, served with a large puff pastry parcel filled with chopped roasted vegetables and mozzarella cheese. Good, if once again huge. The whole thing came enveloped in a white sauce which was less successful.

The second steak was also well grilled presented nicely with some pureed potato and vegetables.  The port reduction was not good - jammy and without any meatiness.

Desserts of course had to include a ‘Tennis Club Cup’ which was, well, nice, but none too sophisticated.  Chopped banana, whipped cream, caramel sauce and nuts. I finished it, but I did feel a little like a kid at a childrens’ party!  Chococlate mousse was good and chocolatey and shot though with a cherry sauce.

They say that top sports people should consume around 4,500 calories daily and chimichanga, followed by a ‘Tennis Club Steak’ and a ‘Tennis Club Cup’ is certainly going to provide a fair percentage of that.  
So unless you’re in training, beware.

Novak
Bulevar Arsenija Carnojevica 54a.
tel 011-311-31-31

Price guide: 2,750 - 3,500 per person for three courses with a modest wine.