The Best Local Restaurants in Zagreb
A Local Guide to Dining in Zagreb
Zagreb is Croatia’s capital city and it’s a place with a rich culinary tradition and fabulous restaurants. You’ll find establishments dishing up fantastic traditional Croatian dishes, Balkan specialties, and all manner of inventive international food.
The culinary scene here is wild, with restaurants opening and closing almost every season. Despite the intense competition (or perhaps because of it), you can find a host of longstanding establishments, many of them family-run for generations, that are city staples and local favorites. There’s also a distinct flair to the restaurants here that matches the local culture - a cross between the seriousness of Central Europe and the easygoing lifestyle of the Mediterranean.
Authentic cuisine in Zagreb more closely resembles that of other Central European countries and is quite distinct from the Croatian food you’ll find in coastal parts of the country. Kitchens feature heavy dishes with different meats, potatoes, and cheeses. You also find lost of pastries. One can easily see the influences of Budapest/Hungarian and Viennese/Austrian cooking. However, Zagreb puts its own Croatian spin on this - I’d call it an upgrade - with Mediterranean touches and twists.
Read on to discover where, and what, to eat during your visit to Croatia’s elegant capital city!
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Typical dishes of Zagreb
Zagreb is a melting pot of Central Europe and the Balkans, and the cuisine reflects that. So if you’re looking for typically "Zagreb-style” foods, you may be a bit disappointed. They don’t really exist! Instead, you’ll find a fascinating mix of foods from all over the region. This blend is what makes eating in Zagreb so much fun!
Some exciting and delicious dishes to try are:
Samobor garlic sausage – a dried sausage made with garlic is a specialty coming from the nearby picturesque town of Samobor
Sir i vrhnje – simply cottage cheese and sour cream, often salted and eaten with spring onions, is a testimony to the simplicity of life
Štrukli – pastry filled with cheese comes from the Zagorje region. It can be cooked, eaten in soup, or baked, either sour or sweet
Buncek – smoke-dried pork knuckle is usually cooked in its own juice and served with sauerkraut
Turkey or duck with mlinci
Vegetable stews
Makovnjača – poppy seeds cake
Orehnjača – walnut cake
Meals and mealtimes in Zagreb
Zagreb is a city similar to many other major Central European capitals, meaning you can find everything you want at any time. Some restaurants cater only to brunches and early eating, while others are establishments dedicated to evening dining. However, cafes, small restaurants, fast-casual options, shopping mall dining courts, and gastro-pubs are plentiful, and you can step in anytime.
Breakfast
Croatians start working at 8:00 or 8:30 am, so breakfast is early. Bakeries in Zagreb will be open from about 6:00 am, and you may find places crowded as early as 6:30. Locals usually have a rich omelet or scrambled eggs, ham and cheese, small sausages, and seasonal vegetables. Many places offer imported teas, but Zagreb is much more of a coffee drinker’s town.
Lunch
As the working day starts early, so too does lunch. For brunch, you may find places open beginning around 10:00, but regular lunch restaurants won’t typically open until around 11:30. Kitchens stop serving sometime between 2:00 and 3:00 pm.
In the center of town, you can find many old-style cellars, beer pubs, small family restaurants, and Balkan-style outlets serving rich food for lunch, most of which is prepared early in the day and not prepared to order. For a la carte offers, waiting until the hungry lunch crowd returns to their workplaces is better.
Dinner
A relief for North American visitors, you can often restaurants open for dinner as early as 5:00 pm in the capital. They’ll stay open well into the night, as late as 11:00 pm or midnight. Dinners in Croatia are long, leisurely affairs and it is very normal for Croatian to spend an entire evening at dinner! Come prepared - even a short dinner could last more than two hours. If lunch is a time to fill up quickly to get through the rest of the day, dinner is a time to enjoy your food and good company in a relaxed way.
Paying at restaurants & tipping
Zagreb is very card-oriented, and it is rare to find a restaurant that does not accept credit cards. If you are planning to buy fresh fruit, vegetables, and meat at a market place such as Dolac, then it is better to carry cash, but even the old ladies selling their goodies may accept cashless payment!
Tipping in Croatia is not required or expected in most places (especially not in the taverns) but it is appreciated. It is normal for Croatians to round up on the bill, often leaving the waiters 20-40 cents. That said, no one will be angry if you don’t tip.
The only exception to this is at fine dining establishments and posh restaurants catering to tourists. In these places, a tip is actually expected, and something between 5-10% is appropriate.
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Our 9 Recommended Restaurants to try when visiting Zagreb
In addition to national Croatian cuisine, diners in Zagreb can also find many restaurants that serve regional Croatian food. Unknown to most visitors, Croatia is quite a diverse country, with at least three major culinary traditions; Central European, Mediterranean, & Balkan.
Given that one third of the entire population of Croatia resides in the capital, it is no wonder that the best regional restaurants, including Dalmatian and Slavonian, are often actually found here, and not in their own provincial towns and cities.
In addition to regional restaurants, you’ll find countless places serving international fusion food, and everything from Italian to American and Asian. Exploring the gastronomy scene in Zagreb is an exciting task, but things change fast, so it’s always wise to ask friendly locals for their tips and advice on the current spots to visit!
Here are some of our favorites.
1. Lari i Penati
Lari i Penati has been going strong since 2011, a remarkable feat considering the fleeting nature of many Zagreb bistros and street food joints. The bistro takes its name from motifs in Roman mythology; Lari and Penati were household deities.
Their menu changes daily, depending on the season and what’s available (and fresh) at the Dolac market where they do their shopping every morning.
Recommended dishes: the daily soups, chicken wings baked in soy sauce, roasted pork ribs marinated in orange juice, honey and ginger, and served with potato salad and greens.
Find it on Google Maps here.
2. Burgeraj
Among the impressive variety of burger joints in Zagreb, Burgeraj, a small family-owned restaurant, stands out. They source local and fresh meat which they then process themselves. Keen on quality control, they have been working for years with the same supplier from the nearby agricultural region of Zagorje.
They offer only five types of burgers, each of them wonderful. To wash it down, they have a good craft beer list (most available on tap), including lots of local brews. My favorite is the Istrian San Servolo and their American Pale Ale.
Recommended dishes: The Tamari Mushroom burger with fries, pepper jam burger with fries.
Find it on Google Maps here.
3. Medvedgrad
The Medvedgrad brewery is one of the most popular places to enjoy a beer in Zagreb, so popular that they now have four different locations around the city. In addition to a wide selection of beers brewed in-house, they also have an extensive food menu.
They bake their own pastries and bread, and source meat and cheeses exclusively from local producers. Most of their menu consists of items that we consider homestyle Croatian staples such as beans with sausages, barbecue meat, steaks, and stews. all of which are considered homemade national cuisine.
Recommended dishes: beans with sausages, the daily Gablec (brunch) special such as stew with dried meat, beef schnitzel in sauce with gnocchi, and grilled grouper Dalmatian style.
Find it on Google Maps here.
4. Tvornica pljeskavica Kosta
Zagreb loves Balkan-style grills, and Kosta is one of the most popular barbecue restaurants in the city. Around 35 diners can fit in the simple wooden house on Savska Street, so show up early for your meal!
What makes here special is that they prepare their ground meat entirely from scratch and keep everything as fresh as possible.
Recommended dishes: all their grilled meat, kebab-style dishes from Bosnia, Kosovo, Macedonia, and Turkey.
Find it on Google Maps here.
5. Good Food
Good Food is a local fast-casual chain with three locations in Zagreb. They’re constantly expanding, so by the time you read this they’ll probably already have 4 or 5!
Their dining ethos is that even quick meals can still be healthy and fresh. They have a big selection of soups, salads, sandwiches, burgers, and in the summer, smoothies. Vegetables and fruits are purchased from local family farms, while meat is only purchased from vetted, high-quality butchers. Their spacious restaurants also always offer excellent brunches.
Recommended dishes: classic thick vegetable soups, Caesar salad, Double Trouble burger with beef and pancetta.
Find it on Google Maps here.
6. Apetitlih
This restaurant, located near Kvatrić square, offers classic Zagreb cuisine inspired by a famous Croatian movie. The owner and manager of the restaurant goes shopping every morning at the nearby Kvatrić, and the cook prepares everything just when an order comes in. It doesn’t get any fresher!
With a rustic style, they also always have a rotating daily dish, usually a stew, that is prepared in advance in large quantities for diners in a hurry.
Recommended dishes: veal liver with polenta, oxtail in sauce, cream of pea soup, Zagreb steak, rice with peas.
Find it on Google Maps here.
7. Amfora
Amfora is a traditional restaurant located in Dolac market that offers classic dishes such as fish and squid, all of which arrive to the kitchen directly from the nearby fish market. I recommend eating outside as the interior isn’t terribly interesting and from the outside you’ll get to watch the hustle and bustle of Zagreb’s central marketplace while you eat!
While it seems simple, this is the place to come for a profound meal of simple and truly Adriatic cuisine.
Recommended dishes: codfish stew, fried or grilled squid with a side dish, sardines with a side dish.
Find it on Google Maps here.
8. Sofra
One of the best Bosnian restaurants in town, Sofra offers traditional Bosnian and Turkish cuisine in a beautiful Balkan and Oriental-themed setting.
While they now have 3 locations around the city, for the authentic experience you should visit the original one located adjacent to the Zagreb mosque.
Recommended dishes: Sarajevska čorba (a thick soup with veal), Bosanski lonac (stew of beef, lamb, veal, potatoes, and vegetables), Hadžijski odrezak (rolled veal stuffed with cream cheese in vegetable sauce).
Find it on Google Maps here.
9. Stari puntijar
For almost 150 years, a single family has run this iconic restaurant in northern Zagreb. Located on the road to Medvednica Mountain, it’s also a good spot to catch some city skyline views.
The richly decorated interior invokes nostalgia, reminding diners of a time now long past. They specialize in authentic Central Croatian cuisine, especially dishes made with wild game. Another unique feature, the restaurant even hosts a small museum to local gastronomy! It even hosts a small gastronomy museum.
Recommended dishes: homemade dried sausages, Gračanski lonček stew, Podsljemenski odrezak steak, and roast turkey.
Find it on Google Maps here.
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