CROATIA – Scandelights

Hvar Town, Croatia

Published on September 1, 2014 by HannaLeave a comment

The first week of my summer holidays was spent in sunny Croatia. We had one evening in Split and then stayed in Hvar town for the rest of the week. Gaby, Rowena and I had an amazing week with lots of sleep, lots of sunbathing, a bit of party and several nice meals. My ideal holiday.

We stayed jn Hvar Town the whole time and although it is small town there were plenty of restaurants to choose from so we never got bored.

Macondo

Our first evening we tried Macondo, a fish restaurant with a great reputation. We tried the local dish marinated octopus which was really nice and then shared a platter of grilled seafood and a lobster pasta. The food was alright but not amazing so we were a little disappointed. But then again, maybe we just ordered the wrong things from the menu?!

Macondo, Groda, Hvar Town, Croatia

Zlatna Skoljka (Golden Shell restaurant)

This restaurant’s speciality is slow cooking and offered lots of stews. We started with a fish tartar (not sure which particular fish) to share and then Gaby and I had the fish stew with potatoes and shelfish. It is one of their signature dishes and it was nice in a homemade kind of way. Rowena had a beef stew (shortribs?) with dumplings that was very heavy. The meat was very tender melted in the mouth and although a hearty stew isn’t summer food for me it was nice and well cooked.

Zlatna Skoljka, Petra Hektorovića 8, 21450 Hvar, Croatia

Giaxa

Gaixa had a bit more oomph than the previous two restaurants. Gaby and Ro shared the swordfish carpaccio which was lovely and so was my ravioli with truffle sauce. The beef with gnoochi and truffle was utterly delicious while my swordfish with cauliflower mash was underseasoned a little underwhelming. But overall I really liked this place.

Giaxa, Trg Tv. Petra Hektorovića 3, 21450, Hvar, Croatia

Paradies Garden

We sat outside in a cozy courtyard at Paradies Garden and could watch the boats in the harbour. The portions were huge but everything we tried was well-cooked and very nice; grilled fish, risotto, scallops and their signature dish – meat cooked on a hot stone. The table next to ours shared a huge seafood platter that looked great too!

Paradies Garden, Groda bb, Hvar, Hvar Island 21450, Croatia

Restaurant Vartal

Ro and Gaby noticed this place when out for a walk and thought the pizzas looked nice. So that’s what we had when we had dinner here the last night (and pasta). It is a no-fuss restaurant but the food was nice, the wine nice and it was very good value for money. Definitely the cheapest place we had dinner.

Restaurant Vartal, Fulgencija Careva 1, Hvar, Hvar Island, Croatia

Dinner at Dvor, Split, Croatia

Published on August 28, 2014August 28, 2014 by HannaLeave a comment

We arrived to Split quite late on a Friday night but we were determined to go to this lovely restaurant we discovered last year, even if it meant eating around 10.30pm.

The ambiance was just as cosy as we had imagined it would be in the evening, sitting outside overlooking the beach underneath some trees. Last time we had lunch here which was also lovely, but in a different way.

The menu was similar to last time although some of the fun commentary was removed. We started with a board with various meats like saucisson and chorizo with pickles as well as an interesting salmon tartar with olive oil ‘snow’ on top to share which was plenty.

For the maincourse I actually chose the same delicious pasta as last time; spaghetti with prosciutto, rocket and truffle sauce. Gaby had a risotto with prawns and Rowena a very generous portion of grilles seabass.

We had a great meal and this was a fantastic start to our trip. The next day we took the catamaran to Hvar where we spent the rest of our week. Mainly in our respective sun loungers.

Dvor, Put Firola 14, Split, Croatia

Leaving on a jetplane…

Published on August 2, 2014August 1, 2014 by HannaLeave a comment

3, 2, 1 – today I go on holiday and I am incredibly excited! First I’m spending one week in Croatia soaking up some sun with friends and then I’m off to Sweden for a ten days to spend time with family and friends.

Please do pop in during the time I’m away as the blog will still be updated a few times a week. And I might send you a post card!

See you later, friends!

Lovely luncheon at Dvor, Split, Croatia

Published on September 12, 2013 by HannaLeave a comment

Split is not a large town so after a few days we had exhausted the town centre and explored different areas of the town and stumbled upon this wealthier area with tennis courts, fancy cars and among others, restaurant Dvor, where we had lunch.

It was placed just by the waterfront overlooking a beach. We sat in the garden enjoying the amazing view and gorgeous food.

We started off with an amuse bouche; a wooden board with grassy olive oil, crostini toasted in an wood-fired and house charcuterie (prosciutto and salami). Such an amazing way to start out meal.

The menu was charmingly written in perfect English with funny (and slightly arrogant) comments from the chef on it, stating how nice his food was. We had a tough time choosing from the menu as we could eat it all, but in the end Gaby decided on a cod risotto, which to me, sounded a bit strange but it was utterly delicious! A chef who can cook like that is allowed to be a bit arrogant…

I had the homemade tagliatelle with prusciutto, black truffle (which I never seem to be able to resist) and rocket. It was seriously creamy with deliciously strong flavour. I absolutely loved it!

After stuffing us full with the gorgeous food we sat enjoying the view and our wine for a while people watching. The other guests seemed to be a mix of families, couples and ladies who lunch.

The only downside with Dvor was (unfortunately) the service. Both the food and the lovely setting weighed up, but I still find it inexcusable for a good restaurant to have bad service. Our waiter was both a little grumpy and left us waiting when the kitchen was backed up, the apology arrived at the same time as our food. And when we wanted to settle the bill our waiter was nowhere to be found so we had to wait again.Hopefully it was just a temporary glitch otherwise I would suggesting hiring some new waiters.

Dvor, Put Firula 14, 21000 Split, Croatia

Sushi lunch at Bota Sera, Split, Croatia

Published on September 11, 2013 by HannaLeave a comment

My dear friend and travel companion Gaby loves researching and it was thanks to her efforts we found this sushi restaurant in Split. It appears sushi is more fine dining than take away here and it was certainly the first time I ate sushi on a linen tablecloth. Very pleasant! We also had an amuse bouche (lovely tuna paté with crostini) while waiting for our sushi to be prepared.

The restaurant we went to is called Bota Sera, overlooking one of Split’s many (pebbly) beaches.

We chose four different type or rolls that we shared and they were all very nice. From left to right; salmon skin roll, tiger roll, philadelphia roll and rainbow roll.

We also tried their vegetarian spring roll which was more like a huge croqueta than a typical spring roll. It was very nice though, and I loved the honey dip with fresh red chilli that it was served with.

There are quite a lot of different food influences in Croatia, especially Italian, but it was nice to find sushi as well as I always crave it in hot weather.

Bota Sera, BAČVICE BB, 21 000 SPLIT

Dinner at Fife, Split, Croatia

Published on September 10, 2013 by Hanna4 Comments

When asking anyone about restaurant recommendations in Split, Fife was always among them so we had quite high expectations when we went there. It looks really cosy and was packed with people every evening we walked past.

We knew the restaurant served rustic, hearty food but I guess I still expected a little finesse which was lacking. The food was cooked from scratch and definitely OK but not much better than that.

Seriously generous portions though. This was two portions but could probably feed four.

We had the classic Croatian cevapi which was nice, but not superior others we had elsewhere.

The portion of calamari was enormous and it was pretty good, but I must admit that my own homemade one is even better and since it is such an easy thing to cook I was a bit disappointed by that.

I still think Fife is worth a visit, the atmosphere is great and it is seriously cheap here, just don’t expect anything other than decent basic home cooking.

Fife, Trumbićeva obala 11, 21000, Split, Croatia

Croatia: Split

Published on September 7, 2013September 6, 2013 by HannaLeave a comment

After a week on board a yacht it was heaven to sleep in a real bed and have wifi access at the hotel and we certainly needed a few days in Split to rest up and explore the town.

If you’re efficient you won’t need much time exploring Split and although there are a few things to see it is quite quickly done. But there are a few beaches to relax on (some pebbled though so choose carefully) and plenty of nice restaurants around.

The most famous tourist attraction is the Diocletian palace in the centre of town which apparently is one of the most well preserved Roman ruins in the world but the way it was presented with shops and restaurants all over it wasn’t amazing.

One thing I didn’t know about Croatia is that the cravat originates from here. There were several cravat shops around and one of them had this pretty door handle.

Riva (the boardwalk) was pretty but quite touristy so we tried to avoid it at times and enjoy it at times. The view out over the sea and the marina was wonderful though. That’s it from Split for now, but stay tuned for the upcoming restaurant reviews.

Dinner at Antika, Stari Grad, Croatia

Published on September 5, 2013September 5, 2013 by Hanna1 Comment

One of that last night on the yacht we decided to all eat together in pretty Stari Grad, at the Antika restaurant, recommended by our skipper.

It was a cosy courtyard restaurant full to the brim with guests so it was pretty buzzing, but we also noticed there was some kind of children’s play on at the square just adjacent, which created a bit of extra noise. We could have coped with that but then the spectators thought it was fine to stand around us between the tables to cheer and take photos. Needless to say we were rather unimpressed.

Eventually the play ended though and we could finally enjoy our dinner conversation. The food however was very good. Most in our group had the breaded and baked feta salad as a starter. It was huge (consisting of a whole block of feta, breaded and baked plus salad items) so although it was very good I was glad I saved myself for my steak.

From the moment our skipper had mentioned the word steak I knew what I was having and it was probably the best priced piece of fillet steak I’ll ever eat. Very tender too and the creamy gorgonzola sauce with dill was lovely too. Perhaps nor local cuisine, but very good.

Gaby had the seafood in a white wine and tomato sauce which was also delicious. And we even ‘met’ a new type of mullusc. It looked like a cross between a muscle and an oyster, it was cooked like the mussels but you had to open it yourself (i.e. it didn’t open itself while cooking) but neither the taste nor texture was that nice; it was rather chewy and bland. Fun to try though!

Antika, Duonjo kola, Stari Grad, Croatia

Dinner at U Maje i Tonke, Korcula, Croatia

Published on September 4, 2013September 4, 2013 by HannaLeave a comment

Gaby and I realised about halfway through our time in Croatia that we had holidaying down to a T. We planned our days really well, explored the things we wanted to see and even managed to pick the best weather for each activity; the only day with a clear blue sky we spent at the beach and the cloudier ones exploring the city of Split.

But what we were even better at was finding good restaurants with absolutely no prior information.

This cosy place, U Maje i Tonke, in Korcula was one of those restaurants we just stumbled upon. The food is simple but well cooked, the menu cleverly written (in English) and the tables laid with mismatching flowery tablecloths adding to the cosy atmosphere. And, as all Croatian restaurants, it offered good value for money.

We chose to share the two dishes we were both deciding between. They look similar and have several ingredients in common yet tasted completely different. This is a polenta gratin with cured ham, tomato sauce and mild goat’s cheese. Absolutely lovely and fresh! And a new way for me to prepare polenta.

We also had aubergine rolls with cured ham, a sharper goat’s cheese and tomato sauce – absolutely lovely and my favourite.

The restaurant’s signature dish is a board with a selection of starters that looked amazing, and although we were a bit too hungry for that to be enough yet not hungry enough to have that and a maincourse, I do wish we had tried it. Next time…

A glimpse into the kitchen where two ladies cooked all the food from scratch. Definitely worth a visit!

U Maje i Tonke, Trg korčulanskih klesara i kipara 2, 20260 Korcula, Croatia

Dinner at Boccadoro, Vis town, Croatia

Published on September 3, 2013September 3, 2013 by HannaLeave a comment

Vis town is a really cosy town I wish I’d had some more time to explore. But we did the best we could with the time we had there; exploring one end of town during the day and the old town in the other direction in the evening. There were plenty of gifty shops and art galleries open in the evening but it didn’t feel very touristy (thankfully).

There were also plenty of restaurants to choose from but Gaby and I were very happy with the chouse of Boccadoro. Our skipper recommended it and they offered us a complimentary drunk, not bad.

The restaurant was very romantic with different dimly lit rooms in the courtyard to gice some privacy so I definitely recommend going here with your significant other. However, it wasn’t awkward for us two friends to have dinner here; the other guests were both couples and larger groups.

We shared a starter as we’d learnt by this point that portions are quite large in Croatia. This particular starter wasn’t but the maincourses were generous in size.

The starter consisting of seared tuna, chicory and watermelon was light and fresh and together with the delicious bread and different flavored olive oils to dip it in it was more than enough as an appetizer.

Gaby had the very succulent lamb with gnocchi in a creamy sauce. Absolutely lovely!

I (for once) fancied something lighter and chose the baked seabass en papilliote with vegetables.

The fish was perfectly cooked and seasoned and the abundance of fresh vegetables made it an excellent meal.

This type of cooking is not difficult but especially when I am on holiday I crave this type of straight forward cooking from good produce and when it is seasoned well and cooked to perfection it actually requires a lot of skill.

Boccadoro, Petra Hektorovica 2, 21480 Vis, Croazia