Evaluation of the Food and Drinks Offered at the Zadar Christmas Market

Eight jury members evaluated the offer of mulled wines and salted and sweet dishes at the same time, as well as the authenticity of the offer. Professional palates rating the gastronomic offer were the Zadar chef Renato Kraljev, the famous chef Marko Perić, the chef and pastry cook Mario Arbanas, and Marin Banović, a teacher of cooking at the Biograd Secondary Vocational School.

Manuela Plohl, founder of Vinum and lecturer at Wine Academy Croatia; Robert Plohl, wine connoisseur; Filip Erceg, president of Vinum and Ivan Stiblik, sommelier and organizer of the famous wine event Zadar Wine were in charge of the "booze" part of the offer at the Advent huts. 

Despite the chilling bura and cold weather, this team spent several hours visiting all the Advent stalls and trying out all they offered, and their common conclusion was that the offer was getting better and better every year.

As they told us, they had a very challenging task to choose the best, so at one point, there was an additional "trial" of mulled wines to make a decision finally. Namely, everyone tried to enrich the wine in their way and make it more appealing to visitors who are always ready to try something new. 

Eventually, the tour of the little wooden huts was over, and the jury had to decide. And the conclusion was that the best-mulled wine was at 𝐌𝐢𝐬𝐭𝐥𝐞𝐭𝐨𝐞, which was also successful in previous years, followed by 𝐒𝐥𝐚𝐯𝐨𝐧𝐬𝐤𝐚 č𝐚𝐫𝐨𝐥𝐢𝐣𝐚 while the third place went to 𝐂𝐡𝐫𝐢𝐬𝐭𝐦𝐚𝐬 𝐍𝐢𝐠𝐡𝐭.

The highest quality and most varied offer of Advent drinks was found at Picnic Winter House, followed by 𝐅𝐢𝐧𝐠𝐞𝐫𝐛𝐚𝐫 and 𝐌𝐚𝐥𝐚𝐤𝐮ć𝐢𝐜𝐚. This, in turn, means that these three huts had the largest selection of drinks, whether they were wines, cocktails or spirits.

After a tour of the huts, the jury concluded that the best salty dish was at 𝐏𝐢𝐜𝐧𝐢𝐜 𝐖𝐢𝐧𝐭e𝐫 𝐇𝐨𝐮𝐬𝐞 whose award-winning burger Blackie was not an unknown to us. Second place in this category went to the hut Winterfell with the burger Stills and third to 𝐋𝐚 𝐅𝐚𝐦𝐢𝐠𝐥𝐢𝐚 𝐦𝐞𝐞𝐭𝐬 𝐂𝐨𝐧𝐠𝐨 for the burger La Famiglia.

The first place in the category of sweet dishes went to the cheesecake hut Fingerbar, while the second and third places were won by 𝐋𝐨𝐫𝐝'𝐬 𝐡𝐨𝐮𝐬𝐞 and 𝐒𝐚𝐧𝐭𝐚'𝐬 𝐡𝐨𝐮𝐬𝐞 with the best firtule (deep-fried dough).

"The offer of food is getting better, and there is an increasing number of authentic foods, which we eventually evaluated. It is in our interest that we sell here everything we produce in the county and thus be recognizable, "- Renato Kraljev commented after the award ceremony. 

In addition to mulled wines for the first time this year, the jury also selected the house that offered the most authentic dishes and drinks. In both categories, the jury unanimously decided for Malak𝐮ć𝐢𝐜a because of the venison in food rolls and the representation of Zadar's beverage brands. 

"I think we have reached a point where we need to go further and build the indigenous character of Advent and its recognizability. However, we presented only one award because we know that many more caterers have add to the offer a considerable number of local producers, wines and spirits, beers, etc. As for mulled wines, there was little repetition. Mistletoe, for example, has good recipes because they were awarded for it two years ago. Some have improved; others may have become a little worse. However, in general, all producers of mulled wines have made great progress since our first ratings. We almost had a big problem choosing the winners, and we couldn't reach a consensus. In the end, we even had an additional "trial" to award the first three places "- revealed a member of the jury, Manuela Plohl.

Both chefs and winemakers, satisfied with what they saw and tried, invited all those Zadar residents who have not yet been to Advent not to hesitate but start their own evaluation of food and drinks at the huts and try all these delicacies!