My incredible first day in Albania continued in Farkë, a village about 30 minutes south of Tirana, the capital city. I had an epic evening planned, complete with crazy Albanian fried frog legs and an exploration of La Fattoria Agro Farm, the best place to visit in Farkë, Albania. Let’s check it out!
My friend Ani from Balkan Pearls Tour Operator and I started at Plaku Pottery, one of the oldest pottery shops in the area. It dates back to the 1990s! There were lots of roosters running around, as well as firewood. I got to see his massive oven, which was like an inferno even far away from it. It’s 900 degrees inside!
Then, we learned to make traditional pottery from the man who works there. He took some clay and began sculpting a piggy bank right in front of our eyes! Next, he made a beautiful pot, which I wrote “dashni” on, which means “love” in Albanian. Then, we went to the original industrial oven to see what he was baking there. It’s where he stores everything he finishes. I saw some plates, cups, bowls, and tavas!
On the other side of the property, his son makes more modern-style pottery. Everything was beautiful! He uses a plastic clay, which allows him to make the products thinner. He also paints them and double-bakes them so they’re stronger.
Next, we headed to La Fattoria Agro Farm near Farka Lake. I could see chickens, tortoises, and rabbits there. I met Fjori and took a tour of the property. There was a nice terrace on the water with lots of seating. It was so peaceful! Outside the gate, I saw the chicken pen, some hens, and some baby bunny rabbits! They have sheep and some beautiful geese.
Then I picked and tried some sour but delicious blackberries and met his donkey and a goat, which will later become basturma. They grow eggplant, green peppers, tomatoes, organic cucumber, onions, leeks, red and green peppers, and pumpkins on the property as well. The cucumber was amazing and the tomato was so full of water! It was so juicy and filling! I also loved the cherry tomatoes, which were a little sweet! Everything at La Fattoria Agro Farm is super fresh!
Then, we had some amazing rakija and went into the kitchen to watch them fry some frog legs! They come straight from the lake! They also made some fërgesë in a tava right on the eye of the stove. They also prepared a fried pasta called yufka with milk and chicken stock. They also made cornbread using only milk. They cooked a chicken and then fried it and added it to the yufka.
Next, they deep-fried the cornbread and put it into some yogurt and let it soak for one minute. Then, they battered the frog legs and fried them. I couldn’t wait to eat!
Our feast looked unreal! The most non-traditional thing was the frog legs. We also had byrek stuffed with tomatoes and onions, and a super thick yogurt that almost had the consistency of feta cheese. We also had roasted vegetables and salads, all from the farm! The house wine was very tasty!
The yogurt reminded me of a sour feta and was great with the byrek. I’d never had one like this and the yogurt took the flaky, crispy byrek to another level! The soft cheese was like string cheese, and I loved the cornbread. It was the best cornbread ever with the yogurt! The veggies were also amazing and I loved the cabbage with the red wine sauce.
The fërgesë contained red pepper, green pepper, garlic, tomatoes, onions, and ricotta cheese. It was a creamy vegetable mash because of the ricotta. I couldn’t get enough of the roasted pepper flavor and the burst of tomatoes! The tagliatelle yufka with chicken was creamy with a nice chicken stock flavor. It was light on the salt with no pepper but so good! The chicken was super buttery and lightly fried.
Finally, I tried the frog legs, which were so tasty! There wasn’t a ton of meat on them, but they were filling because of how many we had! It really does taste like chicken. Then, we had a sweet pear soaked in strong rakija for dessert and an icy melon liqueur. We followed that with hasude, a creamy dessert with orange zest. It was tangy, soft, and super tasty!
I loved the fërgesë and the yogurt-soaked cornbread the most, but everything was incredible! What an awesome way to wrap up my time at La Fattoria Agro Farm outside of Tirana, Albania!
I hope you enjoyed coming with me to have fried frog legs at La Fattoria Agro Farm in Farkë, Albania! If you did, please give this video a thumbs up and leave a comment below. Also, please subscribe to my YouTube channel and click the notification bell so you don’t miss any of my travel/food adventures around the world!
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