Probably the best source of information when it comes to Istrian gastronomy on a foreign language is the German language website Istrien7.com. The site is run by a Salzburg, Austria headquartered PR agency which has been responsible for positioning the whole Istrian region, not just the gastronomy, on the markets which are most important for the region, Germany and Austria. The site Istrien7.com is an independent project of the company and its founder and CEO Wolfgang Neuhuber who began his career as a restaurant critic for Austrian media. Below is Istrien7.com’s choice of the 7 best konobas of the Istrian peninsula. To clarify, a konoba is the equivalent of the Italian trattoria.
Konobas usually offer traditional dishes from the region with locally sourced ingredients. Since locally sourced ingredients in Istria include excellent fish and mussels, truffles, homemade pasta and other delicacies, the food in the listed establishments is excellent. The Konoba Morgan is also probably the best address of the Istrian peninsula for meat dishes, while Valbandon’s Alla Beccaccia is known as the best place for game in Istria. All of the konobas on the list also have good local wines on their cards.
The Best Istrian Konobas According to Istrien7.com:
Konoba Astarea, Brtonigla, Ronkova 9
Konoba Stari Podrum, Momjan, Most 52
Konoba Buščina, Umag, Buščina 18
Konoba La Parenzana, Buje, Volpia
Konoba Morgan, Brtonigla, Bracanija 1
Konoba Alla Beccaccia, Fažana, Pineta 25, Valbandon
Konoba Nono, Umag, Umaška 35, Petrovija
The above is not a ranking of the establishments.
The map below shows that six of the seven konobas listed are located in the north-western part of the peninsula. This is the part of Istria where also most of the best restaurants of the region are located.
