Trophies awarded to the best chefs and restaurants as selected by the Gault&Millau Croatia 2021 guide

Published on 02/06/2021 at 00:00

The Chef of the Year of the Gault&Millau Croatia Gastronomic Guide is Fabricio Vežnaver from the Pergola restaurant in Zambratija, Savudrija. The Grand Chef of the Restaurant was awarded to three chefs - Marina Gaši, from Marina restaurant in Novigrad, Matija Bogdan from Mano restaurant in Zagreb, and Marko Gajski, chef at LD restaurant in Korcula.

Tonči Glavina, Ljiljana and Fabricio Vežnaver, Ingrid Badurina Danielssson, Jure Galić and Frano Ridjan. Photo: Matej Dokić and Goran Jakuš

The Traditional Cuisine Chef Trophy went to Marici Posavec from Didin konak in Kopačevo, while Zlatko Marinović, chef of the Split restaurant Noštromo, won the New Traditional Cuisine Chef Trophy. The Young Talent of the Year trophy was awarded to Dino Knežević, from restaurant Nobilion, Hotel Ikador in Iki, and Bernard Korak from restaurant Korak in Jaska.

Žakline Troskot, the owner of the Amélie gourmet restaurant, won the Chef Gourmet Trophy, while Šibenik's Marenda 2 and its chef Anka Milković were awarded the Trophy for the best POP restaurant.

The 2021 Sales & Service Chef Trophy was awarded to a duo - Davide Kmet and Davor Antolović from Rio Snack Bar in Rovinj. In the category of best restaurants, the winners were 360 from Dubrovnik and its chef Marijo Curić, and Pelegrini from Sibenik and its owner and chef Rudolf Štefan. For the first time in the four years that Gault&Millau has been present in Croatia, the Trophy of Merit was awarded to a group of chefs involved in the Chef Cooks at Home initiative.

The awards were presented to the best restaurants and chefs at a gala ceremony on the terrace of Zagreb's Esplanade Hotel, where seventy home chefs were present on 1 July. The fourth edition of the international gastronomic guide, which includes more than 400 restaurants, popular bars and wines from all over Croatia, is also presented here. In addition to a six-month lockdown, Gault&Millau Croatia is the only gastronomic guide published during the tourist season. It is an attempt to promote the restaurant scene on the domestic and international market, because in its 60 years of publication, the guide has been published in 25 countries, and the chef's caps (toques) printed on the printed label guarantee tourists a proven quality.

Chef of the Year Fabricio Veznaver and supervisor Ljiljana. Photo: Matej Dokić and Goran Jakuš

"We are aware that this period is too challenging for hosts and chefs, who are perhaps the most starved by the lockdown. Gault&Millau wants to encourage them to continue to fight and to remain dedicated to the food and food eaters of their region, together with small food and wine producers. We are pleased that our permanent partners have also recognised this intention, and some new ones have joined us, including HTZ, which has supported us since the beginning. We would like to thank them for showing that they believe in the quality of Croatian gastronomy in these difficult times" - Ingrid Badurina Danielsson, Director of Gault&Millau Croatia.

The Gala Gala was especially welcomed by Kristjan Staničić, Director of the Croatian Tourist Board, and the winning chefs were congratulated by Tonči Glavina, State Secretary at the Ministry of Tourism and Sport.

The Gault&Millau Gala also awarded Raise the Bar scholarships to young participants of the Coca Cola educational programme, aimed at improving the quality and knowledge of the hospitality and tourism segment. Some of the best Croatian chefs were also members of the jury for the selection of the scholarship holders, and the scholarships for the prestigious world culinary schools for Grga Bačelić, Tibor Klobučar and Matija Kuzmić were awarded by Ruža Tomić Fontana, Chief Executive Officer of Coca Cola Adria. The young chefs at the evening were part of Aurelija's cooking show, where they prepared black ravioli with a punch of Adriatic prawns with chef Mario Čepek.

Raise the Bar Academy scholarship holders. Photo.

Croatian colleagues were joined by one of Slovenia's top chefs, Jure Tomič (4 toke Gault&Millau Slovenia) from the restaurant Debeluh in Brežice, and enjoyed his specialities. For a few minutes, the guests enjoyed wines from Degrassi, Krauthaker, Solum and Veralda.

The special partners of the Gault&Millau Croatia guide were the renowned wineries Sirela, Debic, Kotanyi, Aurelia and Romerquelle, and they were joined by the event partners Centaurus, Miva Wine Gallery, Mate Maslinova Ulja, Karlić Truffles, Tvornica tekstila Trgovišće, Urban Design, Taste the Mediterranean and Hotel Esplanade.

The trophy presentation was led by Frano Ridjan, and the festive atmosphere and the reoccupation of the Croatian gas-tronomic centre after a long weather, are a great introduction to the new tourist season. The Gault&Millau Gastronomic Guide is available globally on hr.gaultmillau.com and through a free mobile app, where you can find ratings and detailed descriptions of all the restaurants listed in Gault&Millau Croatia 2021.