IF YOU'RE planning a scoffing trip abroad, chances are Tuscany, Perigord and
the Basque Country would be at the top of your list. But how about Istria?
No, I didn't think that would get the gastric juices flowing. It's in
Croatia - land of cabbage and potatoes. Well, get this - Istria is a
culinary hotbed.
An hour after touching down at Pula airport on the tip of the peninsula I was
on the coast sipping surprisingly good Istrian bubbly, a blend of malvasia,
chardonnay and pinot noir made by Misal. I was chatting to one of Istria's
150 sommeliers at Valsabbion, a chic hotel restaurant run by two sisters,
Sonja and Sandra Peric.
Most people dine outside in the summer, the waiters juggling huge plates. One
is a slab of heavy black slate dotted with endless, mostly tasty morsels.
I say mostly - a perfectly decent vegetable soup was spoilt by a shower of
tasteless vegetables. It turned out the sisters took their chefs to visit
the experimental El Bulli in Spain. That was a while back, and they're still
stuck in that groove. But I'm being mean. They're trying to show that Istria
is about more than goulash.
Istria prides itself on being the gastronomic heart of Croatia, drawing
influences from Italy to Hungary via Austria (and occasionally Spain). It
was the first area in Croatia to open upmarket restaurants, the first to
introduce a rating system and the first to develop wine and olive oil
routes.
The region has certainly got the produce - this is a Garden of Eden. Think of
Tuscany 200 years ago, complete with crumbling hilltop villages and rivers
so clean that the oyster industry is booming.
Agri-tourism is on the up here, too - in Istria there are 85 registered
properties, up from only five ten years ago. All the ingredients, from wine
to cheese, must be self-produced.Sandro Toncic is trying to improve his wine
- it's not his best effort, but his day job is truffle hunting. It's a shame
that the rules are so tight when there is a perfectly good producer down the
road who could supply Sandro's busy restaurant.
Diners come for the truffle pasta made by Sandro's sister, Orjeta. Today it's
ravioli stuffed with cheese and prosciutto with a deliriously generous
portion of black truffle shaved on top, which Sandro dug up that morning.
The pasta is served softer than in Italy, but is no less delicious.
I'm not too sure about what comes next. We're encouraged to try Istrian supa.
Not a soup at all, but a kind of sangria: warm red wine seasoned with a
pinch of salt and pepper, a few drops of olive oil and burnt toast, served
in a wide-rimmed jug.
“In the old days the peasants used up all their old bread this way; it was a
drink and a meal all in one,” Sandro explains. The carbon adds an intriguing
flavour and improves the wine, plus I make some new friends - the jug is for
sharing and drinking straight from the rim.
It was only at the beginning of the last century that Istrians realised what a
gastronomic jewel they had - several types of truffles grow all year here,
with the white truffle fetching up to €3,000 (£2,238) a kilo when it comes
on to the market in the autumn.
Next time I'll come in that season, booking one of the smart villas for rent
in the hills above the forest, eating truffles with every meal. Nestled in
the heart of truffle country is the restaurant Zigante. Damir Modrusan, the
head chef, is a celebrity around these parts and Zigante attracts the high
rollers. It's a good place to get your bearings on the wine scene, too, as
Zigante's list offers plenty from Istria with a page dedicated to malvasia.
Zigante also includes Croatia's most celebrated sommelier, Emil Perdec, so
quiz him on which producers to visit. We tried a 2006 malvasia from
Benvenuti, which had crisp, limey, mineral fruit and enough weight to stand
up to the summer truffles.
But don't expect culinary pyrotechnics at Zigante. Damir cooks more in the
style of River Café than Ramsay: sheep cheese mixed with chopped black
truffle served simply with a slice of prosciutto; one of the best truffle
pasta dishes I've ever come across, his signature, mixing black and white.
And did I mention the chocolate fondant with truffle ice-cream?
After all this excitement for lunch, dinner had to be simple. I wanted to try
a konoba, a family-run inn.Astarea is one of the most popular konobas. The
chef-owner, Nino, pulls up a chair and reels off his dishes, before cooking
your choice in a cripnja, a dome-shaped pan that sits on the burning embers
of his huge fireplace.
Sweat trickles down Nino's face (request a table on the balcony - inside is a
furnace) as he explains how he cooks our dish: turbot caught that morning
baked with onions, courgettes, potatoes, olive oil and white wine. “Have a
biska,” he winks, offering the mistletoe grappa after.
It's here that we hear about Batelina, a fish restaurant in the tiny village
of Banjole owned by the chef David Skoko. His brodet draws them in for miles
around: soft polenta served with a stew of squid and spider crab, which
follows sparkling fresh red mullet marinated in garlic and lemon.
This place alone was worth the trip to Istria, but the best was yet to come.
Nevio Sirotic has been doing his thing for a few years at his restaurant,
Toklarija, in Sovinjsko Polje, a hamlet in the hills above Lake Butoniga.
The restaurant is in a 600-year-old building that was once the family's olive
oil press. The large cedar sheltering diners on the lawn from the sun is
next to a bulging kitchen garden, which Sirotic and his head chef Ezio
Goglevina plunder. There's no menu, but be prepared for six courses.
Toklarija attracts gourmets by their hundreds (book well ahead), including the
French chef Clement Bruno, who has nicked Sirotic's white truffle dish - a
greedy stack of prosciutto, fresh porcini, truffle and runny fried egg - for
his restaurant in Provence, crediting Sirotic, of course. “It's the only
dish I know that has gone from Istria to France,” Sirotic grins.
Now who still thinks Croatia is a land of cabbage and potatoes?
Need to know
Fiona Sims travelled with the Croatian National Tourist Board (020-8563 7979, www.croatia.hr).
Getting there My Croatia (0118-961 1554, www.mycroatia.co.uk)
has Istria gourmet holidays from £755pp for three nights, including B&B,
car hire, some meals with wine, a private wine tour and transfers, but not
flights. Ryanair (www.ryanair.com)
flies to Pula from Stansted from £10 return from April 1.
Further information Istria Tourist Board (www.istra.hr)
Where to eat Valsabbion (00 385 52 218 033, www.valsabbion.hr),
Pjescana Uvala IX/26, Pula; Toncic (00 385 52 64 41 46) Cabarnica 42, Zrenj;
Zigante (00 385 52 664 302, www.zigantetartufi.com),
Livade Tartufi, Livade-Levade 7; Astarea (00 385 52 774 384, www.konoba-astarea-brtonigla.com),
Ronkova 6, Brtonigla; Batalina, Banjole; Toklarija (00 385 52 663 031),
Sovinjsko Polje 11, Sovinjsko Polje.
Staying Hotel San Rocco (00 385 52 725 000, www.san-rocco.hr),
Srednja ulica 2, Brtonigla, is a charming inn with an award-winning chef,
Zoran Cobano. B&B doubles from £104
