Gault&Millau Croatia Chef of the Year 2024 is Marko Đurašević from Split
In the kitchen, chef Marko Đurašević is like Leonardo da Vinci, but his Mona Lisa is made of salted caramel chocolate and mascarpone! To get the full experience, you must first tear the sweet "canvas" and discover the flavours that are hidden behind it. However, this is just one of the attractive creations with which the chef, born in Podgorica (Montenegro) who lives in Split, pushes the boundaries and changes the gastronomic image of Croatia.
His first choice was to study chemical technology, but after graduating he devoted himself to a career of a professional chef, working in the world's best restaurants in Spain, Great Britain and the USA. He went through all the stages - dishwasher, assistant cook, sous chef at Enoteca in Barcelona, whose owner was the famous chef Paco Perez. In Barcelona, he worked for another four years as a research and development chef in the Japanese-Brazilian fusion restaurant Ikibana Sarria, and managed 4 restaurants of the group.
He moved to Split with his family in 2020. As a creative chef at Portofino, Kinoteka, Olive Tree and Roof 68 - he made a real revolution on the city’s culinary scene, gaining recognition and affection from his colleagues. Recently, he started his new job at restaurant Zrno Soli in the city’s marina.
A tireless creative whose focus is on the Mediterranean cuisine with Asian influences and a cosmopolitan approach, Marko Đurašević confirms an extremely high level of cooking. With each new project, he is ready to go one step further, and for him the kitchen is a laboratory where his imagination, knowledge and affinities really have no limits.
