3 Best Restaurants in Motovun, Istria

This rustic tavern with exposed stone walls, wooden beams, and a large open fireplace offers traditional hearty Istrian meat dishes. Located off the beaten path well past Oprtalj, the outdoor terrace has scenic views over the rolling hills, valley, and mountains in the background. Lots of regular guests, locals, and culinary professionals, as well as the friendly owners, make you feel welcome in this family-run tavern, where you can try their homemade ravioli with black truffles or gnocchi with rooster stew. It's open weekends only.

On a narrow cobblestone street just a few yards from the town's gate, this tavern is perhaps the best place to eat in town, with a truffle-centric menu and a breezy terrace perfect for alfresco dining. The menu screams truffles—almost every dish features them: homemade pasta, steaks, and even panna cotta desserts come with shaved black truffles on top. Regulars also rave about their olive and truffle tapenade amuse-bouche. The pleasant rustic interior has roughly plastered stone walls. Being featured in the New York Times raised Mondo's profile among visitors to Motovun, but locals loved it even before.

This family-run restaurant/truffle shop is 3 km (2 miles) from Motovun and is not simply a gift shop filled with truffles, truffle products, olive oil, and wine (as with other branches in Motovun and Buzet). Here in their renovated villa, you can sit down for a delicious meal of gilthead carpaccio with white truffles (gilthead being a type of sea bream) or thin palačinke (crepes) filled with white-chocolate mousse and finely shaved black truffles. This place is warm, elegant, and modern, with wrought-iron streetlamp-style lights, stone walls, and wooden beams overhead. They even have cozy rooms to rent.