Michelin star restaurants in Croatia

Set within the ACI Split Marina, the upscale Zrno Soli (‘Grain of Salt’) is a stylish fish restaurant with tables overlooking the bobbing yachts. Prices are steep but not exorbitant, considering the location and quality of the seafood on offer. Service and presentation both come up to the mark.

Mutating from a wine bar that did smart lunches to one of the city’s leading gastro-bistros, Pod Zidom marched straight into the 2019 edition of the Michelin Guide and is now pretty much a must-visit when it comes to contemporary Croatian cooking. A lot of the credit goes to head chef Jurica Jantolek and his desire to investigate the creative possibilities of traditional food, retaining the local ingredients but throwing out any formulaic attitudes to their preparation. The menu certainly has an old-school local look about it at first glance, with oxtail, black sausages, duck breast and buncek (pork hock) vying for attention alongside modish bistro-u-like regulars like beef cheeks and white fish. Best way to sample Pod Zidom’s culinary approach is to opt for the three or four-course daily lunches (165-190), composed according to what they picked up that morning at Dolac. The bistro-wine bar informality of the place is well-maintained: the interior is bright, contemporary; service is brisk and informative; music tends towards the serious end of blues and jazz.

An offshoot of the Oliva pizzeria just across the alley, Zuzori aims to inject a touch of 21st-century pizazz into traditional Adriatic dining. The designer interior transforms a traditional stoneclad space into pop-art heaven, with a slate grey floor, white and pink chairs and unabashedly loud purple tablecloths. The menu sticks to what the locals do best, with shellfish starters and fillet-of-fish mains taking up most space in the menu. Look out in particular for traditional Dubrovnik staples that local grannies may still make but which have largely disappeared from restaurant menus: notably chick-pea soup (a light affair best treated as a starter; 30kn) and šporki makaruli (pasta tubes bathed in mixed-meat goulash; 80kn).

Wine, truffles, olive oil, shellfish, wild game and asparagus are among the goodies Buščina offers at konoba prices. This is a family-run restaurant in which son and daughter work the floor and the kitchen. Lamb, veal and beef are cooked ispod peke; fish is too, or grilled. Everything is home-made: bread, pasta, gnocchi, desserts. Outside, two terraces seat about 70. As well as serving their own olive oil, the family has a wine menu with labels including Clai and Kabola.

A renowned family-run establishment in a village just south of Umag, Badi is a dependable address for pretty much everything in the fresh seafood line. It’s set back from the seafront but the leafy garden terrace more than compensates for the lack of a maritime view. Mediterranean cuisine is given an imaginative twist; there are some raw-fish starters, and a list of mains that includes traditional local seafood alongside house specialities such as sea bass in bready pastry crust. The wine list showcases the best of Istria’s boutique wineries.