A range of talents
According to the choice of the gastronomic guide, Ana Grgić Tomić, chef of the restaurants Zinfandel’s and Le Bistro in Hotel Esplanade in Zagreb was awarded the most prestigious Trophy of the year – Chef of the year.
Three young chefs won the Trophy Great chef of tomorrow: Michael Gollenz from the Alfred Keller restaurant at the Alhambra Hotel in Mali Lošinj, Nikola Marušić from the PiNKU Fish & Wine restaurant in Split and Stiven Vunić, chef and owner of the Zijavica restaurant from Mošćenička Draga.
The young Austrian chef Michael Gollenz used to work at Widder restaurant Zurich with chef Stefan Heilemann, the Gault&Millau chef of the year 2021 in Switzerland. Chef Heilemann was in Zagreb where he prepared together with chef Ana Grgić Tomić the gala dinner at Hotel Esplanade for the launch of the 5th edition of the Gault&Millau Croatia guide, on Tuesday April 5. More than a 100 Croatian leading chefs gathered at the GM awards Gala ceremony.
6 Croatian restaurants were awarded 4 toques: « 360 » in Dubrovnik, « Monte » in Rovinj, « NAV » and « Zinfandel’s » in Zagreb, »Pelegrini » in Šibenik, and two in Istria, « Monte » in Rovinj and « Pergola » in the village of Zambratija.
The trophy of the chef of traditional cuisine went to Nebojsa Rajković from the restaurant Čingi Lingi čarda in Bilje, Slavonia, the most eastern continental part of Croatia, while Ana Morgan, from the restaurant Morgan in the little village of Brtonigla, in Istria, won the Trophy of the chef of the new traditional cuisine.
The Young Talents of the Year are Matea Jurec, chef of Loora restaurant in Đakovo – Slavonia region, and Marko Jantolek, chef of Matrix restaurant in Zagreb.
Daniela Kramarić, sommelier and owner of the legendary restaurant Plavi podrum in Volosko, had a special Trophy for the promotion of Croatian gastronomy and oenology. The restaurant Martinis Marchi on the island of Šolta won the Trophy for the best service. Pandora Greenbox from Split – Dalmatia, is the best POP of the year.
A brand new guide
This year’s guide presents 265 Top restaurants, 105 POP – popular bistros, bars, street food, snack bars, patisseries and 105 wines from all over Croatia. « We are proud that the great effort and work that we have invested in the production of this guide and the promotion of Croatian gastronomy is recognized by the chefs’ community and the local and international foodies. We are especially happy to see that a new generation of young chefs has grown up in the past year. Their approach to gastronomy is creative, they work with a lot of passion and curiosity and their dishes are exciting. We will continue to encourage them to improve the quality of their cuisine and to remain committed to the authentic foods of their region » says Ingrid Badurina Danielsson, director of Gault & Millau Croatia.
The guests of the gala ceremony were especially greeted by Tessa Chaffey – COO Gault & Millau International, Monika Udovičić – Envoy of the Minister of Tourism and Slavija Jačan Obratov – from the Croatian National Tourist Board.
Photos credits: Matej Dokic & Goran Jakus for GM Croatia
