This is a picture from inside the Chinese Market in Blok 70 in New Belgrade, where I went yesterday on a mission to find authentic noodles – unfortunately the little shop which sold them was shut! You can get virtually anything and everything here from clothes and bed linen to toys and mobile phones.
The centre, built in the 1990s, has become a colourful and vibrant neighbourhood thanks to the influx of Chinese who came to Serbia during the 1990s under the Slobodan Milosevic regime. The doors were held wide open for them to come and settle down apparently because Milosevic wanted their votes.
Estimates place the numbers at 75,000 to 100,000 and there has been very little, if any, tension between Serbs and the Chinese. The Serbs are able to buy cheap goods and the Chinese have made lives for themselves here. Many young Chinese girls and boys born here are given typical Serbian name like Vladimir and Jelena.
Enjoyed this post? Subscribe to Balkan File via RSS or e-mail.
on Mar 2nd, 2009 at 8:18 am
Great post!
And here it’s how it looks from the outside:
http://sajkaca.blogspot.com/20.....70_13.html
However some Serbs complain that the cheap chinese-buvljak prices lower also the serbian prices…it’s a hard competition!
on Mar 2nd, 2009 at 9:14 am
HI! I’ve been meaning to take some photos here too, especially of the great armchairs they create out of old cardboard boxes and lots of tape (not for sale!) I need to do some shopping, too.
on Mar 2nd, 2009 at 11:23 am
@Sajkaca
Thanks for sharing the link to the picture of the outside of Blok 70. I did have a photo but unfortunately it came out blurry.
@Bibi
Yeah, I remember seeing those armchairs the first time I went to the market way back in 2005! Didn’t see them this time though.
on Mar 2nd, 2009 at 11:36 am
Thanks for this post. I knew there was a Chinese block, but did not know where. I would be mostly interested in Chinese/Asian food shops, not in the Chinese plastics that are widely available throughout Croatia too. Does the shop that has noodle sell more Asian products? Or is there maybe an Asian supermarket?
Boris Levalle
on Mar 2nd, 2009 at 11:53 am
@Croatian Crescent
Unfortunately, the shop that had packages of various Asian noodles/food products looks like it had been shut for some time and I didn’t see any others selling food – and I must have walked around the place 3 times!
There must be somewhere you can buy authentic produce but I haven’t found it! Does anyone know?
You can get a limited selection of Chinese/Asian noodles and sauces in large supermarkets such as Mercator in Novi Beograd, though they appear to be made in France and Hungary!
on Mar 2nd, 2009 at 2:28 pm
@ Adam
Thanks! Some Asian products are available in Zagreb (residence) too, like Konzum or Mercator, but the choice is very, very limited and the prices are very, very high. I guess I need to keep going to Budapest of Vienna for the real stuff…
If not, I’ll be glad to hear so!
on May 31st, 2009 at 5:55 pm
never again uhh
on Sep 28th, 2009 at 5:21 am
Will I find a bamboo steamer basket at the Chinese market at block 70 in Belgrade?.
on Jun 20th, 2010 at 5:19 pm
i love to eat asian foods because they are tasty and spicy.:–
on Jul 3rd, 2010 at 5:39 pm
Went there today and found no food shops at all but on the ground floor, half hidden between one side and the other, was a small stall selling rice noodles (large pack for 150 dinars), instant noodles for 70dinars, dried mushrooms, sauces (around 300), small packs of veges, etc.
However, do not expect to find a shop there (and I did do the whole market, both new and old).
there are very authentic mini chinese restaurants there (upstairs on the outside walkway, facing the front) however, it’s all in chinese and so you will need to ask. Seemed they mainly served noodles in bowls but there was a good selection of meat in the people’s dishes who were sitting outside. There were three of these places
I also saw NO cooking utensiles as was wanting to buy my serbian friend a bamboo steamer and wok. had I known I’d have packed it in my case when coming from London!
I will know for next time
on Jul 11th, 2010 at 11:56 am
what i love about asian foods is that they are always tasty and spice:;*
Leave a Comment