Finding a healthy breakfast in Zagreb can be a hard slog when you're faced with bread, bread and more bread. This new brunch café might be your salve, offering up a menu of entirely gluten-free ingredients, plus a healthy dollop of ice-cream on the side.
Melt was created by startup founders Lucia Zidic (26) and Lucia Cvitanić, (24) combining their love of organic food and gelato. Lucia studied at the world-renowned Carpigiani Gelato University in Bologna, and after finishing her internship in Los Angeles, decided to return home to produce artisanal gelato at a new venture in Zagreb.
At Melt, you can find breakfast favourites like avo on toast, homemade granola, smoothies and pimped-up salad bowls with smoked salmon and poached eggs. Although it majors in brunch, the café is open from 9am until 11pm from Monday-Saturday (Sunday until 5pm). For all its green and healthy credentials, it's also a pleasant place for to sip a glass/bottle of wine - there's a decent range of Croatian vino, and a cast of craft beers worth stopping by for. Mimosas and aperol spritz cocktails provide extra inducement to visit.
Need a pick-me-up? Specialty roasters Cogito provide the coffee, and a range of lattes are also available from matcha to a Tumeric-infused 'golden latte'. Food is served until 5pm, then its drinks only. Gelato is served all day and night - perfect for hot summer evenings. Inside, it's a cute space, with barrel-vaulted ceilings, white-painted brickwork and fairy lights.
The café also plans to be as environmentally friendly as possible, declaring on their Facebook page 'we're happy to be supporting local farmers and using as much local produce as we can’ adding that the packaging is made only from ‘biodegradable and compostable materials’.
Melt. Open daily 9am-11pm, Sun 9am-5pm. Radićeva ul. 3A, 10000, Zagreb.
