Gastronomic Tour of Advent 2024 in Zadar, First Part

Picnic Winter House

The Picnic Winter House with hundreds of Christmas balls as the main decorative element has been at Advent since 2017. The team from Picnic has become synonymous with a good burger and, although they offer a whole selection of them, we decided on this year's novelty, ‘pašticada’ in a brioche bun, which smelled irresistibly from the house. They serve it with a little salad and a plum and horseradish sauce and two varieties of onion, pickled and crispy, in a brioche bun, which makes it much easier to consume in a cheerful atmosphere.

This year, points out Vedran Božićev, for the first time they are offering Matcha Punch, a warm cocktail with Bajadera liqueur and Materia matcha tea, rum and agave syrup. Their classics are also on offer, such as the inevitable Blackie Burger and slow-cooked beef cheeks in a brioche bun, and in addition to the standard drink offer, they also have a selection of hot and cold cocktails.

Nadine fritule

When you come from the direction of the People’s Square and Kalelarga to the Christmas Market, Nadine fritule will welcome you at the very entrance, in the little stall in front of the Proveditur's Palace. The main product is of course fritters, and, we would say, with a lot of character. They have an irresistible golden crispy crust and are slightly larger than the fritters we are used to seeing so far. Nada's fritters are being presented by a young face, Nada's daughter Pavla Maljković, who points out that these fritters are made according to her grandmother's recipe from the island of Pag, improved with Istrian additions. Always with a smile, she offers plain sugar for sprinkling the fritters, but also one with cinnamon that smells tempting, as well as coconut, biscuits, colorful crumbs...

We also enjoyed pancakes with chocolate, hazelnut and white chocolate toppings, however they also offer caramel and strawberry ones. This stall also offers mulled wine and non-alcoholic apple punch.

Rossi

This is the only stall on Five Wells Square that offers drinks only. Young bartender Petra Čorak prepared the two cocktails designed especially for the Advent offer. The first was Amaro Mule, which is based on Amaro Istriano, and also includes fresh lime juice and an ingredient that goes so well with Christmas time – ginger beer. We couldn't resist the pink cocktail called Pink Nostromo with Nostromo gin and pink grapefruit juice, which, Petra tells us, has already found fans among the Zadar female audience.

At the Rossi house, they also offer four warm cocktails, one based on Teranine, called Winterino, then Gin Nostromo Cherry, Pelinkovac Epulonberry and one that will find its way to the hearts of all those who love unusual combinations and are willing to experiment – Amaro Mango with Amaro Istriano, hot water and mango puree.

Disneyland

In search of a good sausage, we stopped by the Disneyland stall, which was opened this year by two friends from Kolan on Pag, Nikola Gligora and Toni Štefanec. Disneyland is the only place that also offers small, but very tasty American pancakes with various toppings, from creamy chocolate sauce to sweet whipped cream. In addition to the classic burger, hot dog, regular fries and a version with truffles and Grana Padano cheese and/or Debrecen cheese, we opted for homemade sausage with sauerkraut and ‘kajmak’ cream.

The pastry was fresh, the side dishes were perfectly balanced, the cabbage was crispy and the ‘kajmak’ was creamy, just as it should be. And the sausage? Absolute perfection of taste, well seasoned and with a nice fat ratio in combination with the draft beer was a hit.

Red Fox

This year, Red Fox stall is also offering the star of last year's Advent – a burger with tripe. The friendly Vinko Fain explained the cooking process to us. They cooked the lamb tripe in the classic Dalmatian way, "a little stronger". The warmed brioche bun is topped with pesto rosso on the bottom and pesto Genovese on top. Carefully using a cup, they place tripe, arugula and cheddar cheese and top them with freshly ground pepper. We didn't regret trying it. This dish is completely different from the tripe ‘on a spoon’ that we are used to, but true lovers of offal dishes will recognize the flavors they love.

Vinko also revealed to us that this burger is ordered by about a third of the people who come to the Red Fox house, and among them are many who tried it for the first time last year. They also offer a burger with three types of meat and a spicy game sausage.