Cuisine of Losinj Island for gourmets. Places for dinner - best restaurants

In Losinj's restaurants, you can taste both the dishes that are typical for central Croatia and those that the Adriatic coast is famous for. One of the most delicious and unusual local courses is a black rizot. It really looks like an Italian risotto – the dish includes rice, cuttlefish, and squid. At the same time, the cuttlefish ink is added into the black rizot, which gives the dish an unusual color and taste. It is usually served with grated cheese. You should also pay tribute to the grilled fish with leaves of chard – they cook it just superb here. In most cafes, the waiter will bring you some fish from the last catch to choose from, and you decide which one you want. Dorado, zuban, redfish, brancina, sole, sea bass, red mullet – it’s your choice.

Do not be confused by the high price of fish courses in local menus – as a rule, the price is indicated there per kilo and one serving is likely to weigh much less. Fish and seafood here are fried and dried, and smoked, and added to the salad, and stewed "under the lid". In the latter case, a dish of calamari, veal, and potatoes is covered with a lid and sprinkled with coals, and the lid is not raised until its ready, and the ingredients are baked in their own juice.

Brodet is considered to be another truly Dalmatian dish. It is several layers of fish and seafood, usually together with vegetables but not necessarily, put in large open dishes, poured with tomato sauce or wine and stewed until almost all the liquid is evaporated. The resulting dish is served with golden polenta – a thick corn porridge. Copyright www.orangesmile.com

Traditionally Croatian dish, which is certainly worth trying on Losinj, is prosciutto. In the process of smoking and drying, the ham acquires a truly unusual taste – many travelers buy this delicacy to bring back home. Another local meat dish is Pasticada, beef marinated in red wine with herbs, to which they add prunes, nutmeg, and carrots with onions. They usually serve it with dumplings, otherwise called gnocchi. The local people are also fond of pasta with different sauces, mostly meat or fish. Try also the baked young lamb. This dish is popular in the center of the country but on Losinj, it is prepared according to the traditional recipes and is very tasty.

For a snack you can have a burek – a puff cake with meat and cheese. Try also a turkey with corn dough. Are you a vegetarian? Then you need stewed vegetables “manistra”. As side dishes, they usually serve potatoes, artichokes, tomatoes, asparagus, and different kinds of cabbage. Be sure to try local sheep cheese. The desserts in the local cuisine are very light and, for the most part, include nuts, fruits and dried fruits, and honey. The local cakes remind more of puddings or pies than regular confectionery. It is worth trying little doughnuts friutule, Rab and Ston cakes, roshtulas, desserts from chestnuts, rafioli cakes, cookies from figs or from dry almonds, and cukariny.

The latter is usually dipped in local vodka rakija. Among alcoholic beverages, besides vodka, you should try light beer, liquors, and wine. There are a lot of varieties of a drink from grapes, so you should choose the one that you like, or ask for an advice from the waiter. The infusions on herbs like Biska, Travarica, Komovica, and plum brandy Slivovica will please those who like stronger drinks, and cherry liqueur Maraschino will not leave indifferent the ladies. You can drink coffee in cafeterias from six in the morning, and here they will offer you an herbal tea. And if you want a traditional one, order Indian tea.