Bistro Kozmetičar
OVERVIEW
Retro Eastern European style bistro serving self-roasted specialty coffee and all-day breakfasts.
The beautician's legacy
The name translates to "The Beautician," and it's not a branding gimmick. Owner Nenad Miković opened the bistro on the exact spot where his parents ran a well-known Belgrade beauty salon from 1972 to 2009. The tribute runs deeper than the sign: the whole space is built around the era his parents worked in.
A sit-in design museum
Miković worked with Krakow design group MIEJSCE to source and restore genuine mid-century Eastern European pieces. Up front: Model 366 armchairs by Polish designer Józef Chierowski (1962) next to 1970s Czechoslovakian armchairs, lit by vintage Predom factory lamps from the same decade. The bar counter is built from 1950s Silesian "Byfy" kitchen furniture; the walls pair Paris Metro-style tiles with silver patterns applied using 1980s decorative paint rollers; the concrete floor was wire-brushed to fake decades of wear. Out in the garden you sit on mid-1960s German Bofinger chairs — among the first single-piece plastic chairs ever made — beside tiered wooden bleachers borrowed from Berlin's Mitte street style.
Coffee, tea, vinyl
An early mover in Belgrade's specialty coffee scene, the bistro roasts its own single-origin beans imported directly from small plantations in Brazil, Ethiopia, Kenya, and Indonesia. It's also one of the only places in the city stocking Kusmi Tea — the Russian-French brand is near-impossible to find in Serbia, and here you can buy it by weight. The soundtrack of jazz, soul, funk, and classic rock plays exclusively from vinyl.
What to order
Breakfast is the kitchen's core, served well into the afternoon.
- Marakeš kajgana: the signature — three local eggs on toasted dark bread with avocado, spiced house tomato sauce, melted cheese, and hummus on the side.
- Single-origin espresso or filter: from their own roasts.
- Kusmi tea: drink it in, or take a bag home by weight.
Know before you go
Tucked into quiet, leafy Vračar, away from the center's pace — a favorite of creatives and nomads, so mornings fill up with regulars.
Come for a late breakfast: the kitchen serves it well into the afternoon, and the garden's Bofinger chairs are the best seats in the house.
AMENITIES
- LAPTOP-FRIENDLY
- WIFI
- POWER
WHAT'S ON MENU
- breakfast
- brunch
- coffee
- dessert
- cocktails
- beer
- wine
- vegetarian
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