Kvarner Region Tourist Board - partner of Gault&Millau Croatia 2024 guide and award gala dinner

Thanks to its rich history at the crossroads of cultures and civilisations, the unique combination of the sea, islands and mountains, and the interweaving of maritime and continental climate, Primorje - Gorski Kotar County has been attracting guests for 180 years. Great jubilee is being celebrated this year in Opatija, where the Villa Angiolina was built in 1884, and then, in the immediate vicinity, the first hotel on the Adriatic - Hotel Kvarner.

Members of the aristocracy, world-renowned artists and writers, and other distinguished guests especially appreciated the local delicacies, the rich original cuisine and fresh local ingredients, whose tastes and smells still delight fans of hedonism. Of course, times and the profile of guests have changed, but some values have remained the same.

Unique Kvarner scampi, Cres lamb, Rab cake, game, quality olive oil and local wines from autochthonous grape varieties united under the Kvarner Wines brand are the trump cards of coastal, island and Gorski Kotar cuisine, which makes guests from all over the world visit and return to the Kvarner region.

Its tourist board attaches special importance to the promotion of gastronomy. Last year, the Kvarner region received its first edition of the renowned international gastronomic guide Gault&Millau Croatia, which included 80 restaurants and POP places and 10 wineries.

In this year's edition of the national guide, which will be published on April 18, 2024, the best ingredients of the Primorje-Gorski Kotar County will be specially presented. On the other hand, the anonymous inspectors of the Gault&Millau guide visited and evaluated numerous restaurants, taverns and bars in the Kvarner region, and the best of them will be included in the new edition of the guide. In the past seven years that Gault&Millau has been present in Croatia, chefs from Kvarner have won annual Gault&Millau Croatia trophies in various categories. Among the awardees were Deni Srdoč, Tino Sinožić, Robert Benzia, Dino Knežević, Stiven Vunić, Daniela Kramarić and Nenad Kukurin. The Kvarner Tourist Board is constantly upgrading the promotion of the rich gastronomic heritage of its region, so Kvarner is a candidate for the title of European Gastronomy Region for 2026. It is rightly expected that the candidacy process will be successfully completed and the title announced in mid 2024.

Kvarner wines won 19 medals at the Decanter World Wine Awards 2023. In addition to the beauty of Kvarner and the Riviera, the local gastronomy and wines were particularly highlighted in the destination promo film Make Your Own Movie, which the Tourist Board premiered at the exclusive event Heart of Sarajevo TV Awards for the best series at the last year Sarajevo Film Festival.