Gjirokaster Cooking Class: Learn Osa & Local Recipes

★★★★★★★★★★ 4.78 (9 reviews)

Free cancellationTravelers' pick

1/7

Duration2h 30m

GroupUp to 10

LanguagesEN

Mobile ticketAccepted

Cook three Gjirokaster dishes in a local home, then sit down to eat them

You cook three traditional Gjirokaster dishes (osa, qifqi, hasude) in Teta Marjeta's home kitchen with a local guide, starting with raki or homemade drinks and ending with lunch at her table. The afternoon includes wine or soft drinks, seasonal salad, and a printed recipe card so you can recreate the meal back home.

2h 30m

Step-by-step itinerary

Cooking class with Teta Marjeta

Meet at Cerciz Topulli square
Walk to Marjeta's home
Enjoy a glass of raki or soft drink
Learn to cook Osa pasta dish
Prepare Qifqi starter and Hasude dessert
Savor the meal with wine or drinks
Receive recipe to take home

The Experience

So you show up at Cerciz Topulli square and your guide's already there, and then you walk over to Marjeta's place — and that's when it hits you that this isn't a cooking school with stainless steel counters. It's her home. She's got the kitchen ready, fresh ingredients sitting out, and she pours you a glass of raki her husband made or one of her own drinks while everyone's still figuring out names. That first sip, the way she watches to see if you like it — that's the whole thing right there.

The three dishes you're making are the ones Gjirokaster's known for, the ones you won't find the same way anywhere else. Osa is pasta with chicken, but not like that sounds — it's its own thing, and Marjeta walks you through it without making you feel like you're messing it up. Then qifqi, which is rice-based and looks simpler than it is. And hasude for dessert. She's already got the seasonal salad prepped, so you're not starting from nothing, but you're doing the actual work — your hands are in the dough, you're tasting as you go, asking questions. The guide translates when you need it, but mostly Marjeta just shows you, and you follow along.

After you've cooked it all, you sit down at her table with your group and eat what you made. Wine, raki, or a soft drink comes with it — your choice — and there's real conversation happening, not the rushed kind. You're tasting your own osa, your own qifqi, and Marjeta's watching to see what you think. Before you leave, she gives you the recipes written down so you can actually make this stuff at home, which is the part that sticks with you later.

What’s included

Your afternoon includes a welcome drink (raki, homemade drink, or soft drink), hands-on instruction in three traditional Gjirokaster recipes, seasonal salad prepared by Marjeta, a full meal of the dishes you've cooked, wine or raki or soft drink with lunch, and printed recipe cards to take home.

Operated by Experience Gjirokastra

Is this one for you?This works best if you want to learn how Gjirokaster cooks actually eat, not just taste the food — you're in someone's kitchen doing the work, which is what makes it feel real instead of staged.