The Gault&Millau annual awards highlighting Croatia’s best chefs, restaurants, and culinary philosophies were presented at the Zagreb Esplanade hotel on Tuesday within a gala evening, reports Večernji List on March 6, 2019.
In the selection of the prestigious international gastronomic guide, Hrvoje Zirojević from the Laganini restaurant on Palmižana is Croatia’s chef of the year, the best young talent is Tino Sinožić from Opatija restaurant Navisa, the great chefs of tomorrow are Matija Bregeš from Boškinca in Novalja and Fabricio Veznaver from Pergola in Savudrija, the best chef of traditional cuisine is Vesna Miletić from Zagreb’s Tač, and Biljana Milin from konoba Mate on Korčula is the best pastry chef!
The annual Gault&Millau awards were presented to these prominent chefs at a gala dinner in the Esplanade hotel in Zagreb. The chief of the Esplanade kitchen Ana Grgić, who was awarded the “Great chef of tomorrow” award last year, and Igor Jagodić from the Ljubljana restaurant Sagittarius, who was recently proclaimed best chef of Slovenia in 2019, crafted culinary charms for around 100 guests in attendance.
The Gault&Millau winners are described as “creative, but not robbing gastronomic trends, innovative, but respecting the tradition of their region, knowing modern culinary techniques, but cooking with plenty of emotions.”
The event brought together the crème de la crême of the Croatian gastronomy scene, and among the guests were chefs Deni Srdoč and Goran Kočiš of Lovran restaurant Draga Di Lovrana and Noel in Zagreb, who this year received a Michelin star. The representative of Gault&Millau for Croatia, Ingrid Badul, congratulated all the winners of Michelin acknowledgments and said that they and Michelin have the same mission of raising quality in Croatian gastronomy.
There were several other reasons to celebrate at this gala dinner. Namely, the second Gault&Millau guide for Croatia was also presented, featuring 150 Croatian restaurants and 70 popups, 111 local wines and 25 leading hotels from all over Croatia. The guide is bilingual, in Croatian and English, and is intended for Croatian lovers of good food and fine wines, and foreigners who are increasingly looking for a destination that will give them a wine & gourmet experience. Apart from the printed version, all restaurants can also be found on the Gault&Millau website, which has two million global users and six million views.
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