CJWDT'13 European bound 3rd stop, Zagreb, Croatia! I was staying in Zagreb from June 7th to June 14th. As regular mission of CJWDT, I have been main market of Zagreb, Dolac market to check out local produces and went to some local restaurants to try traditional Croatian dishes such as Ispod peke, Crni rizot, Brodet, Goulash... as I thought there seems like cross over from Slovenian cuisine.
For 3rd misson of CJWDT... stage, this time I got fortune to make 3 days stage at Dubravkin put restaurant. The restaurant is located at quite part of historical uptown of Zagreb and have nice terrace, main dining, wine bar and private dining room. I would described the cuisine is contemporary mediterranean and the kitchen is large, spacious and modern with awesome stove top, combi oven, blast freezer ,super soigné pasta machine and others. I have seen some cool things during my stage, if choose one thing... I would choose elderflower sorbet I tasted probably first time which is served as refresher before main course on degustatin menu. Really clean, refreshing and somehow fruity almost taste like lychee, was quite inspiring.
And yes, CJ annual spontaneous tasting globe trotter challenge(laugh) this time I have made the following two dishes, just for my personal reminder before I forget(I may already forget something I put on the plate...) >>
A,B,C(apple,beef,celery roots)
beef tarter(season with apple, chive, ex.virgin), celery root 3 ways(raw julienne, pickled flower, fried strip), radicchio leaf, celery ribbon, smoke paprika
TxTxT(Turbot x Traditional x Tweak)
Turbot jus cloud(fennel, celery, shallot, garlic, bay leave, white wine, lemon jus, heavy cream, e.t.c...), roasted turbot filet(finished with brown butter with lemon zest), Turbot 'salsa' (turbot fin confit, cauliflower cous cous, caper, diced yellow bell pepper), parsley chips, fennel fran
That was it.... sorry no picture. Anyway I have a great time, having fun butchering fishes, making raviolis and others. Here I'd like to say big thank you for chef Petranovic and all FOH, BOH team at Dubravkin put! I'll surly come by if I come back to Zagreb again. Thank you!
After 3 days stage of Learning, Pushing and... Saving budget/laugh, I decided to treat myself a little bit and I went to the restaurant called 5/4 peta cetvrtina restaurant which I was highly recommended from the chefs of Dubravkin put. The restaurant is recently opened and focusing on Croatian domestic produces. Offering multiple tasting menu and I have 5 course dinner with additional table side coffee service. The picture above is shots from my dinner, cucumber, cottage cheese ravioli, venison tartar, veal tongue, honey strawberry, coffee.... the picture is very dark, mmm.... Anyway I'd highly recommend this restaurant as well if another culinary vagabond visit Zagreb!
CJWDT Zagreb restaurants:
http://dubravkin-put.com/restaurant
http://www.prasac.hr
http://www.marcellino.hr/en/
http://www.esplanade.hr/cuisine/
http://www.mano.hr/en/index1.html
http://www.apetit.hr
http://www.petacetvrtina.com
CJWDT Croatia web links:
http://croatiatraveller.com/blog/best-restaurants-in-croatia-2/2012/04/16/
http://www.croatiatraveller.com/Zagreb_region/Dining.htm
http://www.likecroatia.hr/dine-wine-cat/zagreb/
http://www.spottedbylocals.com/zagreb/category/activity/restaurants/
http://www.worldtravelguide.net/zagreb/restaurants
http://traveladriatic.com/made-in-croatia/traditional-croatian-food-top-10-delicacies/
http://www.travelchannel.com/destinations/croatia/photos/taste-of-croatia
http://www.love-croatia.com/Croatian-food.html
The journey continues, CJWDT 35th stop.... Austria NEXT!!