RESTAURANT EKVINOCIJO

Experience the colours of Croatian cuisine in a unique atmosphere. Wave goodbye to stress! Croatia and Dubrovnik on a plate.

Recommendation for a good Dalmatian and International cuisine, restaurant Ekvinocijo, in the near vicinity of the apartments.

Gastronomy of Dalmatia, the cuisine of Dubrovnk and the islands follows the trend of modern nutritional cooking. The brief thermal preparation of foodstuffs (mainly boiling or grilling) and plenty of fish, olive oil, vegetables and home-grown herbs found near the sea is why this cuisine is considered to be very healthy. Meals along the Dalmatian coast are heavily influenced by their Italian in summer. Often the meals begin with a nice plate of pasta, black risotto or spaghetti in squid ink sauce is especially popular. Dalmatian cuisine relies heavily on the fresh fish and sea-food that are caught (or farmed) offshore. Look for sea bass, grouper, scorpion fish, pilchards, mackerel, squid and sea bream. Fish is usually grilled with local olive oil, garlic and lemon. Regions with an abundance of fresh water are famous for their frog, eel and river crab dishes. Meat isn’t forgotten either. Thin slices of smoked Dalmatian ham (prsut) are often on the appetizer list. Lamb is popular either boiled or baked. Dalmatian pasticada is a meat stew (beef stuffed with lard and roasted in wine and spices) often served with gnocchi. One local delicasy is dishes baked under an iron bell this is a traditional method of cooking meat and vegetable dishes in a metal dome buried in glowing embers. If you plan on trying this style of cooking then restaurants which prepared that will normally need 3 hours notice in advance to prepare the food, although it is well worth the wait. Connoisseurs of cheese must try all the different cheeses on offer. In the market you can find a thick white cheese sold in the little plastic sacks and usually eaten, as an accompaniment to a salad, with salt and pepper. Paski sir. a hard cheese from the isle of Pag, is an excellent cheese and one of the most reputed. Tipical Dalmatian desserts win the heart with their simplicity. The most usual ingredients include Mediterranean fruit, dried figs and raisins, almonds, honey, egg.
Croatian Cuisine is heterogeneous and is therefore known as the cuisine of regions, since evry region has its oxn distinct culinary traditions. Its modern roots date back to ancient periods and the differences in the selection of foodstuffs and forms of cooking are most notable between those on the mainland and those in coastal regions. Mainland cuisine is more characterized by the earlier Slavic and the more recent contacts with the more famous gastronomic orders of today-Hungarian,Viennese and Turkish- while the coastal region bears the influences of the Greek, Roman and Illyrian, as well as of the later Mediterranean cuisine - Italian and French.

The pleasure of tasting top quality wines

Croatian wines win gold at Decanter World Wine Awards. Croatia has won eight gold medals, a leading wine- tasting competition. The eight Croatian wines have received much better recognition than better-known producers. The 2009 Decanter World Wine Awards attracted 10.285 wines, more than double the number when the comptition began six years ago. The Daily Telegraph has reported numerous wine experts have agreed Croatia was the discovery of this year and can take its place as a serious player in the wine world. According to the British daily, the judges were impressed by the strong, tannic red wines that are produced on the Adriatic coast, but the real stars were sweet white wines, which won the most medals. One of the gold-winning white wines was the Bodren Pinot Sivi. Adam Lechemere, editor of Decanter.com, said: This really puts Croatia on the map.They are reasserting their mastery of dessert wines. And if you are a fan of sweet white wines, you would be a fool to miss them. The white wines, including the dessert wines, are made from Cardonnay, Pinot Grigio or Traminac grapes as well as the local Grasevina variety, similar to Italian Riesling. The daily sees the number of gold medals as a particularly impressive achivement for a country that had seen many of its leading vineyards destroyed in the Croatian war of Independence in the early 1990s. The daily also lamented the lack off retailers selling Croatian wine in the UK. Dubrovnik has always had a long tradition for wine making and most of it is still produced from small private wine yards. The Peljesac area (Croatian’s second largest penisula), Konavle area and island Korcula area certainly receive its fair share of sunshine and the combination of sun,  soil and care produce some world class wines like Plavac mali (Dingac, Postup, Plavac) , Malvasia, Grk, Rukatac and Posip, names known around the globe. And also Prosecco (a sweet dessert wine), the very strong grape (loza) and herbal brandies (travarica, grapes with medicinal herbs) and liqueurs. A day without quality wine is like a day without sunshine. About beer - the Croatian beers most frequently drunk are Ozujsko beer and Karlovacko beer, both of which are excellent. Foreign beers tend to be more expensive, so unless you have a preference for a particular foreign beer you’ll do no wrong choosing Croatian.
The Dubrovnik County offers a wide range of places to dine. They range from rustic charm to silver service, catering for all manner of special occasions. The menus of restaurants in Dubrovnik are mainly based on local specialties. Althoug recently a wider variety of cuisines has emerged. The working hours of most restaurants are from 11.00 - 24.00, although it is normally never a problem if you wish to stay longer.The price includes taxes, but the service charge is almost never included and is not mandatory. It is a customary however, that if you are satisfied with the service a 10% tip of the total amount is usually a fair tip.

… take a break… R E C I P E S :

Desserts:

- Rozata (Creme Caramel Custard) - Rozata is a very tradition dessert from Dubrovnik and can be found in most restarurants in the city. Ingredients: 8 eggs, 8 tbsp sugar, 1 l (1 qt) milk, grated zest of 1 lemon, 2 tbsp rum or maraschino, 2 tbsp sugar. Method: Preheat the oven to 180 ‘c. To make the caramel spread 2 tbsp of sugar evenly over the bottom of flan mold. Heat the dish until the sugar is melted to a golden-brown syrup. Let this cool until fully hardened. To make the custard beat eggs with sugar until they are foamy. Add lemon zest, rum and milk. Pour the mixture into the prepared flan mold. Place the mold in a baking pan. Pour enough hot water to come halfway up the sides of the mold and then coverwith aluminum foil. Place in the oven and bake until set, normally about 1 hour. To serve, invert a flan mold into the center of a large plate and remove the mold. Can be served with whipped cream.

- Pancakes with cottage cheese - Ingredients: 2 cups flour, milk, water (1 part milk for 1 part water. Add until batter is thin) 1 egg ,pinch of salt , zest from 1/2 of lemon ,cooking oil. Preparation: Heat a few drops of oil ina a non-stick frying pan. Ladle batter into hot pan, tilting the pan ina a circular motion until batter thinly covers the whole pan. Cook for 1-2 minutes on medium heat, then turn over and cook another 30 sec. Makes 6 large or 8 small pancakes. Filling: 1 cup cottage cheese (dry curd), 1 cup sour cream, 1 egg, 3 tbsp sugar, 1 tbsp raisins, 1 egg,beaten and 1/2 cup sour cream. Pregeat oven to 3500 f. Mix together all ingredients, spread across centers of pancakes and roll them up. Place the rolled pancakes in a rectangular baking pan. Mix beaten egg and sour cream and pour over pancakes. Bake 25 minutes uncorered.