Dubrovnik Travel Guide
Eating Dubrovnik
How to eat well in a city full of tourist menus — the Dubrovnik and Dalmatian dishes worth ordering, the oysters of Mali Ston, the Gruž market, Konavle and Pelješac wines, fish priced by the kilo, and the rules for avoiding the traps.
Dubrovnik has a reputation for expensive, forgettable food on Stradun, and it is partly deserved: the busiest streets are lined with laminated menus aimed at passing crowds. But the city sits in one of the richest food regions on the Adriatic, between the oyster beds of Ston, the vineyards of Pelješac and Konavle, and a sea full of fish, and eating well here is mostly a matter of knowing what to order and walking a few lanes further. Here is the field guide.
The rules of the table. Rule one: step off Stradun. The restaurants on the main street and its busiest squares live off passing trade; the better kitchens are in the stepped side lanes, around the old port and in the neighbourhoods outside the walls. Rule two: eat with the clock. Long lunches and late dinners are local habit, and in summer a light lunch and a proper dinner after the heat breaks makes more sense than the reverse. Rule three: fresh fish is often priced by weight, by the kilo, so ask to see the fish and confirm the weight and price before it goes on the grill. Rule four: book ahead for dinner in high season if a place matters to you, especially for terraces with views.
The dishes to know. Black risotto, crni rižot, made with cuttlefish or squid and coloured with its ink, is the Dalmatian classic and a good test of a kitchen; it should be glossy and rich, never dry. Grilled fish with blitva, chard and potatoes dressed in olive oil and garlic, is the everyday summer plate. Buzara is the local way with shellfish, mussels or scampi steamed with wine, garlic, parsley and breadcrumbs, either white or with tomato. Pašticada, beef braised slowly in wine and prunes and served with gnocchi, is the Dalmatian Sunday dish. Peka, meat or octopus slow-cooked under a bell covered in embers, usually needs ordering in advance and is worth the planning. Dubrovnik's own heritage dish is zelena menestra, a hearty green stew of cabbage and cured meats traditionally made for feast days, rarely found on tourist menus but worth asking about. Start any meal with pršut, the dry-cured ham of the region, and sheep cheese with olive oil.
Oysters, mussels and Ston. The bay of Mali Ston, an hour up the coast, has been farming oysters for centuries, and its flat European oysters are among the finest in the Mediterranean. In Dubrovnik you will see them on menus raw with lemon, but the best way to eat them is at the source: drive or take a tour to Ston, walk the medieval walls in the morning, and sit down on the little harbour at Mali Ston for oysters, mussels and a glass of local white. Oysters are traditionally best in the colder months, with a spring festival in March, but they are served year-round.
Sweet Dubrovnik. The city's signature dessert is rožata, a caramel custard similar to crème caramel, flavoured with the rose liqueur that gives it its name. Look also for arancini, candied orange peel, and kotonjata, a firm quince paste, both sold at the morning market on Gundulić Square along with dried figs, almonds and lavender. They make better souvenirs than anything in the souvenir shops. For ice cream, follow the locals in the evening; Croatian gelato is excellent and cheap.
Wine and drink. Two wine regions sit on Dubrovnik's doorstep. The Pelješac peninsula, beyond Ston, is home to Plavac Mali, Croatia's great red grape, grown on steep, sun-baked slopes above the sea; the most famous vineyard areas produce powerful, deeply coloured wines, and a winery tour on the way back from Ston is a perfect afternoon. To the south, the Konavle valley near Cavtat grows Malvasija Dubrovačka, a fragrant local white revived in recent decades, and has rural family restaurants that are worth the drive for lunch. Local rakija, fruit or herb brandy, often appears as a welcome or a farewell; travarica, made with herbs, is the classic. Coffee culture is serious and slow: order a coffee on a terrace and expect to sit for an hour.
Markets and cheap eats. For self-catering and picnics, the Gruž market by the harbour is the working market where locals shop for fish, fruit and vegetables in the morning, and the Gundulić Square market in the Old Town sells produce and local specialities. Bakeries sell burek, flaky pastry filled with cheese or meat, and slices of pizza, and konobas, traditional taverns, often have simple, good-value daily dishes at lunch. A picnic on Lokrum or the Elaphiti islands, with bread, pršut, cheese, tomatoes and fruit from the market, is one of the best meals you can have here.
Where to eat by mood. For a view, choose a terrace above the old port, on the walls side of the Old Town, or at the cable car summit at sunset, and accept that you are partly paying for the panorama. For seafood, go to Ston, to the harbour restaurants of Cavtat, or to the islands. For a long, rural lunch, drive to Konavle. For a special dinner, the hotels of Ploče and the best restaurants in the Old Town lanes have serious kitchens; book ahead and ask what came in that morning. And for the simplest pleasure, buy a bag of candied orange peel at the market and eat it on the walls.
A three-day eating plan. Day one: coffee and market browsing on Gundulić Square, black risotto for lunch in a side lane, rožata after a sunset cable car ride. Day two: picnic on Lokrum or lunch on Lopud, grilled fish by weight for dinner by the old port. Day three: oysters in Mali Ston, a Plavac Mali tasting on Pelješac, and a last pašticada in the Old Town. Rules: never two tourist-menu meals in a row, always ask the price of fish before it is cooked, and never leave without trying zelena menestra if you see it on a menu.