Skenderica 1912
Old Zagreb chow on the slopes of Medvednica
This pleasant family restaurant with a homely atmosphere is the new guise of the former Skender tavern, which opened its doors as an outing destination back in 1912. This iconic Zagreb tavern was popularly called “Kod Skenderica” (The Skender Women’s Tavern), owing to the female members of the family who took over the business from Anton Skender, the founder of the original tavern. The new lady owner, a well-known caterer with a very successful catering business, paid tribute to the long tradition of the restaurant with the name “Skenderica 1912” and to the women of the Skender family who wrote the history of Zagreb's catering industry. Skenderica 1912 is located on top of Remete in the north part of the city, not far from the beautiful Mirogoj cemetery, in an enchanting place with a panorama of the hills, woods and vineyards.
The restaurant is located on the ground floor of a family house; its interior design reminds of someone's home, and the aromas, flavours and ambience take you to the beautiful past of old Zagreb. The space is dominated by bright colours, light, antique decorations and details, beautiful old paintings and clocks, and a stunning shiny original fireplace; the menu is the perfect introduction to taste preferences of old Zagreb. The restaurant can accommodate up to ninety people, and even more in nice warm weather, on a beautiful terrace with a view. It has a large private parking lot which is always a big advantage.
What it served
As everything at Skenderica 1912, the menu is carefully thought out as homage to the tradition and spirit of the city. Great care is taken to ensure that the ingredients come from small producers from city surroundings. The menu comprises old Zagrebians’ (locally called Purgeri) dishes the names of which you have probably never heard of if you are new around here:) - Liptauer, Tafelspitz and Schupfnudeln are just some of them, and the best way to find out what they are is to try them! In addition to the above, there are also traditional dishes such as fresh cheese and cream, cured meats and smoked ham, a selection of daily soups, pasta dishes, and the legendary Zagreb štrukli, which take a little longer to prepare, but are worth every minute of it. Main dishes include classics such as breaded chicken with rice and green peas (popularly called rizi bizi), frikadellen with potato puree or Zagreb steak, and for the side dishes there are always pasta with stewed cabbage, home-made Schupfnudel or some salad made of beans, cabbage, beet... The selection of desserts is crowned with delicious Zagreb classics such as plum dumplings, Sacher cake or chestnut cake squares.
The drink menu is wide enough for the undemanding, with a slightly larger selection of spirits; the wine list is short and based on simple, mostly Croatian wines from Zagreb surroundings. There are also a few conventional industrial beers, and the usual selection of hot drinks and juices.
What our chefs had
Since it was a cold day, the Delicious team went for the soup of the day – a delicious comforting deep-flavoured beef soup with carrots and noodles. The mushroom season is still ongoing, so we could not miss the rich forest mushrooms orzotto, which was hot and creamy, sprinkled with a dash of parsley and topped with grated cheese. The final blow four our hunger were beautiful pork loin medallions, nicely crispy and not at all dry, with home-made gnocchi and viscous sauce with porcini mushrooms. The sweet finish were Vienna pecan and chocolate bars, a real chocolate bomb for chocolate lovers, rich and tasty, evidently made from high-quality dark chocolate. We accompanied our meals with an excellent, refreshing white sparkling wine from the Šember family from the nearby Plešivica Mountain.
