Ivana Šeremet (nicknamed Sherry) and her partner, Mario Šimunović (you wouldn’t believe that his nickname is Sheriff!) opened a wine bar in Zagreb’s Trešnjevka, quite far from the increasingly touristy centre of the city in 2013. It hasn’t taken them much more than two years to realize that the location they have chosen for the bar is not appropriate anymore, so they moved to a larger place, with a much more central location, in a yard of a building in Ilica, Zagreb’s main street and very near Britanski trg, one of Zagreb’s favourite squares.
Some things have changed after the move, that’s true. The bar is much larger now, and they have a new chef – a well known Italian chef Gregorio Manucci, who already made the name for himself in Zagreb gastro circles, and who created a small but interesting list of daily special bites to accompany the wine, 2 to 3 a day, based on what was available at the market or from their suppliers. In addition to that, every glass of wine ordered will come to the table accompanied by a snack, something the owners call “the Croatian tapas”, or you can order the bruschetta bar, cold-cuts plate and one of the best hamburgers in Zagreb. Or tripe, apparently – not every day, but from time to time you’ll get the chance to have tripe here, and ask the waiter which wine (s)he would recommend!
And, there are quite a lot of wines to choose from on their wine list. They used to say that they have over 200 wines, 30 of which are being sold by the glass (those that you can order by glass are constantly changing, in order to offer something new and exciting to their regular customers). The wine list in a bar like this needs to be evolving over time, so nowadays the owners are saying it’s over a hundred wines, and the prices are one of their strongest suits, as they say that they offer wines at almost no profit at all! They are also organizing wine events (have we mentioned that they work until 2 am, and that there’s live jazz and DJ music almost daily there?), and thus far Duboković winery, Trapan, Bibich and Korta Katarina are among the ones who presented their wines. And the presentation of Austrian wines, organized by their embassy, is taking place every day at Sherry’s as I’m writing this! In addition to wine they are offering Croatian craft beer (somewhat an odd choice for a wine bar, but OK, let’s not be narrow-minded) and the coffee at the highest level, from Zagreb’s very own Cogito coffee brewing facility, along with some great cocktails created by a well-known cocktail master, Marin Nekić.
So, don’t hesitate to take a walk on Ilica away from the centre, it’s a 15 minute walk from the main square and it’s going to be worth it!
Sherry’s Wines and Bites
Ilica 73 (in the yard), Zagreb
phone: 01 4008 150
www.facebook.com/sherryszagreb
