I was not planning on getting gyudon — a Japanese dish in which features a tasty mix of tender beef and onions served on top of rice — at the Tsukiji outer market, which is largely known for its abundance of fresh seafood. But then I saw an impressively long line and instantly knew that my plans had just changed.
Halva stracciatella from Gelupo
Gelupo frequently comes up on lists of the best ice cream in London, and based on this one flavour — yeah, that makes sense. Though it’s hard not to compare all future gelato to the mind-blowing stuff I recently had in Italy, for gelato outside of that country’s borders, this is top-notch stuff. It’s rich and creamy, and the addition of halva to the classic chocolate and sweet cream stracciatella combo is actually fairly ingenious. It works really, really well.
Sausage roll from Pekarna Bu & Ba
As far as I can tell, this place isn’t even in Google Maps — it just happened to be near my Airbnb. The guy behind the counter spoke perfect English (which seems to be pretty common in Zagreb), so I asked him what he recommended, and he pointed to the sausage roll, which he said he eats every morning for breakfast. It’s not the most Croatian thing ever, but you know what? The guy’s got a point. This was really satisfying — the pastry was fluffy and fresh, and its slight sweetness contrasted very nicely with the salty hot dog. I don’t know if I’d want to eat this on a daily basis, but every now and then? Sure.
Though pork patties are pretty much unheard of at McDonald’s back home, they actually pop up on several international menus (most notably in Germany, where the McRib is a permanent item on the menu).
Though I don’t think you need much more than a day or two in Zadar (I was actually planning on spending a few days here, and then cut that down to one when I realized how small the city centre was), it’s definitely worth checking out. Maybe as a day trip from nearby Split?