Croatian dinner in Paris
On Thursday, November 7th at the restaurant Auberge Flora chef Tvrtko Šakota prepared Croatian holiday specialties.
Organized by Gault&Millau Croatia chef Šakota was a guest of chef Flora Mikula. On the French gastronomic scene, Flora Mikula, owner of the hotel and the same name restaurant, enjoys great popularity. Recently, along with the best French chefs, she was a guest of French President Macron and named the world's ambassador of French cuisine. Among the guests was the former French President François Hollande.
Flora Mikula had the opportunity to meet Croatia this summer and was delighted with gastronomy, homemade products and wines. She wanted to host Croatian chef for the holiday season and to share her pleasure of discovering Croatian cuisine with her guests.
In the charming Auberge Flora (two Gault&Millau toques), in an exceptionally pleasant and relaxed atmosphere, Flora Mikula brings together lovers of good food and good wines.
That was the case on Thursday evening; the restaurant was full, the dinner was sold out completely days before. Everyone wanted to try Croatian delicacies. “Croatia is a recognized tourist destination, and lately there are more and more people discovering Croatian enogastronomic offer. Events like this promote Croatia as a country rich with culinary traditions and good wines.„ said Ingrid Badurina Danielsson, dinner organizer and a Gault&Millau Croatia director, the first international gastronomic guide whose Croatian edition will be released in the spring 2018.
Among other guests, the dinner attended Côme de Chérisey, Gault&Millau owner and president, Croatian ambassador in France, Mr Filip Vučak and director of the Croatian touristic office in Paris, Mrs Danijela Mihalić Đurica.
Tvrtko Šakota, chef of the Xato restaurant in Zagreb, presented traditional Croatian cuisine in an innovative way that characterizes his cuisine. Dinner began with the fresh homemade cheese and truffles, quail egg, pumpkin seeds and buckwheat crumble, with the pumpkin oil. Black squid chips with squid and chickpeas ragout, potato cream with cracklings and sour cream preceded the main dish: carp served with pumpkin in various shapes, clabbered mangold and olive oil, baby sarma and finally, confined duck with mlinci, crusty skin cicheronies, beetroot, turnip, and other seasonal vegetables. For the dessert, the chef offered his version of prekmurska gibanica: terrine with apples, cheese, poppy raisins cream, crunchy lime crust, Brazilian nuts, and rosehip honey emulsion. Chef Šakota’s holiday menu represented almost all parts of Croatia and it delighted the most demanding guests.
Alongside with the traditional Croatian dishes, the renowned Croatian winemakers Kabola, Krauthaker and Tomic presented selected wine labels of native autochthonous varieties. Kabola Malvazija 2016, Kabola Unica 2015, Krauthaker Zelenac 2016, Krauthaker Chardonnay Rosenberg 2015, Krauthaker Graševina, and Berry Berry 2012, and Tomić Plavac 2015, were paired with dishes. French guest had an opportunity to experience Croatian enogastronomy.
A day after Paris, chefs Šakota and Mikula, arranged a Croatian dinner in the heart of the Champagne region. Close to Reims, in the enchanting ambience of Chateau de Sacy, a castle surrounded by vineyards, featuring a luxury hotel with an exclusive restaurant, Croatian holiday delicacies with Croatian wines were served.
