His name is Hrvoje Zirojević.
As reported by TCN, U2 frontman Bono Vox was very impressed with the work of Croatian chef Hrvoje Zirojević, so much that he asked to meet him and gave him a big round of applause and asked for his phone number.
Hrvoje Zirojević is an award-winning Croatian chef who has been a teacher at the Croatian Cooking Academy for more than four years and is passionately creating new dishes which he presents at restaurant Laganini in Palmižana on a small island near Hvar.
Zirojević began his career at top restaurants in the 1990s at ACI restaurant in Split, and has spent some time at restaurants “Stari Mornar”, “Boban”, “Noštromo”, “Giaxa” and “Passarola”. He also worked as a chef on luxurious cruise ships.
In Palmižana, Hrvoje now enjoys freedom of creating Mediterranean cuisine dishes and of being able to take different approach towards food, which makes Laganini a must for all gourmets who find themselves in the vicinity of Hvar. In his spare time, he creates new dishes and new trends for the restaurant in which he works, but also for other restaurants as well.
In February 2013, invited by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, he presented Croatian cuisine in Japan, on the occasion of the 20th anniversary of establishment of diplomatic relations between Croatia and Japan. He often cooks for celebrities, among them Andriy Shevchenko, Beyonce, Novak Đoković, the Prince of Jordan and the Prince of Saudi Arabia.
Chef Zirojević has won many awards and numerous medals at various international competitions in which he represented Croatia. He is the winner of culinary competition “Pearl of the Sea”, and has many times won the Croatian Cup, organized by the Croatian Culinary Federation. He has achieved excellent results at the national championships and is the winner of the “Cro Top 10” competition. For four years, he was a member of the Croatian national culinary team which won the first silver medal for Croatia at the World Cup in Moscow. As a member of the national team, he won a bronze medal at the cooking Olympics in Germany.
Zirojević shares his knowledge and experience as a permanent teacher at the Cooking Academy of the Association of Chefs from Mediterranean and European Regions in Split, the Cooking Academy of the Croatian Culinary Federation, and the Faculty of Gastronomy and Management in Opatija.
