Croatia has a variety of delicious food to offer tourists, mainly representing the Mediterranean kitchen using lots of fresh ingredients.

COLD HORS-D’OEUVRES – Cold platters

In almost all parts of Croatia cold hors-d’oeuvres come in the form of a platter consisting of a combination of several types of local specialities. Delicacies offered most frequently are one or two types of meat and a cheese typical of the region, all of this complemented to pleasure the eye and the taste buds with various kinds of fresh and pickled vegetables.

HOT HORS-D’OEUVRES  – SMALL DISHES

Zagorski Štrukli

(or “Štrukli a la Zagorje”) is a well-known dish from the Zagorje and Prigorje regions around the city of Zagreb. The rich filling has for a long time made štrukli a much-appreciated speciality despite the fact that the ingredients could be found in even the most impoverished rural homestead. Indeed, it is the readily available character of necessary ingredients that resulted in several variants of this dish, adapted to the customs of individual areas.

MAIN COURSE – NATIONAL DISHES

Istrian Yota (Stew)

This dish is, as its name implies, a meal characteristic of Istria and is prepared from sauerkraut, beans, smoke-dried meats and various kinds of seasoning.

Sauerkraut Lika style

This traditional dish from Lika will make a welcome addition to the menu during the winter months. This meal always consists of sauerkraut and smoked meat, sausage or bacon, and is eaten with a dish of potatoes boiled in their jackets, or baked potato halves in their jackets.

NATIONAL ROASTS

Turkey with mlinci

Mlinci is a kind of side dish prepared from fat-free dough. It should be cooked through but not to the point of being mushy.
This is a speciality typical of Hrvatsko zagorje and its name originates from its shape, which resembles, in its uncooked state, a mill stone. Mlinci go particularly well with poultry.
Hen turkey with mlinci is a dish that has become almost a synonym for the cuisine of Zagorje and the areas surrounding Zagreb. It is served at every festive gathering during autumn and winter, beginning with All Saints.

Lamb baked in a čripnja (saće or peka)

This renowned and extremely tasty dish originates from times now long past, when rural communities prepared their meals on an open fire and under an inverted bowl. It is called variously a čripnja, a peka or a saće, in different regions. For the benefit of contemporary tourists though, this dish is usually prepared in a round or oval oven proof enameled or stainless steel liddle vessel which is placed on a hot, fire-clay slab.

FISH COURSES

Scampi or shellfish buzara

As much as it almost primevally simple to prepare, so is buzara an etymological mystery. Despite exhaustive research, no similar word can be found in any affiliated language, nor in the languages of our geographical neighbours. The closest expression, found in Venetian dialect, means a “folly, stupidity, nonsense,” or “slops a hotchpotch, a mixture of all and everything.” But it is hardly likely that anybody would describe scampi, mussels or date shells – prepared only with oil, garlic, parsley and wine (but absolutely never with onions) – as slops. It is far more likely that this is an autochthonous Croatian dish from the Adriatic coastal regions.

Novalja marinade

This is a well-known fish dish with various modes of preparation and containing various ingredients, two of which are standard: there will always be a marinade made from oil and wine vinegar (kvasina) and, if possible, several types of fish. This particular recipe comes from Novalja on the island of Pag, where it is known as “ribe na saur” (savoury fish). Elsewhere along Croatia’s Adriatic coast we find names such as “riba na savur,” “riba na sajur,” meaning simply “fish marinade.”

DESSERTS AND CAKES

Crme caramel

Crme caramel is a universally popular dessert, and no less so in the region of Dubrovnik, where it is known as rozata, as well as in other parts of the littoral and in Istria.

Fritters

This is a simple sweet typical of the Dalmatian region.