That Zijavica in Mošćenička Draga is one of the best fish restaurants in the country is already known to anyone who even partially follows the gastronomic scene. Numerous praises from guests and colleagues, and even first place in the creative urban restaurant category in the Good Restaurants selection two years in a row, are great and beautiful proof that what Stiven Vunić and his team are doing in the small restaurant by the sea is truly worth every attention. That‘s why, even this season of Good Restaurants, we didn‘t miss the opportunity to visit this place. We arrived with high expectations and, although we don‘t like to reveal the conclusion of the review at the very beginning, we left more than satisfied.
However, what we would like to mention right at the start is that the restaurant is located right next to the beach, so if you don‘t like crowds and want a more intimate atmosphere, it‘s better to choose a table inside the restaurant itself, because on the terrace, during the day, when a really large number of people are swimming here, it could be noisy and a bit unusual. It didn‘t bother us, as we focused on the food, but we can understand that lunch with such a backdrop is not for everyone.
To begin, the friendly, professional, but sufficiently relaxed staff guided us through the menu. We could choose between the tasting menu and à la carte, and after a short deliberation, we decided to leave ourselves in the hands of the kitchen and chose the first option.
We started lunch at Zijavica with anchovy and orange peel jam, which immediately hit us with a wave of freshness, and we were sure that, even despite what was to come, we could eat at least 10 of these bites.
Next was a cabbage roll filled with cabbage, with a sauce of whiskey and shallots and wild garlic powder. Mild, gentle, unexpected, and with a lovely, sweetish flavor that lingers on the tongue for a while. That‘s why this is a dish that makes you think about it longer and more intensely.
Both bites were served with homemade sourdough bread, which comes as a large slice and which we tore off piece by piece with almost every dish until the end of the evening. The bread had a nice crust, was spongy inside, slightly tangy, and equally aromatic. Enough to be noticed, but not to take the main role in any dish you decide to combine it with.
Then came the scampi tartare with grated caramelized whey cheese, lemon and carrot ice cream, and a sourdough cracker. The tartare itself was mild, creamy, sweet, and actually quite sexy, just like the gentle, silky ice cream. The cracker was excellent, crispy, thin, and meaningful — not just a decoration, but with its own purpose, memorable flavor, and texture.
Cuttlefish, beetroot, carrot in butter and simple syrup, and a marinade and aioli sauce was the next course. The beetroot, with its acidity, cut through everything on the plate, and with every new bite we wanted more and more. The carrot was sweetish, the cuttlefish slippery, with a bite. In the background, we also tasted garlic, which rounded out the whole plate nicely.
With all the dishes mentioned, we drank Korak Sauvignon 2024 and Tomčev Rockstar, on the staff‘s recommendation, and then, again on their recommendation, continued with Sontacchi Superslava 2023, which perfectly complemented the next dish – beetroot tartare.
Although we were initially skeptical, as beetroot is quite strong, earthy, and wouldn‘t be our first choice on a hot summer day, this dish was so unusually good that we cleaned the plate at the end with a piece of bread. The tartare was lightly smoked, which we especially liked, the cracker again was not just a decoration but brought a lot of nice, fresh, slightly tangy notes, and the fermented sardine and pickled mustard sauce was excellent. Slightly salty, just enough to make us want more.
Baccalà mantecato in the form of a ball breaded in panko crumbs and served on salsa with anchovies and capers was good, tasty, but not spectacular. The ball was dense, well seasoned, creamy, so the coarse panko crumbs nicely broke up all that heaviness, but the sauce lacked a bit of character, more acidity, sweetness, and saltiness.
Risini with kale, scampi bisque, tuna, and garlic cream were probably our favorite dish of the lunch, although almost all were on a truly high level. Pure flavors, the kale was not heavy or dominant at all, actually very gentle and elegant, and the garlic cream was bombastic. In fact, in our phone notes for this dish we wrote: "Bomb of the universe. This is so good, a spectacle." The tuna was a nice addition, soft as butter, and the lime zest just lifted the dish even more. Truly a spectacle on the plate.
The next dish was scallops with anchovy crumble, hollandaise sauce, and parsley oil. The scallops were sweet as candy, the hollandaise light, tangy, beautiful, and the paski, which were also served to us, nicely lifted the plate. Which we almost licked clean in the end.
For the main course, we were served sea bass with roasted cabbage with cream cheese and apple and celery cream. The fish was beautifully roasted, juicy, slightly fatty, and delicious. The cabbage and cream were good, and we especially liked that the piece of cabbage was nicely roasted, which gave it even more character.
Full, but not overstuffed, we were ready for dessert. Zabaglione cream, raspberry powder, strawberries, and strawberry coulis with hazelnut crumble, a combination that sounds as good on paper as it is in reality. Because, in fact, there‘s nothing here we wouldn‘t like. Tasty, cloud-like, slightly sweet. With coffee, we finished lunch with a soft madeleine and a praline.
Lunch at Zijavica, as is clear from the text, is something you must not miss if you love fish and the sea on your plate, if you want to experience something new, fresh, and if you are craving truly good restaurant food. The seven-course menu here will cost you 89 euros, and each dish you will remember vividly for a long time. Lunch at Zijavica is an experience, something like a crazy ride during which you absorb everything with your eyes closed so nothing distracts you, and then you open them, reflect on what you‘ve experienced, and retell it to everyone willing to listen. When you empty your last plate here, you‘ll very likely already start planning your return. That is Zijavica!
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