Istria Restaurants
We’ve compiled the best of the best in Istria - browse our top choices for Restaurants during your stay.
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We’ve compiled the best of the best in Istria - browse our top choices for Restaurants during your stay.
Located in the village of Valbandon, close to Fažana, Alla Becaccia offers hearty meat dishes with an emphasis on game—the owner is a hunter. A huge fireplace dominates the dining room in the simple but tasteful interior, and the kitchen door is always open. There is a covered terrace for dining alfresco and a nice garden and play area for kids. Venison, snipe, woodcock, and wild boar are often on the menu, and regulars rave about the housemade pasta and sausages. Other dishes include T-bone steak from Istrian ox (boskarin), various risottos, and excellent Istrian prosciutto.
This quirky, innovative restaurant is considered by many locals—and foodies around the world—to be the best seafood restaurant in Croatia. Run by a family of fishermen, Batelina is popular for its fresh-caught but totally delicious appetizers, often created from what Anthony Bourdain, on his visit here, described as "trash fish." Specialties include fish tripe brodetto or scampi risotto, shark-liver pâté, bonito tartare, cuttlefish stew, and tuna carpaccio. The best way to experience Batelina's creative cuisine is to sample many of their unique tapas-style dishes. Don't go by the menu: just ask for a little bit of everything and let the chef be creative.
Stop at the chic but unpretentious Café Galerija Cvajner for morning coffee or an evening aperitif. Inside, contemporary art and minimalist furniture play off frescoes uncovered during restoration, and outdoor tables offer great views onto the Forum square.
In residential Pula, far from tourist attractions, Farabuto has a short menu of fresh and tasty seafood and just few meat and vegetarian dishes, all based on what's available from Pula’s green and fish market. The modern and innovative cuisine is well presented in Farabuto's small, cozy interior or on the terrace. Service is friendly but can be slow in summer when the restaurant gets crowded. Regulars rave about the selection of cold seafood "crudo." Other selections include homemade ravioli with Adriatic scampi, seafood risotto, and local fish like monkfish, branzino, tuna, or shark.
Located on a quiet street a couple of blocks' walk above the Forum, this is Pula's premier place for casual, budget-friendly Italian fare. Try any of its more than 20 types of wood-fired pizza, grilled meats like Ćevapi (small minced-meat sausages), or a plate of homestyle pasta as you sip a glass of house red wine at one of the rustic wooden tables on the rear terrace. It's ideal for families and large groups, with ample indoor and outdoor space.
One of the few restaurants in downtown Pula offering honest and authentic Croatian dishes, no-frills Vodnjanka is a short walk from the farmers’ market. You'll find many chefs and restaurateurs in Istria make their way here for lunch before heading to their own restaurants. Lunch is the best time to enjoy its flavorful, unpretentious home-cooked dishes—a truly local experience that brings back the forgotten flavors of old times. Depending on the season, dishes may include homemade gnocchi, meatballs, cod in tomato sauce, roasted veal, dandelion with hard-boiled eggs, grilled sardines—the dishes Istrian grannies make.
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