Gault&Millau Croatia 2025: Croatia's best chefs and restaurants honoured at the gala dinner for the launch of the 8th Croatian edition of the guide

The Gault&Millau Croatia Chef of the year 2025 is Rudi Štefan from the restaurant Pelegrini in Šibenik.

According to the prestigious gastronomic guide Gault&Millau Croatia, Rudi Štefan is the Chef of the Year 2025. The famous chef and owner of the restaurant Pelegrini in Šibenik won the highest annual GM trophy at the award ceremony held last night in Esplanade Hotel in Zagreb. The trophy was presented by Ana Lakić, Director of Marketing and Development of the Beverage Group in Jamnica, a premium partner of the Gault&Millau Croatia 2025 guide. Jamnica is the market leader among the natural mineral carbonated waters in Croatia. "I am very honoured to receive this award and I want to thank everyone who is part of this organization. They do a fantastic job and contribute to the promotion of gastronomy. This recognition is not only for me, but for all my team who gives their best every day to build this superb story together with me," said Štefan.

Known as the “Night of the Culinary Oscars” the gala dinner brought together 101 chefs from all over Croatia. Mr. Tonči Glavina, the Minister of Tourism and Sports of the Republic of Croatia presented the Gault&Millau plaques to the best Croatian restaurants. Namely: 360 from Dubrovnik, the only one with a rating of 18/20, Monte from Rovinj, NAV from Zagreb, Pelegrini from Šibenik, Alfred Keller from Mali Lošinj, Boškinac from Novalja, Cap Aureo Signature from Rovinj, Nebo restaurant & Lounge bar by Deni Srdoč from Rijeka, ManO2 from Zagreb, Noel from Zagreb, Tač from Zagreb, Zinfandel's from Zagreb and Zrno Soli from Split. All of these restaurants have 4 Gault&Millau toques (the chef’s hat) that indicate their high level quality. Presenting the awards, the Minister thanked the awardees for their contribution to the Croatian gastronomy: "Your efforts and work have enabled Croatia to become recognized in the world as a destination of top gastronomy, a destination with a unique story. Our gastronomic offer is extremely diverse - from traditional dishes that preserve our heritage to the finest restaurants that represent contemporary Croatian cuisine, and all of this together makes our gastronomy special and allows it to grow year after year. I am especially happy to see young faces here because they show that we have a new generation of talented people who bring freshness and innovation to our industry. Many of them gain knowledge and experience abroad and successfully apply them here, raising the level of the quality of our offer”.

The trophy for the Best Maitre d’ and service for 2025 went to Milan Martinko and the restaurant Baltazar in Zagreb. The award was presented by Slavija Jačan Obratov, director of brand development and tourism products, on behalf of the Croatian Tourist Board, a long-time partner of the guide.

This year's gala dinner was a celebration of Croatian excellence. As aperitif the guests had the top-quality sparkling wines from Jagunić, Šember and Tomac wineries in the region of Plešivica and the creative cocktails prepared by Poetica Destillery from Vrgorac. Their basic London Dry Gin Poetica Ginuine won a respectable 96 points and a gold medal at the IWSC in London last year. The 6-course gala dinner was jointly prepared by the chef of the Esplanade Hotel Ana Grgić-Tomić, Gault&Millau Croatia Chef of the Year 2022 and chef Marko Đurašević from the restaurant Zrno Soli in Split, GM Croatia Chef of the year 2024. Their dishes were accompanied by top-quality wines from Josić, Markus and Rizman wineries, and at the beginning of the dinner, by the parkling Festigia Blanc de moi and Festigia Malvazija from Vina Laguna. The first-class truffles from Pietro&Pietro company by Edi Borović arrived from Istria. The culinary creations of the chefs were served on the beautiful Duke Group china.

“Gault&Millau Croatia 2025 offers a reliable overview of the Croatian gastronomic scene. Leading restaurants have confirmed their long-standing quality. Restaurants from unjustly neglected continental regions have made a big step forward, while some of those in the tourist destinations have stagnated”. said Ingrid Badurina Danielsson, the Director of Gault&Millau Croatia.

The guests were addressed by Juan Carlos Torres, the Vice President of Gault&Millau International, who came to Zagreb especially for this occasion: “I am very pleased that Croatia has been part of this prestigious story for eight years, thus confirming its status as a top gastronomic destination that successfully combines tradition and contemporary creativity. Gastronomy is the best tool for promoting Croatia in the world because through flavours and authentic stories it represents the rich culture and identity of this country. I congratulate everyone who, with their work and passion, contributes to the development of Croatian gastronomy and its positioning on the global stage.”

Among the guests was the Director of Gault&Millau Slovenia, Mira Šemić. Slovenia is one of 18 countries in the world where Gault&Millau, one of the world's most influential gastronomic guides, is published.

The trophy of the Great chef of tomorrow 2025 was awarded to chef Karlo Kaleb, from the small restaurant Krug in Split, who delights those who love informal fine dining with his creativity and culinary techniques. He received the award, a large wheel of exclusive cheese, from Iva Kuhtić, the Marketing Director of Dukat. At the end of the dinner, guests could enjoy a selection of top-quality Président cheeses that had arrived from France especially for the Gault&Millau gala dinner. The GM Trophy of The Young Talent of the Year went to 23-year-old Amos Novak, from the restaurant Terbotz n Železna gora, who already participated with a big success in several international cooking competitions. He was awarded by Ana Zelenika, Key Account Manager in Croatia of the company La Lorraine Bakery Group (LLBG), a Belgian family-owned company with more than 85 years of experience in the milling and bakery sector. Their delicious petits pains were served during the dinner. Two important trophies, the Chef of the Traditional Cuisine and the Chef of the Modern Traditional Cuisine, went to chef Marinko Rotim, from the restaurant Crna Svinja in Čepin, and chef Igor Eržen from the restaurant Rivica, in Njivice on the island of Krk, that celebrated its 90th birthday. They were presented the awards by the Director of the Kvarner Tourist Board Irena Peršić Živadinov, and the latter by Ivana Alilović, Director of the Zagreb County Tourist Board. The Director of the Zadar County Tourist Board, Hrvoje Anić, presented the award to the best POP of the year. It is a special GM category of popular places with a good price-quality ratio. This year's winner is the vegan bistro BioMania, which, after years of success in Bol on Brač, opened another restaurant in the center of Zagreb a few months ago. Maša Salopek, pastry chef in the prestigious Cap Aureo Signature restaurant in Rovinj, was named the best pastry chef of the year. Maša won the title of the best pastry chef in the world in 2021. Another big celebration marked last night's awards ceremony: the 100th birthday of the Hotel Zagreb Esplanade. The iconic hotel has hosted Gault&Millau Croatia gala dinners since the very beginning. The hotel's Director, Ivica Max Krizmanić, was congratulated by Ingrid Badurina Danielsson and the executive director of Gault&Millau Croatia, Dubravka Tomeković Aralica. The Gault&Millau gala dinner was once again a memorable Night of the Culinary Oscars. 

All the guests received the new Croatian edition of the bilingual Gault&Millau guide, which includes 430 restaurants and 150 wine tasting rooms from all the regions of Croatia. 

Photo credit by Robert Gašpert, Goran Jakuš and Damira Kalažić for Gault&Millau Croatia