Croatian Food to Try by the Sea

The simplest meal on the coast is often the best: a whole fish cooked na gradele (on the grill), dressed with olive oil, garlic and parsley. It usually comes with blitva, Swiss chard boiled with potatoes and plenty of olive oil.

Shellfish is often cooked na buzaru: mussels, clams or scampi simmered in white wine, garlic, parsley and breadcrumbs, sometimes with tomato. Mop up the sauce with bread. Oysters from Mali Ston bay, near Dubrovnik, are some of the most famous in the Adriatic.

Salata od hobotnice, octopus salad, is a cool starter on a hot evening: tender octopus with potato, onion, olive oil and vinegar.

Crni rižot is risotto cooked with cuttlefish and its ink, which turns the rice glossy black and the flavour rich and briny. Expect black teeth for a while afterwards.

Brudet, also spelled brodet, is a fish stew made with several kinds of fish, tomato, wine and a splash of vinegar, cooked slowly and often served with polenta. On Hvar, look for gregada, a white fish stew with potatoes, olive oil and garlic.

Peka is a cooking method as much as a dish. Meat (often lamb or veal) or octopus goes into a shallow pan with potatoes and vegetables, under a bell-shaped iron lid, and is buried in embers for a couple of hours. Because it takes so long, many konobas ask you to order it in advance, sometimes the day before. Ask when you arrive in a harbour if you plan to eat there that night.

Pašticada is Dalmatia's celebration dish: beef marinated in vinegar, then braised slowly with wine, prunes and spices into a dark, sweet-sour sauce. It is traditionally served with gnocchi.

A plate of pršut (dry-cured ham) and paški sir (hard sheep's cheese from the island of Pag) with olives and bread is the classic Dalmatian starter, and ideal for lunch on board too.

Some dishes belong to particular places:

• Soparnik: a thin, flat pie filled with Swiss chard, onion and parsley, from the Poljica area between Split and Omiš.
• Viška and komiška pogača: a bread pie from Vis filled with salted fish, onion and tomato.
• Rožata: a set caramel custard associated with Dubrovnik.

For something sweet, fritule are small fried doughnuts, often flavoured with citrus zest, raisins and a little rum or brandy, and dusted with sugar.

Dalmatia grows its own grape varieties, and the wine list in a konoba is usually local:

• Plavac Mali: the main red grape of the coast, full and dark. The Pelješac peninsula and Hvar are known for it.
• Pošip: a fresh, aromatic white from Korčula.
• Grk: a white grown mainly around Lumbarda on Korčula.
• Vugava: a golden white from Vis.

You will often see bevanda (wine mixed with water) drunk with meals. After dinner, you may be offered rakija, a strong fruit or herb brandy such as travarica, or prošek, a sweet dessert wine. Croatian lagers are easy to find everywhere.

A konoba was originally a cellar for storing wine, oil and food. Today the word means a traditional, often family-run tavern with stone walls, a wood grill and a short menu of local dishes. Some konobas in quiet bays keep their own mooring buoys for guests who come for dinner.

Fresh fish and some shellfish are usually priced by the kilogram. The waiter may bring a tray of the day's catch for you to choose from. Before it goes on the grill, ask how much your fish weighs and what the total will be. A whole fish for one person can easily weigh more than you expect. Some restaurants also charge for bread or a cover charge, shown on the menu.

Vegetarians do well with grilled vegetables, blitva, pasta, cheese and salads, and many konobas will cook something without meat on request. Ask directly about ingredients: bez means without, as in bez mesa (without meat) or bez glutena (without gluten). If you have an allergy, ask every time.

Menus and prices vary widely between a harbourside restaurant in Hvar town and a konoba in a small village. The cost guide helps you budget, and the guide to money, cards and tipping covers paying the bill.