Bitola has a lively eating and café culture centred on Širok Sokak and the surrounding streets. Macedonian cooking is hearty and meat-heavy, with Turkish and Greek influences. The city is in the middle of a productive agricultural region, so produce is good and fresh.
The standby dish is skara — grilled meat, typically lamb or pork — served with shopska salata (tomatoes, cucumber, and crumbled sirenje cheese) and ajvar (roasted pepper paste). Almost every restaurant and many street stalls do skara well. Tavče gravče, a baked bean dish cooked in earthenware, is the national comfort food and found everywhere.
Širok Sokak and Magnolia Square have many cafe terraces that are more about drinking coffee and watching the promenade than serious food. For a proper meal, look for restaurants in the side streets off the main boulevard, or try one of the mehanas (traditional taverns) that serve full Macedonian meals with rakija.
Grne na Širok Sokak, in the old Russian Consulate building on Magnolia Square, serves traditional Macedonian cooking in a setting that reflects the city's diplomatic history.