Kosovar Albanian cuisine is the heart of eating in Gjilan. Grilled meats — qebapë (small minced-meat sausages), shish qebab, and tavë kosi, a baked lamb dish with yoghurt — anchor most menus. Byrek, the flaky pastry filled with spinach or white cheese, is eaten at all hours as a snack or light meal. Flia, a layered pancake cooked slowly over an open fire, is the dish Gjilan people bring out for celebrations; you are unlikely to find it in restaurants but may encounter it at a local home. Local dairy is excellent — the fresh white cheese and cream are noticeably good.
The pedestrian zone and the streets around it are where most cafés and restaurants sit. Gjilan has a strong café culture; the city has a reputation across Kosovo for its coffee-drinking habits, and on a warm evening every table on the boulevard fills with people nursing an espresso for an hour or two. Eating and drinking here is unhurried, social, and cheap by Western standards.