March 9, 2023 - Laganini, the chilled Croatian way. Check it out through the eyes of our latest TCN correspondent, Pedro Premuz, a Croatian returnee from Argentina. Welcome, Number 187! If you would like to write for TCN about the Croatia where you are, contact This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. Subject Writing.

It's May, some random Tuesday before 10:00 am. I walk past construction workers on my way to a kafić (coffee shop), and I daringly peek inside the building they are working on. Except they are not fixing it now, they are already having their first break, which could be their second. beer in hand and a sandwich with what I imagine is home-produced meat, as is the tradition here. Most people have their own orchard or make their own charcuterie. I mutter to myself the newly-understood phrase... "Laganini" (To take it easy). Time is all we have, I say to myself as I go and take a second break and a third coffee.

It takes a while, but eventually you get used to this rhythm of life and calmness, people are not used to yelling or complaining. Maybe, you’ll get to disappoint them should you cross a red light, but that's it.

You will see a lot of people (I'm no expert but I have no doubts we’re talking about 85% of the population) drinking alcohol daily, but the only drunk people you'll ever see are non-Balkan tourists, because cheap (and tasty) alcohol drives them crazy.

Croatians love to contemplate the universe in silence. They take their job very seriously. They must do one thing: “I have to do nothing and I must be good at it”. They actively embrace the nothingness of sitting outside, plain vibing without any guilt or remorse.

Back at home, in Buenos Aires, Argentina, I used to take the train to work, and I had more than an hour, door to door. Daily, regular commute. It just felt normal to travel more than an hour just to go to work. Now, if something takes more than 50 minutes, I have to think about it 4 times before making up my mind, and it may take me the whole day to travel that far. Let me clarify: Let's say you take a tram combination, 20 minutes each, and you need to be at your destination at, say, 2:30pm.

With the life I'm living at the moment, I would probably leave home at around 12:00, take the first tram, get off at the correct station to wait for the second one, but, alas! The thirst.

It's time for that break: Coffee and a glass of water. Similar to any construction worker break. I take out a book from my backpack and spend 45 minutes reading, contemplating life for a while, and by the time I continue the second half of my journey, ready and well-rested, I already forgot whatever I was aiming to do at my place of destination.

I guess what I have been deciphering so far about Croatia as a whole is that we are still a village in most aspects. And we love it just that way, thanks for asking. So, if you read this and you feel like enjoying time passing through, you can visit, or don't, we’ll be here watching time pass, anyway.

April 14, 2021 - After eight years at Palmižana hotspot Laganini, established Split chef Hrvoje Zirojević moves back home to lead the kitchen at seaside restaurant Dvor.

Split chef Hrvoje Zirojević invented new genres in Croatian gastronomy and catering at Laganini restaurant in Palmižana. With Zirojević's innovative and passionate but always elegant fish cuisine and excellent service set in the extreme conditions of a beach restaurant, Laganini has become a restaurant institution and a model for many similar attempts.

However, after eight intensive years at Laganini, Zirojević is taking over the kitchen at popular Split restaurant Dvor. He will be succeeded at Laganini by chef Matko Bukovec.

“I felt it was time for a new phase. No less ambitious, just different," Zirojević said for Plava Kamenica.

"Apart from wanting to be closer to my family, I want to apply in a new way everything that has proven to be a winning combination for both work and guest satisfaction."

Dvor, a restaurant in an attractive Firule location that Zirojević will run in cooperation with Split restaurateur Marko Balić, will boast a concept based on a specific interaction of traditional and modern cuisine that Zirojević very successfully established at Laganini, but applied in a different, broader way.

Dvor has an aquarium with live fish, fresh French oysters, and some classic French dishes such as cold duck breast. Still, the menu also includes risotto with shrimp and asparagus and Zirojević's signature dishes such as tuna rolls with goose liver, tartare with timut peppercorns, and onion and ceviche jam.

One of the huge assets of Dvor is a beautiful terrace with a garden on the sea, in which there will be a lounge area. Although preparations for the season are still ongoing, Zirojević is already receiving guests at Dvor.

"We started calmly and quietly; the situation is still uncertain due to the pandemic; it requires experience and caution. But regardless of that, I think that the restaurant must promote quality first of all, and we still have a lot of plans in that segment. If you are really good, you will find people wherever you are," says Zirojević.

Dvor, however, will not be difficult to find. It is located in one of the most beautiful neighborhoods in Split, behind one of the most beautiful terraces in Split, and has one of the best Croatian chefs.

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August 1, 2020 - Some weird news from one of Croatia's most beloved restaurants, Hvar's beloved Laganini, as some reports surfaced of it being closed down by the State Inspectorate - and then it turned out the reports weren't true.

As plavakamenica writes on the 1st of August, 2020, Dalmatinski portal announced on Thursday that the State Inspection closed down the famous and much loved Hvar restaurant Laganini, due to a violation of what has been classified as maritime domain. The state inspection claims that the owner of Laganini constructed five wooden canopies intended for the serving of food and drinks and that he concreted a part of the shore in order to enable the installation of hospitality and catering equipment, and that he did all that without a proper concession. Therefore, the Inspectorate closed and fenced off the island's beloved Laganini, while the appropriate charges were filed against the owner of the facility.

For years, Laganini has been known as the best restaurant on the beautiful island of Hvar and one of the best Croatian restaurants in general. Chef Hrvoje Zirojević from Laganini promotes modern yet very sophisticated styles of Dalmatian cuisine. The wine list is among the most competent in all of Croatia, while the service is almost as good as in that in Zagreb's stunning Esplanade Hotel.

Laganini, which is otherwise located on St. Clement, is a real money factory. Therefore, it's difficult to say whether it is wise to close it down in the middle of the worst tourist season Hvar has seen since the war. It is quite clear that the misuse of maritime domain is indeed inadmissible, and is something that should be immediately punished and prevented from occurring again.

If the owner of Laganini really committed that offense, it seems that it would be wiser to severely punish him financially and close down those five disputed canopies, removing their function, than to close the most important and most popular gastronomic attraction on the entire island of Hvar in the middle of summer, and amid the coronavirus pandemic which has already dealt an extremely heavy blow to Croatian tourism as a whole.

However, in an (not quite) unexpected twist, the restaurant itself has commented on the situation late last night/early this morning, in a Facebook post, as index.hr reports: 

Translated to English, the post states that they wanted to stop the publication of incorrect articles on some websites, to confirm that they are OPEN and that everything is laganini (which is the name of the restaurant and at the same time, the apt description of a way of life on Dalmatian islands).

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