Just like most towns in Slavonia, the main gastronomic offer of Đakovo relies on the tried-and-true combination of grill and fryer, done better or worse, with the occasional foray into the oven—pizza oven, of course. And yes, just like in most towns in Slavonia, the portions are mostly (over)generous, prices are low (at least they used to be), and the amount of meat in a single meal satisfies the weekly protein needs of an average family of four. And that is generally the combination that satisfies most locals and visitors and forms the gastronomic reputation that follows Slavonia, Baranja, and even Srijem.
However, fortunately, the approach and offer are slowly changing, and there are more and more restaurateurs who understand the potential of Slavonia‘s resources—meat, fruit, and vegetables. It seems that one of those places is Bistro Loora in Đakovo, a family bistro right in the center of Đakovo.
We visited Loora for Sunday lunch and were shocked to see the restaurant filled to the last table, so we were quite pleased we had reserved a table. You enter the restaurant from the pedestrian zone, which offers a view of St. Peter‘s Cathedral, and after a narrow hallway, you arrive at a pleasant small courtyard where the terrace is located. The restaurant‘s interior is comfortable and modernly decorated without overdoing the details, and all meat lovers will appreciate the glass fridge for dry-aging meat.
The menu is relatively extensive, with about 50 dishes and salads to choose from, along with a seasonal offer that, as the name suggests, changes with the seasons. To shorten the wait until the soup, without which Sunday lunch is unimaginable, we decided to start with the Loora Platter for two (15.80 €), and of the four soups on offer, only two were available at the time, so we chose the Tomato Soup with parmesan ice cream (3.80 €) and Beef Soup with homemade beef tenderloin tortellini (3.80 €).
The platter consists of kulen from the Palače shop in Piškorevci, cheeses from the Gašić family farm in Beketinci, pickled cucumbers, pickled hot peppers, and homemade fritters with sour cream. We really liked the contents of the platter. The homemade cooked cheeses were served in three varieties: plain, with dill, and with chives, and they were very good. It‘s commendable that nowadays in Slavonia it‘s very easy to find very good cooked cheeses, and here Gašić and Loora are no exception. Although the menu says kulen, the platter featured kulenova seka (a thinner, spicier sausage). Now, considering that it was a very good kulenova seka, we can‘t complain about this swap, but even though the product starts from the same mixture as kulen, the final result is quite different. A minor complaint goes to the thickness of the slices, because kulen is not salami and should not be cut too thinly, even at the cost of a higher price. The slices were not too thin, but they certainly could have been thicker. The pickled vegetables were good, it‘s a pity the sour cream wasn‘t homemade because the fritters were excellent. Crispy, somewhat thinner, a bit too salty but still very tasty. They are a great example of how a simple fried dough dish can have a large number of delicious regional and local variations. And of course, it says platter for two, but it reads platter for four.
The soups did not disappoint either, quite the opposite. All the tableware is custom-made for the bistro and stands out from generic plates, so the dishes are immediately more visually appealing, which especially comes through with the soups that are poured into the plates in a somewhat ceremonial manner.
The plate with the so-called tomato soup with parmesan ice cream arrives with just a scoop of parmesan ice cream, while the soup is in a ceramic jug that the waiter pours into the plate in a little ceremony. The result is very tasty. The soup is pureed and creamy, with a very fine balance of the sweetness and acidity of the tomato, to which the umami of the parmesan scoop certainly contributes, and together it tastes both like grandma‘s soup and a modern restaurant version of grandma‘s soup.
The scenario is the same with the beef soup, except here three tortellini sit in the plate waiting to be joined by the beef broth. This soup is also very good and tasty, a powerful beef broth that is nicely strained and salted. The tortellini are also tasty, all three, but we don‘t quite understand why they are filled with beef tenderloin? Because in a soup like this, any piece of beef or veal won‘t have much chance to stand out, so why use tenderloin if you already have meat that was cooked in the soup and which there is more of, perhaps? But if we ignore that detail, it‘s still a very tasty combination.
For the main courses, we decided to try several given the rich offer, so we ordered Debeli ćevap (meat fritters) (8.10 €), Pork tenderloin baked with mozzarella in demi-glace sauce (9.90 €), Veal in roast sauce (14.20 €), Beefsteak in pepper sauce (23.60 €), and Beef Wellington (26.20 €).
The Debeli ćevap is stuffed with cheese and prosciutto and the mixture itself is more strongly seasoned, served with onion sauce and mashed potatoes. We have no particular complaints about this slightly more refined variant of ćevap. The sauce is tasty and strong enough to pair with the combination of ćevap, prosciutto, and cheese, and the mashed potatoes are creamy and a good companion.
The pork tenderloin with mozzarella is also a very good dish, with just one drawback in our opinion. The demi-glace sauce is very good, the piece of tenderloin is from an older pig and from the end of the tenderloin, excellently grilled, juicy, and very tasty. The side should be potato rösti, but at Loora they make a version from mashed potatoes which is absolutely fantastic and we fought over it. We could eat these little cakes every day as snacks with various sauces because they are absolutely fantastic and we will definitely come back when it is less crowded and ask for the recipe. The only unnecessary thing on the plate is the mozzarella. This dish would work perfectly even without the cheese, and if there must be some cheese, a stronger-flavored Italian cheese that would be noticeable (provolone, asiago, caciocavallo, pecorino...) might be a better choice.
The veal in roast sauce was served lukewarm in thin slices topped with roast sauce, with the same mashed potatoes as the Debeli ćevap, and instead of carrot cream, two roasted and glazed carrots were served, which we don‘t mind. This is also a very tasty dish, with tender veal and a very good sauce.
The beefsteak in pepper sauce continued the run of good dishes. The beefsteak was aged and cooked medium rare as we requested, and the base of the sauce is demi-glace and is also very good. The side dish is young potatoes with cream sauce and here they are definitely in a supporting role, although they were not bad.
Loora‘s version of Beef Wellington is also not bad at all. Unfortunately, it arrived at the table already cut, so we missed out on that pleasure, but apart from that, we liked it. The mushrooms were a bit less noticeable, but everything else was good. The beefsteak was not dry, and the homemade puff pastry was nicely crispy. The mashed potatoes were served separately so as not to spoil the presentation, and that‘s perfectly fine.
The weakest part of the meal were the salads, especially the salad with cheese and mushrooms (4 €). Unfortunately, the cheese had been sitting cut up very finely for too long, so it had oxidized, while the mushrooms were not noticeable at all. But we definitely appreciate that there is pumpkin seed oil on the table for dressing the salad.
Although quite full, we still decided to try some desserts, so we ordered Chocolate Cake (3.80 €), Lava Cake (4.60 €), Apple Tart (4.20 €), and Pistachio Lava Cake (5.40 €).
The chocolate cake unfortunately disappointed us. The sponge was dry, and the layer of chocolate, as well as the chocolate in the sponge, seemed to be made from milk chocolate. If you are a fan of that kind of chocolate, you might like this cake despite the dry sponge, but we are not, and we regret that they didn‘t use quality dark chocolate and that the layer of ganache wasn‘t thicker and that everything was drenched in caramel sauce, which turned an already sweet cake into a deadly danger for all diabetics within a three-meter radius.
The fact that they have both dark chocolate and cocoa in the kitchen is proven by the classic lava cake, which was good and we have no complaints about it.
The ‘tart‘ with apple, although tasty, is an unusual combination of dough for which we couldn‘t quite determine whether it was filo or shortcrust or a combination. But we definitely welcome the variation of this classic, only here too the caramel sauce was unnecessary given the scoop of ice cream that the ‘tart‘ was served with.
The pistachio lava cake was the dessert we liked the most. Sweet but measured, with a liquid center and a slightly crispy exterior and pistachio that was nicely noticeable, it was unanimously declared the favorite that we will also try to make at home.
The wine list is solid and includes a selection of Croatian wine regions, as well as some foreign wines chosen by the restaurant. We especially commend the fact that all wines can be served by the glass for an extra 1.5 € per glass. We decided to stay within the local wine region, so we drank a very good Graševina Vinkomir (4.30 €/1 dl) and a surprisingly good cuvée from Đakovo‘s Milanović winery (4.10 €/1 dl).
All in all, we were very pleasantly surprised by our visit to Loora in a town known for its cathedral, seminary, and stud farm (as to why, in a town with centuries-old monastic and church traditions, such dishes are not served in any restaurant, more on that another time). This family restaurant definitely stands out in Đakovo‘s restaurant scene with its approach to ingredients (we especially commend that all local suppliers and partners of the restaurant are listed in the menu), their preparation, as well as attention to detail (ceramics specially made for the restaurant, Laguiole steak knives, etc.). Of course, there is room for improvement, and perhaps shortening the menu would allow for better focus, but given the number of satisfied local guests, maybe it‘s enough just to maintain the already very decent level.
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