A gala dinner was held at the Esplanade Zagreb Hotel on March 3rd to present the third edition of the prestigious gastronomic guide Gault & Millau Croatia. This one-stop event brought together an impressive number of Croatian chefs, top professionals and gastronomy enthusiasts, and the top ones were awarded with prestigious culinary trophies, with a reminded that luxury is in quality and not in price.
Gault & Millau's specialty leads to glorious diversity - finding a variety of restaurants and professionals of varying gains and styles in its place, and sharing innovation, sending traditions to its region, knowledge of contemporary culinary techniques and cooking with great passion. Gault & Millau Croatia 2020 is a gastronomic guide presenting 202 restaurants, 82 POP restaurants, 101 wines and 20 hotels. The director of Gault & Millau Croatia, Ingrid Badurina Danielsson described this guide as strong, durable and made for food lovers to provide information on restaurants. She also stated its importance in Croatia and in the world:
"Gault & Millau, one of the two most prestigious international gastronomic guides, presents the Croatian gastronomic scene at world stage, Croatia as a preferred food and wine destination." The culinary night was held at the Emerald Hall of the Esplanade Zagreb Hotel, a four-hour dinner was prepared by top chefs Ana Grgić, chef of Esplanade's Zinfandel's restaurant and winner of the title Grand Chef of Tomorrow Gault & Millau Croatia, Frenchwoman Coline Faicaquica, owner of Signature restaurant in Marseilles and Young Talent Gault & Millau France 2017.
The award-winning chefs and restaurants were also welcomed by Marianne Lecerf, Chief International Coordinator for Gault & Millau. The project was also supported by the Croatian National Tourist Board, and the congratulations of the winners were enhanced by Darija Tödtling, a representative of the Croatian National Tourist Board. The project was supported by the Ministry of Tourism of the Republic of Croatia. On behalf of the Ministry of Tourism, guests addressed the State Secretary at the Croatian Ministry of Tourism, Frano Matušić, who emphasized the importance of gastronomy as one of the leading contents of the tourist experience on which the entire brand of Croatia is built.
The Croatian National Tourist Board was a special partner of the project, realizing the great help of the partners Gault & Millau Croatia: Premium Visa, PBZ Card, Debić, Kontanyi, Croatian Post, Aurelia, Lexus, Kraš Bajadera, Romerquelle, Raise Bar and Mutti. Partners of the event were: Hotel Esplanade Zagreb, Centaurus, Karlic Truffles, MIVA Wine Gallery, DUKE Group, Krauthaker, Tomić, Degrassi, Printing House and Feravino.
The flagship edition of Gault & Millau Croatia for 2020 will be on sale at the Tisak location, and in the Croatian Post Offices, and is planned for lovers of quality food and restaurants providing top quality and service. The Gault & Millau Gastronomy Guide is available through free mobile applications that provide ratings and detailed descriptions of all the restaurants listed in the Gault & Millau Croatia 2020 guide. More information at: https://en.gaultmillau.com/
The chef of the year according to the choice of gastronomic guide Gault & Millau Croatia 2020 is Danijel Đekić chef of the restaurant Monte from Rovinj.
Sandra and Dane Tahirović from Zora Bila Restaurant in Split and Robert Benzia from Ganeum Restaurant in Lovran won the Grand Chef of Tomorrow 2020 trophy.
The Chef Traditional Cuisine 2020 Award won Silvia Horak from Terbotz Restaurant in Štrigova and Tvrtko Šakota Chef Restaurant Nav in Zagreb.
The Trophy Young Talents of the Year 2020 won Florian Ružić from the San Rocco Restaurant in Brtonigla and Matija Jagić from the Brokenship bistro in Zagreb.
The Dubrovnik Oyster Buffet was awarded the Best POP 2020 trophy.
This year also awarded the new trophy The Head of Sales in 2020 won Dragutin Majsak from the Vinodol Restaurant in Zagreb.
One of the best ambassadors of Croatian pastry, Dragica Lukin of Villa Soši pastry shop in Umag, has earned special recognition in promoting Croatian gastronomy and pastry.
The best restaurants are 360 from Dubrovnik, Monte from Rovinj, Laganini from Palmižana, and Šibenik's Pelegrini.
Text by: Danira Orešić, Light Komunikacije