The print and online, Croatian- and English-language edition of the Restaurant Croatica book “100 Leading Croatian Restaurants and Their Specialities 2025/26”, published by the Gastronaut Abisal library, was presented at Botel Marina in Rijeka. This is the 30th edition of a project launched in 1995 with the aim of encouraging quality in hospitality through annual selections of the leading establishments and an accompanying publication. The original idea was to research the market to identify the restaurants that best meet guests’ needs and to highlight the leaders, thereby motivating others to improve the quality of their offer and service. In 1995 the research covered 700 restaurants, while by 2024 that figure had risen to 2,400. 
Part of the voting was conducted through the www.gastronaut.hr portal, where voters could additionally rate the quality of the offer, service and ambience. In parallel, restaurateurs voted on the recommendation of colleagues they regard as role models and completed questionnaires with detailed descriptions of their own offer and service. The new list of 100 leading restaurants was presented by the project’s Honorary Committee. Over 30 years, a total of 545 restaurants have made the list, with six restaurants earning the title each year. The project leader and edition editor is Karin Mimica, who launched it in 1995 in cooperation with the then Croatian Economic Forum. The project is run in cooperation with the Association of Croatian Restaurateurs, and its partners include the Croatian National Tourist Board and numerous institutions professionally linked to hospitality, gastronomy and tourism. 
Some restaurants shared their culinary craft with readers, so one can learn how to make trout tartare; arancini with mussels; tomato “pearls”; monkfish in white wine with capers; cuttlefish brudet (a Dalmatian seafood stew) with homemade makaruni; spit-roasted carp; lamb cutlet with a herb crust; slow-cooked veal cheeks; a goulash of pork ears and trotters; venison medallions to a 16th-century recipe with a dark-beer sauce; poppy-seed crackers; and pumpkin-seed and pumpkin-oil ice cream. The print edition can be bought at retail outlets or ordered online from the publisher.
Photographs: Rino Gropuzzo and Voljen Grbac
29 September 2025
