The organisers of the renowned Rovinj Weekend Media Festival, Tomo Ricov and Boris Kovaček, announced on Thursday at the Zagreb cafe “In the Backyard” their new project R’n’B Weekend. R’n’B Weekend Zagreb is a combination of a conference, a fair and a festival aimed primarily at encouraging excellence in the hospitality and food and beverage industries. The four-day event held at the HAZU Glyptotheque in Zagreb will bring together some of the world’s experts in the field. The Glyptotheque of the Croatian Academy of Arts and Sciences (HAZU) will host the R’n’B Weekend Zagreb (Restaurants & Bars Weekend) from 23 to 26 May.
Boris Kovaček said that the gastronomy industry is undoubtedly one of the most important parts of the tourism business and announced exciting panels that will cover, among other issues, the modern Croatian cuisine and the gastronomy development strategy. The festival will be divided into three topical categories – food, drinks and coffee.
Matija Belković and Matija Hrkać from the Cogito Coffee company announced masterclass workshops and lectures related to the industry and culture. “Since coffee has a special impact on the Croatian culture, it will also have a separate part of the programme – Zagreb Coffee Weekend, which will be based around lectures by leading world experts in the coffee industry, workshops and tastings of various types of coffee,” explained Belković.
The press conferences and the barbecue “In the Backyard” brought together a number of well-known representatives from Croatian gastronomic scene, including Hrvoje Kroflin from Mano2, Jurica Jantolek and Borna Janeš from Pod Zidom, Matija Jagić from Brokenships Bistro, and Ivan Zidar from Mason Burgers & Stuff. Everybody enjoyed the barbecue, with meat provided by the Meat the King and prepared by chefs from the Lobby restaurant.
Additional insight into the festival programme was given by one of the most famous Croatian chefs, Mate Janković, one of the Weekend participants. “The festival is a kind of celebration of the synergy of people who run it and are strong in their niches – events, music, coffee, cocktails, food, drinks… The programme will enable professionals and everyone else to expand their gastronomic horizons. The festival will offer something for everyone. One of the topics will be the tuna and how to treat it, while other programme details will be revealed soon at several promotional events that will precede the festival itself,” said Janković.
Perhaps the most exciting part of the festival includes food, and it was presented by the famous Croatian gastro-journalist and consultant Hrvoje Petrić. “This year the emphasis will be on salt, so we will have an interesting panel about Croatian saltworks and a masterclass on the application of salt in modern cuisine, which will further confirm Croatia as a salt country. Also, we are delighted to have the biggest stars of sourdough bread production in the region, and we have the best of the best of the Croatian pastry scene,” said Petrić.
The relaxed atmosphere “In the Courtyard” was created by the music played by DJ Tomo Ricov, while Marin Nekić performed a live cocktail show and announced the barista part of the festival. “The panels and workshops will cover the bar industry, which includes hotels, restaurants and bars in Croatia, with the aim of raising the quality of the touristic offer and the awareness among professionals and customers. We are preparing interesting topics, and one of them, which I believe will be especially interesting to the audience, is what is the new gin,” Nekić announced.
More news about festivals in Croatia can be found in the Lifestyle section.
