Our first event for 2020 took place in the very heart of Zagreb. Barbieri's is a restaurant less than 10-minutes’ walk from Ban Jelačić Square, the city’s central square. Our hosts were owners Maître Restaurateur Frane Barbieri and Vanja Halilović who used the opportunity to showcase their new chef, Mario Bobanović.

The name of the restaurant is a great idea because of the Barbieri family’s long-standing connection with the world of gastronomy. Veljko Barbieri is a well-known Croatian literary writer who often writes about gastronomy. His late brother Andrej Barbieri was one of our best chefs and their cousin Frane is an entrepreneur with extensive experience in the catering business. The idea was - and it turned out to be an excellent one - to come up with a name which would resemble that of the famous TV-show The Sopranos.

Andrej Barbieri laid the foundations of this very cosy yet elegant restaurant and its cuisine, and his spirit is evident. After his early departure, his ideas were developed and used by many chefs in the restaurant. However Frane Barbieri's decision to choose Mario Bobanović as chef proved a winner.

Formerly a very successful architect, Chef Mario Bobanović decided to take up cooking in the first season of the culinary show “Masterchef”. As luck would have it, he did not make it to the finals but his talent was noticed by top Croatian chef Tom Gretić. This is how architecture in Mario Bobanović’s life was replaced by cooking.

For our dinner Chef Bobanović excelled at applying the “less is more” philosophy of cooking. The plates displayed dishes made of three to four ingredients, with no excessive trimmings.

The top quality of a chef and his entire kitchen team is also reflected in their effort to produce a large share of ingredients themselves. Barbieri's only serves their home-baked bread for instance.

During dinner, many members sighed with nostalgia as they tasted the flavours reminiscent of childhood. For instance, everyone was nostalgic after the dessert of apple confit which surfaced memories of grandmother's cooking. Yes, apple was slow-cooked, seasoned to bring back the flavour of home-made apple strudel.

For the vinous accompaniment, the evening began with Tomac Millenium sparkling wine. Other dishes were accompanied by Dvorac Belaj Chardonnay 2017, Cabernet Sauvignon ‘Barrique’ 2017 from Franković Buje and finally by Sinković Winery Muškat momjanski.

Everyone agreed that Barbieri's should definitely be revisited because Chef Mario Bobanović certainly has other delights worth discovering on his menu.

Rutva Primorac