Chef Ana Grgić Tomić returns to the most expensive gastro playground

The new summer menu of Le Bistroa at the Esplanade Hotel is sure to delight many who will be coming to Zagreb this summer. Returning from a post-natal holiday, Chef Ana Grgić Tomić has created an inspiring combination of delicious, fresh flavours, and the à la carte menu is filled with Esplanade classics such as steak tartare, Caesar salad and the legendary strudel.

Or the classics, the novelties are always cheerful and appealing, and so is the food created from seasonal specialities that are available at the end of the day. The new dishes include Istrian truffle, Adriatic sea bream, young cottage cheese and goat's cheese, fresh prawns, young vetch, wild nettles and aromatic, spicy herbs from Esplanadina's garden.

Chef Grgić Tomić gives priority to the small local OPG - farm products. Her menus all follow the classic French approach, but there is a balance between the hedonistic enjoyment of flavours and the nutritional profile of the food, which is a challenge in today's world of haute cuisine. Without the use of meat, the expert preparation of all the ingredients contributes to the authenticity of not only the taste of the local sastajaka, but also to the health aspect, and especially to the character of the Croatian terroir, which combines the best of the continent and the coast.

The Mediterranean diet is predominantly made up of new food, the flavours of which do not die with difficulty, or take away from the richness of the aroma and taste. This is the case with the tartare of salted sea bass with tomato juice and butternut squash, the Adriatic sea bream in a bisque of saffron and white chard with butternut squash and basil, and the squid in the crickets with a cream of ricotta and prawns with lemon.

Juneći carpaccio on riccola, goat's cheese and foccacia, terrine of goujè liver combined with strawberries and celery, or ravioli with pureed confit and maple syrup, are dishes that show the tireless playfulness of the kitchen team, whose indiscriminate seething creativity and play with flavours leaves no one indifferent. Esplanade's pastry team, led by Mirjan Špoljar, has created desserts laced with the delicious flavours of coconut, nectarine, strawberry, raspberry, pineapple, vanilla and mint, which you will find hard to resist. The selection of wines and drinks from Le Bistro's selection of wines and drinks is attractive and exciting.