Top 5 Croatian dishes that you have to try on your trip

The best foods in Croatia are a delicious blend of Mediterranean flavors, shaped by the country’s location along the northern coast of the Adriatic Sea and centuries of influence from the Republic of Venice, Romans, and Greeks. But don’t worry—there’s more to Croatian cuisine than just fish. After a full day of cycling or wandering around, here are five must-try dishes waiting to refuel you.

Brudet (brodet)

This is a thick fish soup you will eat in Istria, the Kvarner Gulf, and further south in Dalmatia. Usually, several different types of fish are cooked in the same pot, such as grouper, conger, sea bass, sea bream, dentex, sometimes also scampi and mussels, and usually with some vegetable (tomato, potato), local spices, and a few glasses of red or white wine are also added. It is best combined with polenta (cornmeal), but it can also be served with a thick piece of bread.

Black risotto

Once you’ve tasted a real, high-quality cuttlefish risotto, you have a problem when some restaurant serves you a mess with some frozen octopus and artificial ink. The color of the dish is really impressive, but the point is in the taste. The ingredients are cuttlefish, onion, garlic rice, a piece of butter, and quality olive oil, and it adds its charm if, instead of water, it is cooked with fish stock – the broth in which we previously cooked the fish.

Buzara

‘Buzara’ is a type of sauce that can be made with various seafood in Croatia, scampi or mussels, and it is a sauce very rich in garlic, parsley, tomatoes and white wine. For the side, you don’t need more than a piece of fresh white bread to soak up the rest of the sauce. Well, except for a glass of cold, white wine, Malvazija or Graševina, for example.

Peka (under the oven)

This traditional method of slow cooking in large cast iron or wrought iron pots, which are covered with hot coals, is not only found in Croatia but also in neighboring countries along the Balkan Peninsula. Not only does the dish itself cook for at least an hour, sometimes three, but preparing the fire itself also takes time, so don’t think that you can just show up at a restaurant and ask for ‘peka’. You will need to make an appointment. Meat dishes (beef, lamb, chicken) or seafood dishes (octopus, monk, etc.) can be cooked under the oven. The meat is cooked together with vegetables (potato, carrots, onion,…), which gives the entire content an extraordinary intertwining of flavors.

Fritule

A very simple, but extremely tasty Croatian dessert that can be a great end to dinner or just a snack during an evening walk along the waterfront. In some areas, raisins or a dash of rum are added to the basic ingredients, which are flour, eggs, yogurt, (vanilla) sugar, and baking powder. If you see them fresh somewhere during the day, don’t eat too much of them, the fried dish will make it harder to pedal your bike.