The Top 69 Restaurants Near Pavus
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A self-taught chef cooking in a medieval hilltop castle is either a recipe for pretension or a great story, and at Pavus it's the latter. This Michelin-starred fine dining restaurant sits inside Grad Tabor above Laško, where the tasting menu moves through Slovenia's larder, foraging, whole-animal cookery, and local wine, the Styrian whites in particular. In summer, the panoramic courtyard does most of the talking.
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Celje Castle looms over the valley while this country inn below quietly does its own thing: regional Slovenian cooking that leans on nearby farms for its meat, with venison holding a near-permanent spot on the menu. The wine list runs mostly local, with a small Italian detour and a vintage section that takes itself seriously. It holds a Michelin Bib Gourmand, which tracks for a place this unfussy about impressing anyone.
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A Baroque manor in a park sets the scene for this Michelin-starred fine dining room, where the kitchen takes Slovenian staples and runs them through a distinctly modern lens. Tasting menus of five or seven courses sit alongside a short à la carte, and the wine list runs to over 600 labels. The polenta with beef reads like a classic until it doesn't, which is more or less the point of the whole operation.
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A farmhouse restaurant that has been in the same family for what feels like forever, tucked into the Slovenian countryside and running tasting menus built around whatever the kitchen garden and surrounding region produce. Trout, rabbit, pork with horseradish mousse, plum cream, vegetables grown out back: the cooking is rooted but not stuck. The wine list leans hard into Slovenian bottles, which turns out to be exactly the right call.
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A medieval castle on the Sava River is already a lot to ask of a dinner reservation, and A3 leans into it fully. The restaurant sits inside the restored Rajhenburg fortress, serving surprise tasting menus of four, six, or eight courses built around local and seasonal ingredients, including trout from the family's own aquaculture operation. The cellar leans Slovenian sparkling wine, which makes the aperitif hour feel like someone planned it that way.
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A medieval castle sitting on an island in the Krka river sets the stage for this hotel restaurant, where antiques and a fireplace bar make the dining room feel like you've wandered into someone's very grand ancestral home. The kitchen leans into regional tradition, with vegetables from its own garden and menus that shift with the seasons. The kind of place where ordering the tasting menu and staying the night feels like the only logical plan.
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A wood-burning stove anchors the dining room at this family-run gostilna in the Slovenian countryside, where the kitchen follows the Dolenjska regional tradition through handmade pasta, štruklji, and whatever the season allows. It doubles as a bar, wine shop, and small hotel, so nobody's in a rush. The wine list leans firmly local, which turns out to be a fine argument for Slovenian producers most visitors haven't encountered yet.
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Near the Croatian border in inland Slovenia, this contemporary restaurant is built around the chef's network of suppliers drawn from across the country. The cooking is precise and modern without being showy, reworking traditional local recipes into something personal, plum extract with duck, a dessert deconstructed into something new. The wine list is extensive enough that finding a match is never a problem.
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A restaurant that seats twelve and means it. Miza za štiri started as a home dining room for four guests, and the intimate logic never left when it moved to this countryside spot outside Maribor. Two tasting menus run the kitchen's range, one built around the house signatures, the other chasing flavors tied to memory and personal inspiration. Slovenian wine pairings are on offer, and in a room this small, saying yes feels like the obvious move.
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The menu here changes daily because it has to, built from whatever the garden, the river, and the surrounding forest are offering that morning. This is a farm-to-table restaurant in the Slovenian highlands, fourth-generation family-run and rooted in the Luče valley with the kind of commitment that makes the word "local" seem like an understatement. Trout from the Savinja and autumn mushrooms from the nearby woods do most of the talking.
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Rank 12. Vuglec Breg
Eastern European
Perched on a hill in the Zagorje countryside, this family-run restaurant and inn pours only from its own cellar, every label available by the glass. The menu reads like a regional primer, from mushroom-and-bacon Zagorska soup to roast veal and ricotta strudel, with homemade ice cream closing things out. Rooms and a pool make it easy to stay longer than planned. It holds a Michelin Bib Gourmand.
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Rank 13. Cantilly Garden
Mediterranean
Herbs and vegetables come straight from the garden you're sitting in, which gives the kitchen a short commute and the plates a genuinely seasonal logic. This is a polished modern Croatian restaurant in a restored early-twentieth-century house, with shaded outdoor tables overlooking town. The chef leans Mediterranean with Italian inflections, sourcing local produce throughout. The wine list runs from serious Croatian labels to international bottles, and someone clearly cares about it.
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Sitting inside a mountain hotel at the head of Logarska Dolina, this regional restaurant runs two quite different personalities under the same roof. Lunch leans into Slovenian farmhouse cooking, drawing on recipes traced back generations, while dinner becomes a tasting menu, reservation required for anyone not sleeping upstairs. The kitchen garden supplies herbs for dishes like cheese and lovage dumplings, which is the kind of detail that makes the sourcing feel less like a talking point.
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Rank 15. Korak
Croatian Eastern European
Surrounded by centuries-old linden trees and the family's own vineyard rows, this Michelin-starred restaurant in the Plešivica wine country runs on a single blind tasting menu, eight courses, no choices. The chef trained alongside names like Bottura before coming home to dig into regional Croatian tradition instead, which takes a certain confidence. Service falls to his sister, who runs the room with the kind of quiet attentiveness that makes you feel like the only table.
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There is no menu at MAK, which is either thrilling or terrifying depending on your relationship with control. This creative tasting-experience restaurant on the edge of Maribor puts you entirely in the chef's hands for a parade of colourful, unconventional courses that shift in texture and combination in ways you won't see coming. Two mismatched rooms, deliberately spare tables, and a kitchen clearly uninterested in playing it safe.
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Lieperts is the kind of place that does breakfast on weekends, snacks in the afternoon, and Michelin-starred tasting menus on select evenings, all under one roof in a small Austrian wine village. The chef runs a surprise menu of five to seven courses with no shortage of amuse-bouches before them, leaning on regional produce but pulling in broader influences. The wine list leans heavily local, and there are a few guestrooms upstairs if the drive home feels ambitious.
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Rank 19. Restavracija CUBO
Mediterranean
A chocolate soufflé with crème pâtissière has become something of a calling card here, which tells you something about where this Mediterranean restaurant puts its energy. CUBO sits in a peripheral Ljubljana neighborhood well outside the tourist circuit, and the dark, polished interior feels like a deliberate contrast to that. The kitchen leans Mediterranean but wanders freely, and the desserts tend to upstage the savory courses, which is not a complaint.
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The only decision you make here is how many courses you want, three up to seven, and then you surrender the rest to the kitchen. This Michelin-starred restaurant in the Slovenian countryside sits behind floor-to-ceiling glass that fills a surprisingly minimalist room with light. The chef mines the flavors of Styria with real imagination, and what lands on the table is regional cooking made genuinely strange, in the best sense.
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The bones of a bicycle factory are still visible at TaBar, a two-floor restaurant and bar where the industrial shell suits the cooking's restless, waste-minded creativity. Bar snacks downstairs, surprise tasting menu up. Chef Jakob Pintar pulls from vegetables, fish, and meat, bending each ingredient until it gives up something unexpected. The kind of place that takes itself seriously without making you feel like you should have read the menu in advance.
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A short walk from Ljubljana's old town, this small contemporary bistro draws a lunchtime crowd of locals on working breaks who seem to have figured something out. The kitchen leans on regional ingredients but isn't shy about pulling in outside influences, and the tasting menus run five to nine courses depending on your ambition. The drinks pairing covers wine, craft beer, and a few house originals, which is a nice change from the usual wine-or-nothing offer.
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Rank 23. Restavracija Strelec
Modern Mediterranean
Dinner inside a castle tower, under 1950s sgraffito murals painted with scenes from local folk songs, is a specific kind of romantic that's hard to fake. Restavracija Strelec is a fine-dining room in Ljubljana Castle where the chef runs a modern, Mediterranean-leaning tasting menu, scaled to five, seven, or nine courses. On a clear evening, the rampart terrace opens up a view over the whole town that the food has real competition for.
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A traditional restaurant set inside Ljubljana Castle's inner courtyard, which means you arrive by funicular or on foot and feel smug either way. The kitchen leans into Slovenian classics, the kind of cooking that takes curly kale seriously and earns the right to. The castle setting does a lot of the work visually, but the food holds its own against the view.
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Perched on top of the InterContinental, this modern restaurant earns its floor plan with 180-degree views over Ljubljana and the castle, best timed for sunset. The kitchen runs on reinterpreted Slovenian cooking alongside broader international dishes, with the chef leaning on good local ingredients and enough technique to keep things from feeling like a greatest-hits tour. The B-Bar next door handles pre- or post-dinner drinks, also with the view.
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Rank 26. AFTR
Mediterranean
The menu skips starters and mains in favor of cold dishes, hot dishes, and desserts, which sounds like a small thing until you realize how much more fun it makes ordering. AFTR is a contemporary bistro in central Ljubljana where Mediterranean and global cooking meets a proper playlist and a bar worth staying at. The terrace is quieter than the riverfront spots nearby, and most of the wine list pours by the glass.
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Rank 27. Altrokè
Istrian Mediterranean
Stone walls and brick vaulted ceilings in a pedestrianised corner of Ljubljana's old town set the scene at this regional restaurant, where the kitchen draws heavily on a family estate near Koper for its grapes, olives, figs, and house-made oils. The cooking leans Istrian and Mediterranean, with a wine list chosen to match. The narrow cobbled terrace outside is exactly as charming as it sounds.
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A small, minimalist restaurant on one of Ljubljana's most atmospheric old-town streets, with outdoor tables that put you right at the pulse of Stari Trg when the weather cooperates. The kitchen takes Slovenian regional produce seriously, sourcing from small local suppliers and running tasting menus that read like a quiet argument for the countryside. The riff on Kaiserschmarrn, offered with apple or hazelnut mousse, is the dessert to order.
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Rank 30. Jaz by Ana Roš
Contemporary Mediterranean
Ana Roš lends her name to this lively bistro tucked inside a boutique hotel in central Ljubljana, and the kitchen keeps the energy casual while the cooking does something more interesting. The menu drifts between the Mediterranean and the Adriatic, landing on things like white fish ceviche with fermented cabbage and puffed buckwheat. Cocktails and a solid by-the-glass list round things out. Book ahead, the room fills fast.
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A quiet courtyard steps from Ljubljana's riverfront that somehow feels a world away from it. Shambala is an Asian restaurant pulling from Japan, Thailand, and Vietnam, with a room calm enough that you'll notice the lighting. The menu runs à la carte or tasting, with the Thai curry drawing attention. The kitchen also thinks carefully about pairing this kind of food with wine, which not everyone bothers to do.
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Rank 33. PEN KLUB Restavracija
Mediterranean
A fresco covers the dining room wall on the first floor of this European restaurant, where you pass through a lounge bar on your way in. Evenings run on tasting menus of four, six, or eight courses, with wine pairings leaning on Slovenian labels. Lunch opens things up to à la carte. The seasonal menu borrows from local traditions with the occasional international detour. The summer terrace fits only a handful of tables, so book ahead.
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Set in a cluster of restored farmhouses in the foothills of the Kamnik-Savinja Alps, this country restaurant leans hard into the landscape: freshwater fish and game anchor the evening tasting menu, which the kitchen will shape around your preferences. Outside tables look out over classic Slovenian rural scenery, and inside, small windows give a view straight into the kitchen. The kind of place you drive out to on purpose.
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Sattlerhof sits among its own vineyards in the Styrian wine country, which goes some way toward explaining the 650-label wine list. It's a Michelin-starred restaurant serving a creative six-course seasonal menu, with herbs and flowers pulled from the kitchen garden. The family runs the whole operation, front to back, and the warmth of the room is earned rather than performed. Comfortable rooms are available if the wine list gets the better of you.
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A two-Michelin-star dining room in the wine country south of Graz, where the sommelier reportedly has 35,000 bottles and the knowledge to match. The chef runs a surprise menu only, short or long, built on premium ingredients handled without ceremony. Very few tables, warm wood, modern lines, and wine bottles doing double duty as decor. Book well ahead, or the only surprise will be having nowhere to sit.
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Rank 37. Dubravkin Put
Mediterranean
Tucked into the forested edge of Zagreb rather than its center, this Michelin-starred Mediterranean restaurant is the kind of place where birdsong competes with conversation on the terrace in summer. The kitchen leans toward the sea, with raw fish and langoustines doing a lot of the heavy lifting. A wine shop on site means the cellar runs deep. Afterward, a walk through the park feels less like an afterthought and more like the point.
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Soft lighting, a short menu of creative dishes, and a wine list that starts in Croatia before heading to France with a sommelier who clearly means business. Noel is a Michelin-starred fine dining restaurant where the chef reinterprets local tradition, including the classic štrukli, alongside meat and freshwater and ocean seafood. The room is modern without being cold, and the service runs like it has something to prove, in the best quiet way.
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A 13th-century rectory tucked beneath a parish church in the Sausal wine hills is an unlikely place for a Michelin-starred tasting menu, and yet here we are. The kitchen runs a five- or seven-course surprise menu, booked online with optional wine pairings, and the cooking toggles between subtle and bold contrasts without ever losing its footing. The sommelier reads the room as naturally as he reads a label.
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Rank 40. Thaller - Restaurant
Seasonal Austrian
A Baroque parish church sits directly across the street, which sets the tone: this is a place that takes its surroundings seriously. The seasonal tasting menu at this Michelin-starred restaurant leans on a kitchen garden with its own fish pond, and the wine list skews toward natural and organic. The room balances old farmhouse warmth with something more considered, and the terrace looks out over the garden that feeds most of what's on your plate.
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A Michelin-starred restaurant inside a listed historic building perched in a small village near Leibnitz, with a terrace that earns its summer reputation. The chef runs a five or seven-course surprise menu built on local produce, with the occasional Asian turn that keeps things from feeling too earnest. Wine pairings are offered alongside non-alcoholic alternatives, and the chef has a habit of appearing front-of-house to see how things land.
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Rank 42. Vila Planinka
Alpine Eastern European
At the far end of the Jezersko valley, close enough to Austria that the mountains feel borrowed from both countries, this alpine restaurant leans into the landscape with trout, venison, and local beef on a menu that reads like a hiking itinerary. The wine cellar is the quiet showstopper: nearly 250 Slovenian labels available by the glass, which is the kind of statistic that makes a sommelier genuinely dangerous company.
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Perched among the vineyards of Gamlitz, this farm-to-table restaurant sits at an elevation that makes the terrace feel like a reward before the food even arrives. The kitchen leans on local, seasonal ingredients and classic technique, while the wine list pulls from the surrounding Styrian slopes and a little beyond. The whole thing has the warm, unhurried feel of somewhere run by people who actually like each other.
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Rank 44. Izakaya
Contemporary Japanese
A contemporary Japanese restaurant a few kilometers south of the center, with a minimalist veranda out front and an interior dressed in quiet nods to the Orient. The menu runs long, from sashimi and nigiri to tataki, dim sum, and signature rolls, and the kitchen gives it all a gentle modern spin. Holds a Michelin Bib Gourmand, which tells you something about the prices before you even sit down.
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Rank 45. Weinkehr
Austrian
A small sourdough loaf with whipped butter and smoked bacon is how things start at this modern Austrian restaurant in Gamlitz wine country. The kitchen leans into comfort, with house-made pork crackling dumplings and goulash served with a handmade roll. The wine list runs deep on local vintages, which makes sense given the address. A Michelin Bib Gourmand, and in summer the shaded terrace is the only place to be.
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Four tables in a narrow-street bistro off Ilica, run by a Korean family who came to Zagreb by way of fine dining kitchens across Europe and Asia. The cooking is contemporary Croatian with a quietly global edge, precise and personal without announcing itself. The Michelin Guide gave it a Bib Gourmand, which tracks. Lunch runs simpler; evenings are when the kitchen opens up.
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Rank 48. Beštija
Mediterranean
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Rank 49. Wirtshaus im Weinkitz
Austrian German
A cosy Styrian restaurant in the countryside where the kitchen pairs golden trout with Schupfnudeln and milk-fed veal with Alpine cheese and lingonberries, flavors rooted firmly in the region. The room is low-key and unfussy, and the host keeps things warm and unhurried. The Michelin Guide awarded it a Bib Gourmand. A handful of boutique guestrooms upstairs means you can stay on and work through the wine list properly.
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A meat-aging fridge greets you at the door, and the fresh catch is displayed just past it, which tells you most of what you need to know. This is a family-run traditional Croatian table on a quiet residential hill outside the center, warm enough to feel like someone's home. Portions are generous, sharing is expected, and there's a whole section devoted to offal for the enthusiasts. Croatian wines, narrated by the staff who poured them.
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A wood-fired stove does the cooking here, which tells you something about the pace of lunch at this country gasthaus opposite the parish church in a small Styrian village. The kitchen leans on its own garden and fish pond, so the menu follows the season rather than a formula. The Michelin Guide awarded it a Bib Gourmand. Hearty, unhurried, and very much the kind of place where someone will explain exactly where your food came from.
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A family-run gostilna outside Kranj that has been feeding the Gorenjska region long enough to know which traditions are worth keeping. The menu leans into Krškopolje pork, Carniolan sausage, and local trout, all handled with enough modern technique to feel current without feeling fussy. Slovenian wines anchor the list, many poured by the glass. The room is warm in the way that only comes from people who mean it.
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Rank 53. Schlosskeller Wirtshaus
Regional Austrian
Wood-panelled walls and a terrace overlooking vineyards and forest set the mood at this regional Austrian restaurant tucked into the Schlosskeller estate. The kitchen leans into the seasons and the local larder, with classics like Backhenderl alongside apricot dumplings that earn their spot on the menu. A Michelin Bib Gourmand, and the kind of place where the staff actually know the wine list rather than just gesturing at it.
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A wall of living plants covers the entrance, a nod to Medvednica, the mountain range that more or less runs the kitchen's whole philosophy. This compact modern restaurant in Zagreb's busiest pedestrian quarter builds its creative tasting menus around local, mostly organic produce, pushing sweet, bitter, and acidic in the same breath. The sommelier steers you toward Croatian wines, which turns out to be a better education than you'd planned for a Tuesday.
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You ring a doorbell to get in, which is either charming or terrifying depending on your disposition. Nav seats eight guests at a time, and the chef cooks, serves, and narrates every course himself, so the line between dinner party and tasting menu dissolves fast. Twelve courses follow the Croatian seasons, with produce from the chef's own farm forty kilometres out. Small-batch local wine pairings, bread worth singling out, and a reservation system that requires payment upfront.
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Rank 56. Pod Zidom Bistro
Mediterranean
A terrace a short walk from Zagreb's cathedral makes a fine place to open wine, and this modern bistro leans into that mood. The wine list runs about a hundred labels with most available by the glass, which suits the wine-bar soul underneath the bistro skin. The kitchen pulls from the nearby Dolac market, so the menu shifts with the season, running local meat, Adriatic fish, and whatever vegetables looked good that morning.
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Rank 57. Takenoko
Nikkei Japanese
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Rank 58. Boban
Italian Mediterranean
The vaulted ceilings alone justify ducking inside, but regulars come for the Mediterranean cooking with a strong Italian lean, moving between meat and fish with the ease of a place that's been around forever. It's a full-service restaurant in Zagreb's old center, the kind where the cocktail list is taken as seriously as the food. The terrace over the pedestrian lane fills fast, so booking ahead is less a suggestion and more a law of physics.
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Rank 59. Theatrium by Filho
Modern Mediterranean
Set inside the inner courtyard of Zagreb's Youth Theatre, this lively modern Mediterranean restaurant leans into its setting without going full costume drama. The open kitchen does the performing, while the veranda tables fill first every summer. The menu moves between Adriatic fish, Italian and French influences, and Croatian classics reworked with a precise, visual hand, with six and nine-course tasting menus available in the evenings.
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The open kitchen runs the length of the room, putting the robata grill and dim sum prep on full display. Kiyomi is a contemporary Asian restaurant in central Zagreb where the chef draws on time spent in Japan and China to move fluently across sashimi, tempura, gunkan, and hand rolls. The bar area pulls its own weight, with a serious cocktail list and enough wine to keep the indecisive occupied. Dressy-casual, unhurried, and a bit of a scene.
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Rank 61. Nico's Bar & Bistro
Croatian Mediterranean
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Rank 63. Le Bistro Esplanade
French
The glass terrace that wraps around this hotel bistro looks like a very elegant greenhouse, which suits the crowd that fills it for aperitifs or long lunches without seeming to be in any hurry. The kitchen runs French-inflected, with seasonal Croatian produce doing most of the work, and the house štrukli, cheese-filled pasta baked au gratin and a fixture here for decades, is the thing to order. Casual enough for a quick bite, polished enough to linger.
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Rank 64. Zinfandel's
Modern Mediterranean
Art deco columns and white tablecloths set the tone at this formal hotel dining room inside the Esplanade, where the kitchen reinterprets Mediterranean and continental cooking through a seasonal, local lens. The wine list runs past 200 labels with a generous pour-by-the-glass selection, which is convenient when you're deciding between the third and fourth course. Dress accordingly; this is a room that still takes dinner seriously.
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Rank 65. Balon
Mediterranean
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Rank 66. ManO2
Mediterranean
The venison fillet with black cabbage cream and blackcurrant sauce tells you exactly where this restaurant's head is: local ingredients, run through enough technique to make them interesting. Just outside Zagreb's old center, it's a contemporary Mediterranean dining room with a terrace out front, doing tasting menus of five or eight courses alongside a full à la carte that leans between seafood and premium grilled cuts.
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Rank 67. Tekka
Japanese
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Rank 68. Bär & Schaf Wirtschaft
Regional Austrian
Old floorboards and plain wooden benches set the tone at this regional restaurant tucked inside a centuries-old inn in Völkermarkt. What began as a pop-up is now a fixture, with one half of the duo running the floor with easy charm and the other cooking a plant-forward tasting menu built around the family farm and neighboring producers. Austrian wines anchor the list, with Slovenia and Italy for company.
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Floor-to-ceiling windows frame vineyard terraces and the hills rolling out behind Leibnitz, so you're essentially eating inside a painting. This is a casual-smart restaurant where seasonal cooking leans contemporary and the wine list is long enough to warrant a trip to the glass-fronted cellar downstairs to look things over. The tiered outdoor terrace fills up fast in summer, and the service is the kind that notices without hovering.