Mediocre Mexican and sweet lemonade is what you'll find at Pani, one of the few burrito restaurants in the capital
Styled on the 'build your own burrito' restaurants that do a thriving lunchtime trade in many European capitals, Pani is a concept that could quite easily turn into a successful franchise in Croatia. A dinky joint near Maksimir, Pani markets itself with the mission statement: 'We listen to good music, occasionally party and keep it casual'. It sounds like an ad for a houseshare where you never see the deposit again. Pani evokes the theme by producing bland, student-quality food. White tortillas with the elasticity of play-do swell with bad fillings. The rice is microwaved and soft and pillowy. The 'Smoky Chipotle' is laced with a poisonously sweet sauce. The chicken is dry and anaemic and the vegetarian option is basically a salad weeping in sour cream. The whole endeavour consumes your daily recommended allowance of salt, sugar and fat without being remotely joyful to eat. For sides, 17 kunas will get you plain nachos with none of the accoutrements. Salsa, an extra five kuna, is frigid on the spice. One saving grace is the lemonade, although the neon-coloured ones are pretty questionable. As a popular local restaurant where a burrito and a lemonade costs around €7, Pani is too expensively priced to be this casual.