While I am waiting for my bread dough to rise, I must share with you one of my top 5 experiences so far with restaurants. I am not a picky eater but I sure appreciate a great and tasty meal.
In the past few weeks I was enjoying the food in one of the best restaurants (by my opinion) in continental part of Croatia. Why did I say continental? Because the Mediterranean area has very special cuisine and you can not compare it with continental. So, we clear that part now ;)
Like on many social networks, there was a giveaway for lunch/dinner for two in one very fine and nice restaurant in center of Zagreb, named Boban. So I applied on my friend's request, but was provoked because I never got anything so I always thought that all those giveaways were fake. Well, this time I was wrong.
They announced the winner and it was me. Me! I was so happy that my fiancee thought that I won the lottery by my reaction. :D
People from the restaurant told me just to announce myself one day earlier. So I did. I was never at that restaurant before because I thought that it was expensive and it is for people who are in higher range.. if you know what I mean. Having that in mind I wore my newest dress and made my fiancee to dress up too not letting him to where hoodie. As we came inside the restaurant, one of the waiter took us to our table. The interior is great! It is like you are in a wine cellar with all those old bricks on the ceiling. It was very cozy and pleasant. There were tulips on every table and it looked great.
To avoid misunderstanding I explained to waiter that I am using my giveaway reward and ask him to tell me what can I order on the menu (because some of the prices was really expensive). I was very surprised when he told me that I do not have any limitations, and I can order whatever I want on the menu. There were also very expansive wines on the wine list. I think in that moment he saw that I do not go to restaurants like that one very often (or never). For aperitif he offered us sparkling wine which was so tasty and good but unfortunately I do not recall the name because I was too excited.
After the aperitif part we ordered soup. I decided to go with the creamy baby beetroot soup because it was new to me. I like beetroot and I like cream soups.. but this was really beyond everything I imagine. Let me just tell you - if I ate just that soup for lunch... I would be satisfied. I was embarrassed to took pictures but I took two secretly, and one of them is with this fabulous soup:
So, If you'll have an opportunity to try this soup at Boban's (even if you don't like beetroot) - do not miss it! It is delicious!
After soup I was already half full but was determined to try as many flavors as possible because if the soup was so delicious, I must not miss more of the finest meals. I was ready to go on to the main meal (because I wanted to left some room for dessert, but then fiancee ordered a salad as a separate meal (not as a side dish). I had to follow him on this one and the waiter suggested me Bruschetta (roasted bread, cherry tomatoes, basil, garlic). Must say that I sometimes make bruschetta for myself... but this was.. unspeakably better. Much better. It tasted like the tomatoes were soaked into the basil juice. Everything was so greatly combined in the perfect flavor -- this chef really know what he/she's doing. Hat down!
The main dish. (my bred has risen twice already and is baked -- boy I can talk).. :D
Although it is a Italian restaurant, I decided to try more then "just" pasta. Don't get me wrong -- I am number one pasta lover! but i wanted to try something else, so I ordered marinated grilled pork tenderloin with homemade ravioli stuffed with ricotta in tomato sauce.
The meat was so tender i barely used my knife. The taste of homemade ravioli.. well.. you can really taste the difference between homemade and store bought. Mouthwatering!
Of course.. my fiancee wanted to get one cherry tomato from my plate. You see the cherry tomato half on my plate? Do you know that happens when you try to poke it with fork? It explode! And although it is pretty small, they have a pretty wide range of splashing :D :D So, my dress, chair and table were under the tomato rain and the polite waiter didn't even comment on that.
Since I was really full from all the food (the portions are really decent), I was sad because I did not try any of desserts. So I ordered a desert wine instead named Moscato Rosso, winery Laguna in Istria, year 2014. Smells like roses, very sweet wine. Makes you happy just by smelling it.
The belly was full, so we took a walk around the city to get rid of some calories :D
Thanks for reading and stay tuned for more food diaries ;)