Delicious Zagreb Christmas guide

While we have every right to hope that Advent in Zagreb will once again claim the title of being one of the best and most beautiful, Delicious Zagreb has prepared a guide to Zagreb's bars and restaurants that also have a special holiday offer. From artisan bakeries, street food, bistro offers, fine dining to unforgettable and fun moments, Zagreb is once again a top winter destination.

If you happen to be in the centre of Zagreb on a Saturday, stop by Cukeraj in Bogovićeva, where every Saturday you can enjoy live music with a glass of sparkling wine. For the second year in a row, the guests of Cukeraj, but also random passers-by, sing along with the musical duo led by the sister of the famous singer Dino Jelusić. The rumour says that Dino could be their guest on the Saturday before Christmas Eve.

Speaking of Christmas Eve – in Zagreb, it is absolutely one of the merriest days of the year. This year, Christmas Eve is on Sunday, so some bars have decided to celebrate it a few days ahead of time. The week before Christmas, Pod Zidom and Ficlek will offer a special fish menu, and this year Lari and Penati will hold a "little Christmas" on Friday, 22 December. On Christmas Eve, at Sol Tapas and Johann Franck you will be able to enjoy a live concert accompanied with a special offer of tapas.

Korica, the first artisan bakery in Zagreb, offers its seasonal cruffin with creamy gingerbread filling, refreshing mandarin coulis and a sugar-snap cookie. For old-school-desserts enthusiasts, Salo on Dolac Market offers paprenjaci (local biscuits with a unique mix of honey and black pepper) made from their own flour, bishop's bread and shortcrust pastry pies.

Proof33, one of Zagreb's newest street food concepts offers a winter ham hock strudel, and everybody is talking about their exquisite Christmas stollen.

Express Bar is known among the city food connoisseurs as the place for specialty coffee, tea and cocktails; every winter they take their offer of signature hot chocolates very seriously, preparing them exclusively from top-quality ingredients. They have a special Christmas one with dark chocolate and rum.

Christmas time cannot do without panettone. This favourite Italian sweet bread has had its iconic Croatian version for several years now. The top-quality panettone made from wild yeast is made in cooperation between Kroštula and Boogie Lab. They always surprise with new flavour combinations; this year this is the addition of Bajadera, the iconic Zagreb praline. This year for the first time Dubravica Bakery offers panettone from its own production, with a signature of the Italian confectioner Andrea Tortor.

As for fine dining, the unique experience of the holiday offer is definitely the Sunday Advent brunch at Esplanade's Zinfandel restaurant. It is served from 12:30 to 16:00 with welcome champagne and accompanied by piano music. As every year, Dubravkin put Restaurant presents a new Christmas tasting menu in mid-December. This year, chef Tvrtko Šakota in Nav is preparing something new. The star of his Christmas menu is goose from Posavina. After having aged for several weeks in a dry aging cabinet, a whole series of elaborate dishes are prepared from it, such as goose breast prosciutto, thick goose heart ragu and goose ćevapi (small rolled patties of ground meat).

Visiting Zagreb is always a good idea, and Zagreb at Christmas time proves to be a really great destination. We believe that you will find something for yourself.

The Delicious Zagreb team wishes you happy holidays!

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Cover photo - Julien Duval