Every January, we summarize the money, new tourists, taxi and Uber-rides and joy Advent in Zagreb has brought. But this year, there’s something else to count as well: the number of new restaurants opening this year in Zagreb, that first made their mark as stands on Fuliranje, the most creative part of Zagreb Advent festivities.
Telegram.hr brings the story of the people opening those restaurants, written by Josipa Lenić. All of them are creative people, with amazing food prepared and sold by them during Advent, who have decided that they need to find a way to offer their delicacies to people of Zagreb and evergrowing number of tourists during the other 11 months of the year as well.
Ante Ždero is listed first in the article, and his stand at Fuliranje offered traditional, homemade food that belongs to the category of your grandma would’ve made while you were a kid: Pasta Fagioli, “zlevanka” and other delicacies. For the restoran he and his partners decided to create a schnitzel bar, which will be called Mime’s (after Ždero’s grandfather), and where a family friend Teo Miš, who decided to become a profesional cook only in his fifties, will be the chef.
Ivan Zidar is a well-known name of the Croatian culinary scene in the past several years, as he is the man behind the Mason’s burgers. Those are winning awards and accolades wherever they appear, so the time has come for a restaurant to open in Zagreb, offering them year-round. In March he will open his Mason’s burgers showroom in Dobri Dol in Zagreb, where all of his burgers will be available in one place – until now he’s had many franchises in Croatia and Europe, but none of those had the entire gammut.
Marta Ušljebrka is a young chef, who got her education partly in Copenhagen’s Amass restaurant, and her stand at Fuliranje offered, not surprisingly, some of the traditional meals of danish cuisine. The stand was called Atelier Køkken (kitchen, translated from Danish), and that will be the name of the restaurant, when it opens in Tkalčićeva street in October. She also plans to prepare the staples of Danish cuisine, including sourdough bread she’ll make herself, and famous danish smørrebrød. She plans for the restaurant to be fully sustainable and mostly organic.
Vid Nikolić and Tena Majetić were responsible for another hit-stand on Fuliranje this year, Kansui ramen bar. There isn’t much (if any) chance to have a decent ramen, creative traditional chinese soupy dish in Zagreb, but during this year’s Advent several stands offered it. Among those, Vid Nikolić’s was probably most talked about, and that gave him the motivation he needed to open a ramen place in Zagreb. It won’t be his first restaurant in Zagreb, he was already a partner at a renowned Time restaurant. They plan to open the restaurant in April, but are still not ready to say where exactly.
Fran Ćurković had a comfortable future lined up, with a prosperous career in banking. Then he decided to make his “sarma to go” and offer that on an Advent stand last year. It became an instant hit, his sarma sold in a bun, and there was no way for him to make as many as people wanted to buy, so for this year he decided to make something simpler – buncek (in English that’s called ham hock. Things you learn, right?) and pašticada (a special Dalmatian type of beef stew). He has less defined plans for the restaurant at this point, but he wants it to be in the strict center of Zagreb, and he plans to open the restaurant within the next few months.
Anamarija Palić and Zrinka Zajec are two sisters behind the Bread Club, and the Bread Club has been making amazing bread which is currently being served in some of the best restaurants in Zagreb. They decided to open a bistro so they used Fuliranje to test the meals they will offer in their bistro – several versions of soups in buns, various sandwiches and other delicacies, and they became an instant hit of Advent. Bread Club bistro will be opened in early February in Trakošćanska street in the Trešnjevka neighborhood in Zagreb, and it will be a bakery and a bistro in one.
There’s lot of novelites to look forward on Zagreb restaurant scene this year!
Ivan Zidar, Vid Nikolić, Ante Ždero, Marta Ušljebrka, Fran Ćurković te sestre Anamarija Palić i Zrinka Zajec
