April 19, 2023 - A delightful evening of fine Croatian food and wine, as the Gault&Millau 2023 edition of Croatia's top restaurants.
I have a terrible memory for faces, and I always get a little anxious when I get invited to a big event with hundreds of people in the same room, many of whom I will have met in a different context. It has got me into some embarrassing situations over the years, but occasionally I see a face I haven't seen for a decade and the brain clicks.
And so it was last night, as the highlight of an excellent evening at Hotel Esplanade in Zagreb at the presentation of the 6th edition of the Gault&Millau Croatia guide - a smiling, humble man from Sibenik in his 80s walking towards me. And even more incredibly, he seemed to recognise me, despite it being 11 years since our last meeting. On that occasion, Zdravko Kalabric, the only Croatian member of the World Master Chefs Association, prepared a stunning 10-course replica of the last meal on the Titanic by Lake Jarun on the occasion of the 100th anniversary of the sinking of the ill-fated ship.
Our first meeting was 11 years ago, soon after I started Total Hvar (and actually the first time I ever appeared in any media in Croatia in this Hvar TV report, above). Kalabric, who left his native Sibenik to try his luck in North America, where he enjoyed a glittering career as a celebrated chef, before returning to his native land and helping the next generation of Croatian chefs to improve their skills, was coaching four young Croatian chefs, who were in training for the 2012 Culinary Olympics in Germany. Here he is, being interviewed, above.
It was a very warm reunion, and it is fair to say that young Zdravko has aged better than me in the last decade.
As for the evening itself, there was plenty of fine wine, food and awards for the best Croatian chefs, a more detailed breakdown of which you can read about below in this press release.
The Chef of the Year, according to the gastronomic guide Gault&Millau Croatia, is Marijo Curić, chef of the Dubrovnik restaurant 360. The Big Chef of Tomorrow trophy was won by two chefs - Saša Began from the Foša restaurant in Zadar and Aleksandar Grubić from the Badi restaurant in Lovrečic near Umag.
The Chef trophy of traditional cuisine went to Tomica Đukić and Damir Josić, chefs of the Josić Winery Restaurant in Zmajevac, while Nenad Kukurin from the Kukuriku restaurant in Kastavo won the Chef Trophy of modern traditional cuisine. The Young Talent of the Year trophy was won by Katarina Vrenc, chef at the Sopal restaurant in Zagreb, and Mate Sučić, owner and chef of Konoba Campanelo in Mirlović Zagora.
Zdravko Kalabrić, the only Croatian chef member of the World Master Chefs Association, won the Trophy for merit in gastronomy, and the Zagreb restaurant Noel received the Trophy for the best service. The Samobor confectionery U prolazo won the Trophy for the best POP restaurant.
In the category of the best restaurants, celebrated with 4 points, were 360 from Dubrovnik and its chef Marijo Curić, Cap Aureo restaurant and chef Jeffrey Vella, Monte from Rovinj and chef Danijel Đekić, Zagreb's NAV by chef Tvrtko Šakote, Nebo restaurant by chef Denija Srdoč from Rijeka, Sibenik's Pelegrini by chef Rudolf Štefan, Noel restaurant from Zagreb and chef Bruno Vokal, and Zinfandel's restaurant at Esplanade Hotel in Zagreb and chef Ana Grgić Tomić.
Awards to the best restaurants and chefs were presented at an exclusive dinner in the Emerald Hall of the Esplanade Hotel, where more than 90 leading chefs of Croatian restaurants gathered on Tuesday, April 18. The sixth edition of the bilingual international gastronomic guide was also presented, which included 270 top restaurants, 100 POP - popular places (bistros, street food, snack bars, pastry shops) and 100 wines from all over Croatia, and for the first time a selection of the best Croatian olive oils. In the selection of restaurants and POP places, there are 39 new ones, which are included in the guide for the first time.
"We are happy that despite all the challenges our gastronomy faces, awareness of its importance for the development of tourism and the economy is growing, and that some Croatian regions are making additional efforts to encourage their restaurateurs and small food and wine producers to improve the quality of their offerings. We are especially glad that chefs and guests increasingly recognize the relevance of our guide, and we want to thank our partners who support us and believe in the quality of Croatian gastronomy" - said Ingrid Badurina Danielsson, director of the Croatian Gault&Millau.
The guests of the gala ceremony were specially greeted by Nikolina Brnjac, Minister of Tourism and Sports of the Republic of Croatia and Kristjan Staničić, Director of the Croatian Tourist Board.
At the Gault&Millau Croatia ceremony, scholarships from the Raise the Bar program, whose goal is to increase the quality of the educated workforce in hospitality and tourism, were also presented this time. So far, 14 young chefs and pastry chefs have won valuable Raise the Bar scholarships, which enabled them to train at the world's best universities as well as practice in some of the most prestigious restaurants. Now they are joined by 4 new scholars: Stella Pasek, Željka Bleuš and Nikola Tomašić from Croatia and Tilen Utenkar from Slovenia. Filip Verbanac - director of the Department for strong alcoholic beverages, coffee in the Coca Cola HBC hospitality industry, presented the awards to the scholars.
The night of the culinary Oscars began with an aperitif with Veuve Clicquot Brut champagne and the President's mature Ribanac, and dinner for 200 guests in the Smaragdna hall was cooked together by Paul Ivić, chef of the TIAN restaurant in Vienna, Michelin* and 4 toques Gault&Millau Austria and Ana Grgić Tomić, G&M Croatia Chef of the year 2022. Top wines from the Laguna, Belje and Mladina wineries were served alongside the vegetarian fish dishes of their delicacies. Chef Ivić won the guests over with an appetizer of cabbage turnips, radishes and kohlrabi, a main course of celery, mushrooms and marjoram and a dessert of stracciatella, while chef Grgić Tomić masterfully prepared tartares of salted red prawns and aged sea bass served with roasted celery cream and shiitake.
The Gault&Millau dinner is the largest annual gathering of Croatian restaurant chefs, a unique occasion when chefs are guests, and the highlight of the evening is the awarding of recognition for their creativity. The Chef of the Year trophy was presented to Mari Curić by Fabris Peruško - member of the Board of Directors and CEO of Fortenova Group, and Uroš Kalinić - member of the board of Konzum, whose company Velpro is a premium partner of Gault&Millau Croatia. Minister of Tourism Nikolina Brnjac and HTZ director Kristjan Staničić presented the awards to the best restaurants. Other trophies were presented to the best chefs and restaurants by the heads of partner companies that support this gastronomic guide: Zoran Ković - director of Dukat, and Iva Kuhtić - director of marketing at Dukat, Ivica Skočič - marketing director of Coca Cola, Mihaela Kadija, director of TZ Zadar County and Ivana Alilović, director of the TZ of the Zagreb County. The awarding of the trophy was led by Frano Ridjan. The Gault&Millau Croatia 2023 gastronomic guide is available globally on the website hr.gaultmillau.com and in Tisakmedia bookstores and Tisakplus stores at a price of 18 euros.
