Symphony of Flavours, People, and Place

The 31st edition of the book 100 Leading Croatian Restaurants and Their Specialties – Restaurant Croatica – has been published. This year, the theme of the book is “A Symphony of Taste, People and Space”, connecting restaurants and chefs, winemakers and producers, local ingredients and tradition with the space in which their flavors are created. Seas and plains, mountains and rivers, vineyards, olive groves and forests determine the character of the ingredients, while chefs, sommeliers, restaurateurs, winemakers and producers contribute their parts to the common symphony.

The restaurants are presented in the book through stories about their cuisine, people and space, along with information about what is worth seeing, tasting and experiencing in their surroundings.

An important part of the publication is also the recipes that the restaurants shared with readers. They show the wide range of today’s Croatian restaurant scene, from traditional flavors and local ingredients to contemporary interpretations.

Among the recipes are: Snails baked in nettles, Broccoli soup, Bull's cheeks with polenta and potatoes, Nettle gnocchi with wild asparagus and prosciutto, Breaded buncek, Zagorje štrukli, Lamb sarma, Lamb orzo, Catfish perkelt, Pork ear and trotter goulash and Bumblebee cake, as well as Sea prosciutto rolls with Pag curd and marinated shrimp, Stuffed sea bass, Steak salad, Beef striploin in wine marinade and Deer ossobuco with sweet potato puree.

The book is divided into six gastronomic units: Istria and Kvarner; Dalmatia; Lika, Karlovac and the surrounding area, Moslavina and Banovina; Zagreb and the surrounding area; Zagorje, Međimurje and Podravina and Slavonia and Baranja.

Each of them brings its own gastronomic rhythm. Regional introductions present characteristic dishes, wines and olive oils, gastronomic and oenological events, and suggestions for what to taste and experience on a trip to Croatia.

The project 100 Leading Croatian Restaurants – Restaurant Croatica was launched in 1995, and for more than three decades it has been following changes in the Croatian restaurant scene, from new generations of chefs and the development of the offer to changes in gastronomic trends and guest expectations.

This year's edition was preceded by an analysis of more than 2,600 restaurants. Guests evaluated the offer, service and ambiance via the Gastronaut.hr portal, caterers presented their offer through detailed questionnaires, and the final selection of the 100 leading restaurants was determined by the Honorary Committee of the project.

Restaurants included in the 100 leading restaurants are holders of the title Restaurant Croatica, and the logo on the stickers on their doors provides access to the online editions of the book in Croatian and English via a QR code.

After 31 editions, the book has become a kind of chronicle of the Croatian restaurant scene, while the idea of ​​the project remains the same: to encourage and highlight quality and turn it into content that is interesting and useful for restaurant guests.

This year's edition can also be read as a score of Croatian gastronomy in which each region brings its own rhythm, each restaurant its own melody, each chef its own interpretation, and each guest completes the composition with their own experience.

The book 100 Leading Croatian Restaurants and Their Specialties – Restaurant Croatica 2026/27 is published by Abisal, and is available in Croatian and English. The book can be ordered online from the publisher, the Abisal company, and will soon be available at these points of sale.