New restaurants in Belgrade 2026 (part 1)

Many new cafes and restaurants are opening in Belgrade, but only a few new places introduce something novel to the city. This post is a quick recap of the novel highlights that opened in the first half of 2026 (some places may have opened in late 2025, but I'm including them anyway). If you're not watching the latest restaurant openings, you might miss these places entirely.

EJE Belgrade

The interior design of this restaurant looks like it belongs in London, Tokyo, Moscow, or NYC. It's quite amazing to have a very modern bar with retro looks and a Japanese theme. I am a big fan and can highly recommend this place for anyone living in Belgrade or visiting it. The local "trendy" crowd seems to prefer the nearby Kissa10, which has a similar Japanese theme but a different interior style (more cozy apartment vibes than modern big city bar vibes), but I prefer EJE Belgrade. Small warning: if you search the full name of this place on google maps, "Esthetic Joy Embassy", you may find a bar in Yerevan (likely the same owner). And even if you already visited this place earlier in the year, they finished adding an indoor sit-down restaurant area only in March or April.

King Tut (1st Egyptian restaurant)

Serbia has not had a proper African restaurant before King Tut, so a new continent of cuisine has arrived on the Belgrade restaurant scene. The menu is quite large, offering many dishes unique to Egyptian cuisine (koshary, hawawshi, molokhia, sobia, etc.), so you are sure to try something new here if you have never visited Egypt. People familiar with Egyptian cuisine say the place has the authentic dishes and makes some of them very well. As a bonus, their menu has many options for vegetarians, if this is important to you.

White Eggegg (1st Tibetan cafe)

Have you ever imagined Tibetan food in Belgrade? Dream no more, because you can find it in Vračar. The author was not a fan of the butter tea, but the momos are worth trying once if you like dumplings.

JAN (2nd Armenian restaurant)

The first Armenian restaurant in Belgrade is Ararat, but no additional Armenian restaurants were added in recent years, despite so many new Georgian restaurants opening up. Now JAN (or ĐAN) has opened at Zeleni Venac in a very central location, with an extensive (but very meat-focused) menu. And the third Armenian restaurant is already arriving soon. A place named Gora will soon open next to Fine Sushi in Vračar.

Ama Coffee (1st Vietnamese cafe)

There is one Vietnamese restaurant in Belgrade, Kod Vijetnamca, but this is the first Vietnamese cafe that serves Bahn Mi sandwiches.

R-Tiam (1st Uyghur restaurant)

Located near Hotel Moscow, the uniquely bright interior decor of this restaurant stands out in Belgrade. The lagman soup is one of the best dishes to try here, a beef noodle soup with lots of flavor.

Mali Palas (upscale kuvana jela)

Most places serving fresh homemade style food (commonly known as "kuvana jela") are minimalist places for a quick lunch. But Mali Palas tries a new direction that makes the place look more upscale. There may be another restaurant or two in Belgrade like Mali Palas, but this idea of an upscale variant of a common type of restaurant is a new idea.

Chinese Beef Noodles (2nd Uyghur restaurant)

When I learned about this place, my first thought was: ANOTHER ONE? Yes, this shop is more Chinese-leaning (while R-Tiam is more Uzbek-leaning) but also has halal beef noodle soup. While it's not as cozy as R-tiam, it does have more seating available in the large interior space.

Ramen, ramen everywhere

The past year has been amazing for ramen fans in Belgrade. The lineup of ramen places is now very extensive. A short list of the new places you should try:

Honorable mention: Georgian food in Novi Sad

In mid-2025, Novi Sad had no Georgian food available. By mid-2026, 3 Georgian food places exist in Novi Sad. This is a very rapid change given Novi Sad is much smaller than Belgrade. The Novi Sad Georgian places are found in the main article on Georgian food.

Shoutout

For anyone who likes following the newest openings in Belgrade, Mapa Mag has an excellent monthly article about new places that open around Belgrade. Their monthly update includes many more new places that this list covers, but most of them are cafes or restaurants that are quite similar to other existing cafes. Here are direct links for April, March, and February.