Korcula and Dubrovnik

[benlav]

Hi

I am off to Korcula and Dubrovnik and would be grateful for any advice on restaurants that should be top of my list to visit...also any Croatian wines I should sample

Thanks

[Luggage386]

Well, I was in Dubrovnik in '98...I'd stay away from the tourist traps on Prijeko (the main 'restaurant street' in the old town) and head for the Restaurant Orhan (Od tabakarije 1, just outside the main gate) for a special dinner (which should cost less than a comparable meal in the States). The grilled squid in oil is fantastic. For more casual meals in Dubrovnik, try the Buffet Kamenice (Oyster Buffet) on Gunduliceva poljana (try the terrific squid-ink risotto) or the Roko pizzeria on Ulica za rokom, south of the Placa. Pizza in Croatia is generally wonderful wherever you go, and a great deal too.

[Luggage386]

Oh, about the wine...the Plavac mali is considered good, and Dingac is a decent, heavy red wine. For white wines, I'd try something from neighboring Slovenia!

[Stone]

I envy you. I was in Dubrovnik and Korcula in 98. So beautiful. I suggest you make your first trip to the old city of Dubrovnik at night. The way the lights make the city walls glow is heavenly.

Can't recommend great food in D. But in the old party of Korcula City, there is a restaurant right on the square in the shadows of the Cathedral that sets up tables outside. I was dining with a British couple, and an Austrian crew of about 15 set up a table at the door of the Cathedral. They ordered vast quantities of food -- grilled fish, squid and shrimp, olives, and wine, wine wine. After a while, the captain, a jolly man with a white face and a mane of white hair, started singing sad songs with one of the crew. Then they sent someone back for his accordian. Soon, the square was alive with dancing and drinking in front of the Cathedral. We sang, ate and drank until about 1 a.m. I can't tell you how the food was, but it was wonderful.

I took the ferry to split from city at the other end of the Island. If I can dig out my notes, I'll let you know the name of the restaurant I ate at. They insisted I order a particular type of grilled fish, and it was possibly the best I've ever had.

I brought back about four bottles of wine, but I was told by my friends that they were all pretty bad. However, definitely pick up some homemade rakia and olive oil in the farmer market (just outside the gates of the old city). I was told that a shot a day of the rakia would ensure that you would never be sick -- no bacteria or virus could live in your blood! And the olive had the greatest smell. All homemade.

If you can bring back extra of either, I'll pay handsomely.

Have a great tripe.

David.

[fitz]

Have a great tripe.

I'm sorry; maybe I'm evil, but I can't help myself. The accidental tripe reference just might be one of my favorite typos ever!

That aside, we'll be heading for Dubrovnik within the next month and a half, too, and I can't wait, after everything I've heard and seen...

[benlav]

Thanks for the advice Dstone...actually I am quite partial to the odd portion of tripe...used to eat it in the covered market in Sheffield in my student days...great with a good splash of vinegar ...hopefully I will ' have a great tripe '

...and Fitz if I am back before you go I will post any recommendations I come back with

Cheers

Ben

[marktynernyc]

I just got back from Dubrovnik, with day trips to Korcula and Lopud. I'm still organizing my notes and will post later. I will say that most of the restaurants in Dubrovnik serve the same food - proscuitto, fish, scampi, risottos - cooked in similar manners. It was all very fresh but a bit pricy (Dubrovnik is a major tourist stop between Venice and Greece and I'm guessing the Adriatic has been over fished). ON the wine list at the restaurants there was usually at least one $12 (80 kn) white and red which was okay but then jumped to $20-$30 (140 kn- 210 kn) which were very good. Dubrovnik is enchanting - and the coast is gorgeous - the Adriatic perfect.

[Luggage386]

Well, here's my report from Dubrovnik, October '02: The place is just as beautiful and impressive as when I left it in June of '98; if at all possible, you should make the effort to visit this unique place. I returned to the Orhan, outside the Pile Gate (see my post above) with my fiancee in tow this time, and it didn't disappoint. I of course had another go at the grilled squid in oil, while she had a Dalmatian-style steak au poivre topped with a reddish something quite like ajvar (a roasted-pepper-and-eggplant sauce indigenous to the Balkans, used primarily as an accompaniment to grilled meats). Service was attentive and all was quite tasty; we couldn't figure out why we were almost the only customers in the restaurant at dinnertime. The view of the medieval walls and the sea lapping almost right outside our window was as romantic as you can get.

On the recommendation of a friend originally from the area, we went another night to Sesame, on Dante Alighieria about a ten-minute walk from the Pile Gate (ask someone for directions when you get there). Quite popular with the locals, it's a famous artist's cafe dating back to the late 19th century. One dines in a whitewashed, cavelike space decorated with an eccentric hodgepodge of everything from a large framed picture of Bette Davis to a shell that fell on the premises during the siege of 1991-92. The Fiancee had an appetizer of fried cheese (huge; the two of us barely managed to put it away between ourselves) and a main of veal; I opted for seafood and pasta. Wine was a very fine Mali Plavac, from the vineyards of Miljenko "Mike" Grgic (a Croatian who maintains vineyards both in his homeland and at Grgich Hills winery in California, where he's known as the "King of Chardonnay."). All was wonderful, and while not cheap, it was a much better value than you'd be likely to find in the US.

The Buffet Kamenice was as uniquely delightful as ever (I love places that stick to a few things they know how to do to perfection); the Roka pizzeria is now known as Mea Culpa, but the pies are still good and the beer good and both are cheap.

When you get to Dubrovnik, pick up a copy of the free Riviera tourist guide at your hotel or a tourist office for more ideas; online, try www.tzdubrovnik.hr.

Go to Dubrovnik. You should.