poljana self-service restaurant, plitvice

decent food at the plitvice lakes. when we went to the hotel lobby to ask for an alternative to the hotel restaurant, we were told that the only other option was here at the restaurant poljana. it’s divided into two sections, a cafe-bar side with minimal offerings of food, and a self-service canteen side with an open kitchen, where you order your pick of a mix of freshly-and-pre-cooked food.

poljana is located at the back of hotel bellevue (where only breakfast and a bar is offered) in a separate building, and it has an alfresco area where we ate at. the food was cheap and good and service was the most pleasant we’ve had on the trip so far.

there is a signboard with a large menu – though quite a few things we wanted were not available then. I ordered trout, and it was freshly pan-fried on the stove – and I saw the kitchen lady take an entire fish right out of the fridge and season it. it was fresh and tasty – simplicity at its best. I asked for, and was very nicely given lots of boiled vegetables – simple stuff really, just some peas, carrots, potatoes and some (very salty) white beans – and I really enjoyed this meal.

my friends had a quarter chicken – a tad dry but tasty – as well as what they termed ’domestic sausages’. I love the idiosyncrasies of translations. these were salty but good value for the meal. we finished with sharing chocolate pancakes – just pre-made commercial pancakes that were microwaved and so a bit rubbery, but they were harmless. (we also ordered two more plates of boiled vegetables to share to finish the meal; the simple things really are best).

all in all, if were to return to plitvice, I would probably continually return to poljana, and ignore the hotel restaurant. it’s cheap and really quite a good hearty end to a walk at the lakes!

hotel plitvice, plitvice

first of all, how gorgeous are the plitvice lakes! I’m a fervent city-dweller, and I can not stay in a scenic natural environment for too long without longing for my modern amenities, but I had so much fun in, and so much mouth-gaping awe for the lakes. the water was green and clear and beautiful, with fish swimming around, and we were there (just a few days ago) at a low-peak time so there weren’t that many people around either.

it’s almost unbelievable that there is so much beauty to be found in croatia (I never thought of it as particularly picturesque), and I hope you get the chance to go yourself and have a look!

as with most rural scenic places, food options are few and far between, and even less if you’re looking for spectacular food. when we asked at the hotel lobby for  food recommendations, they told us it was either the restaurant in the hotel basement, or one restaurant outside (that review will come after this one!). it was lunch time, we had just gotten off a bus ride from zagreb, and so we settled for the hotel restaurant.

the food here was mediocrely average – most of it overtly salty. our bread basket was more of that sponge-like sort we had gotten at vinodol, not very appetising but it did at least come with butter.

I had grilled trout with almonds – I really like this dish and how it’s so prevalent in croatia – but this wasn’t the almond-coated beauty I had at vinodol, and was instead a grilled fish with a ladleful of oily almonds. the spinach on the side was incredibly and ridiculously salty, though the potatoes did benefit from their salt bath and were so sweet and flavourful.

a plate of cabonara was average – I would actually say it was the most normally executed dish. one of my friends had a steak – this was a bad experience as the very grouchy waitress hadn’t asked her for her cooking preference and it came so bloody that when she stabbed a fork in, blood flowed out. this was incredibly off-putting. they did give us a replacement when we requested it to be cooked further and tasted rather good, but then again it was a piece of steak.

we ordered grilled squid to share, which was very salty as well. though if you rinse it off it tasted good! our mains (apart from the cabonara) came with a vegetable salad that had mushy tomatoes and crunchy cucumbers, which were good fibre sources and a refreshment from the salt.

so service was grouchy – this seems a trend in our croatian restaurant experiences – and the food was incredibly salty. we did have breakfast here the next morning, as included in our stay, and breakfast was much better, with scrambled eggs, bacon, a selection of ham, cheese, fruit and cereal.

it’s a typical hotel restaurant in that food isn’t very impressive but is rather passable if you don’t expect too much. the lakes did make up for everything though. if you’re looking for a plitvice recommendation, stay tuned as I’m reviewing the other place we ate at which was reasonably priced and good value!

didov san, zagreb

dalmatian food in uptown zagreb. I can’t really tell if the food is average, or it were merely that the tastes weren’t so much or us. I will say, though, that the food in itself is rather average.

we came here lured by the prospects of having frog and eel stew – in a sort of go-forth-and-conquer-local-food mentality – but we found that we couldn’t as it was an advance-order item. so be warned! they need two hours notice if you want to try it.

they were fully booked, so much that even at 530pm – which really is an awkward mealtime – we could barely get a table and had to sit al fresco, pouncing on the unoccupied seats like piranhas on a slice of meat. their reservations book was incredibly full, so I’d also suggest reservations if you want to come and sit inside, and why not ask for the stew while you’re at it?

we started with a basket of bread that was served with grated cheese, and it was alright – not very special but of course much better than the one at vinodol. between the three of us, we had squid ink risotto (paella), a veal cutlet, grilled eel and fried frogs.

the squid ink rice was very tasty – and I think the best thing in our meal. there were chunks of squid and the rice was coated with the very tasty ink, yum. the veal was alright – a piece of fried meat is very difficult to mess up! the eel on the other hand weren’t the sort of fleshy eel I was expecting – I had mistakenly expected the sort you get in japanese unagi – and instead was very small eel deep-fried. it was so oily I couldn’t eat more than 2 pieces, and even then the meat was sparse – it had that sort of jellyish meat with very little ‘real’ meat. my vegetables – a requested change from potatoes – were gilled and tasty, but also very oily.

the frogs were the most interesting thing on our menu, and they were wrapped with bacon and fried. they were also a bit oily and rather dry. the chinese tend to cook frog by braising them so they get tender like a spring chicken, but this rendition wasn’t too bad. it’s not for the fainthearted though, as they come trussed up full-body and very simply wrapped with bacon, so you have been warned!

service was rather prompt if a little curt, and the food was quite ok – I really liked the squid ink rice. it is a very popular spot in zagreb, and they have two branches which I think is very impressive for what looks like a family-run operation – and indeed didov san means “grandfather’s tavern”. I’m sure if I’d return as the food was a little on the greasy side, but there are indications that this might be one of the better restaurants in zagreb.

located at Mletačka 11, Gornji grad (Upper Town), Zagreb, Croatia

vinodol, zagreb

average european in downtown zagreb. incidentally, vinodol was the first restaurant we visited in zagreb, and was the start of what was a mild gastronomic journey through the country. before leaving for croatia I had read about someone leaving croatia without having identified what their cuisine was about, and I understand what that means now. croatian food isn’t distinct – not the ones we had anyway, and we did try – it strikes me as being an amalgamation of what we know to be european, without any significant twists or outstanding dishes.

we started this meal abysmally with a basket of bread (not complimentary) that was incredibly bad. it was sponge-like, with no fragrance, taste or crust. the lack of a crust was the worst experience of the whole thing, and the only way we could eat what little we did was because of the olive oil and vinegar served alongside. I note that it is non-complimentary because although I generally see no problems with paying, this was terrible and isn’t worth even the little we were charged for it.

after a rather protracted wait, our mains arrived. the first dish to land on the table prompted some giggles – you can see it above. it was a long fried ‘thing’ flopping and moving about on a very large and bare plate and we were worried of offending the waiter, but it was just so peculiar. this actually was a breaded tube of veal wrapped around ham and cheese, and was actually rather tasty. the presentation really was peculiar though.

we also ordered steak ‘zagreb-style’, which in this case meant steak with cheese. inoffensive, but nothing special. my own dish of grilled trout with almonds was very good in its simplicity and freshness though, and I appreciated the char. this is the first of quite a few fish dishes I would have in croatia.

what really lifted the experience of the meal were our appetizers of grilled squid and battered mushrooms. they were amazing. the squid was sweet and slightly charred and oh-so-brilliant. I was really impressed by the mushrooms though – I expected chestnut or button mushrooms but what we were given were chanterelles battered and very expertly fried without grease, and fantastic on its own.

we finished off with a slice of chocolate torte and raspberry strudel. the chocolate cake wasn’t anything special and was highly inoffensive, rather boring in fact. the strudel had a good filling that was tempered just right, but the strudel pastry was stale and had lost its crispness.

vinodol was packed out that night, such that we were relegated to sitting al fresco amidst the smoke (this I didn’t enjoy) so I am supposing that it is a very popular venue in zagreb. I would come back again for the mushrooms and squid, probably stay for the rest of the mains, but skip dessert.

located at Nikole Tesle 10, Zagreb, Croatia

amélie, zagreb

hello! after a long absence due to exams, I took a short trip to croatia and am back
with a slew of photos and lots of food.

quaint cafe in downtown zagreb. so as with many small european towns, information about restaurants and eateries are far and few between, but I chanced upon a blog post about this cafe.

it’s a pretty little place with the sort of manufactured doll-house quaintness that many new cafes have, and it also had a whole lit counter of cakes. all very pretty.

we had three cakes and two bottles of sparkling water, with a bill that came to the equivalent of 6 pounds – which is extremely inexpensive. her (I am assuming the cafe is owned by a female) cakes are very pretty and rather unusual in composition. we ordered what we thought were slices of carrot cake, blackforest gateau and a poppy seed cake.

the carrot cake was of the rustic italian sort, very coarse and wholesome, with a tangy sort of icing on the top. I liked this one, though as with the other cakes I was expecting the richness and sweetness of a typical American carrot cake and so while it was tasty it didn’t really satisfy my sweet cravings.

the blackforest gateau was made of two types of chocolate layers, the top one more biscuit-like than cake, and the thick cream layer held pieces of cherries. I’m not one for cream, so I have to say I basically nibbled at the chocolate bits and left the cream to my companions.

the chocolate and poppy seed cake was very unusual. it was a dense poppy seed cake that you get in european cities, reminiscent of the dense of a cake made fully of almond meal, and not the fluffy sponge-like cake that you have in the UK or the US.

I really enjoyed this place though – it was respite from the heat, and an experience in a country and didn’t feel gastronomically inclined at all, and the cakes were something special. have a look if you’re in the area!

located at Vlaška 6, Zagreb, Croatia