What to Eat in Zagreb: Local Dishes, Where Locals Eat & the Best Food Tours

The short version: in Zagreb, eat štrukli, the cheese-filled pastry, purica s mlincima, roast turkey with torn flatbread soaked in the juices, and a bowl of sir i vrhnje, fresh cheese with sour cream, then drive half an hour to Samobor for kremšnita. Start at Dolac market, eat štrukli at La Štruk, and have an old-Zagreb lunch at Gostionica Ficlek or Vinodol. Drink Graševina and the sparkling wines of the Plešivica hills. And if you only have a day, a guided food tour takes you through the market and the classics in a few hours. Below: what to eat, exactly where to eat it, what to drink, and the food experiences worth booking.

What to eat in Zagreb, and where to eat it

Where to eat in Zagreb

Zagreb eats continental, not coastal: turkey and duck, štrukli, cabbage, beans and soups, with Austrian and Hungarian echoes. The rule is simple: eat your main meal at lunch, when the old gostionice (inns) are at their busiest, and stay close to Dolac, the market below the Cathedral, where many of the best places are within a few minutes’ walk. Weekend lunches at the popular places fill up, so book.

For a classic Zagreb lunch

Gostionica Ficlek, right under Dolac, exists to keep old Zagreb cooking alive: ajngemahtec (chicken and vegetable soup), tafelspitz, liver, turkey with mlinci, pasta with cabbage and, in season, sarma or stuffed peppers. Booking is recommended all year. Gostionica Purger in the Lower Town has been open since 1932 and is packed at lunch: start with Zagorje soup, then duck with mlinci or trout, and finish with sweet štrukli.

For a classic dinner

Vinodol, on pedestrian Teslina Street, is the big traditional room with a covered courtyard: beef soup with semolina dumplings, Zagorje štrukli and roast suckling pig or lamb. At weekends you will not get a seat without a reservation. Stari Fijaker 900, below the Upper Town, has served old-Zagreb dishes for about thirty years: start with warm klipići bread rolls and cheese with cream, then duck or turkey with mlinci, blood sausage or tripe. Baltazar, in a rose-filled courtyard near Kaptol, does štrukli, pljeskavica and roast pork knuckle at a higher level, with a strong wine list.

For a cheap, fast meal

Dolac has the best cheap food in town. Plac Kitchen & Grill, on a first-floor terrace at the market, grills ćevapčići in portions of six or ten with onion, kajmak and ajvar, and is almost always full. Burek na Dolcu has made a peppery meat burek at the same address since 1987. For štrukli made to order, La Štruk, just off Tkalčićeva, does them boiled or baked with classic cheese or with truffle, smoked paprika or pumpkin seeds; allow about twenty minutes, as every portion is made fresh. Next to the fish market, Bistro Amfora serves simple fish soup, cod stew and fried squid with fish bought a few steps away.

For modern Croatian cooking

Pod Zidom Bistro, by Dolac, buys most of its produce at the market, pours around a hundred wines, most by the glass, and is listed in the Michelin Guide (Michelin listing). Two Bib Gourmands are worth crossing town for: Beštija (Michelin listing), a courtyard bistro with a short market menu, and Nuré (Michelin listing), a four-table room in a passage off Ilica, new to the Bib list in 2026 and the most affordable of the three, with a simpler lunch menu. For Zagreb classics reinvented, SOL, also in the Michelin Guide (Michelin listing), serves Croatian dishes as tapas, štrukli as gyoza included.

For a special dinner

Zagreb has two Michelin-starred restaurants in town. Noel (Michelin listing) serves a creative menu that often features local trout and sometimes a reworked štrukli; it is open Tuesday to Saturday. Dubravkin Put (Michelin listing), in the green of Tuškanac park, is Mediterranean with a focus on raw fish and a list of over 500 wines. For something more homely, Tač, a family restaurant on Vrhovec hill that feels like a private house, is in the Michelin Guide (Michelin listing) for generous traditional cooking, with a whole section for offal lovers. All of them need a booking.

Names link to Google Maps for directions. We checked these places in October 2026. Opening days change, especially out of season, so check before you go.

The markets

Dolac market, below the Cathedral, is the place to start any food day, but it is mid-renovation, so know where to look. The indoor hall reopened in December 2025 and in 2026 the hall, the fish market and the dairy section are all trading. In the dairy section, the kumice, women from the villages around the city sell sir i vrhnje, fresh cheese and sour cream; around them are bakers and butchers. The open-air fruit, vegetable and flower stalls that used to fill the red-umbrella square have moved temporarily to Pod zidom, the top of Tkalčićeva, Splavnica and the western side of Ban Jelačić Square, all within a few minutes’ walk. Go in the morning, when it is busiest.

What to drink in Zagreb

Zagreb drinks the wines of continental Croatia. The white to order is Graševina, the country’s most planted grape, fresh and easy from Slavonia and the hills north of the city. The Plešivica hills, forty minutes south-west, are known for sparkling wines and serious whites. Locals mix white wine with sparkling water into a gemišt, and finish with a rakija. For a glass in the centre, Cheese Bar on European Square pours most of its 150 Croatian wines by the glass, with platters of local cheese and pršut. Pupitres in the Lower Town is a wine bar and wine school that runs regular tastings. And on a Saturday morning, do as Zagreb does and join the špica: a long coffee on a café terrace in the centre, to see and be seen.

Food experiences to book in Zagreb

Zagreb’s best food is spread between a market under renovation, old inns and modern bistros, and much of it only makes sense with someone to explain it. A food tour gets you through Dolac, štrukli, cured meats and local wines in a few hours, and a cooking class teaches you to stretch štrukli dough yourself.

Our pick: the Taste Zagreb Food Tour, rated 4.9 (176) on GetYourGuide.

Ratings as shown on GetYourGuide in October 2026. Check the listing for live prices and availability.

Food day trips from Zagreb

Samobor, about thirty kilometres west, is where Zagreb people drive for cake. Slastičarnica U prolazu on the main square makes the kremšnita many call the best in Croatia, light and heavy with cream under crisp pastry, to a recipe the owner keeps secret. Kavana Livadić, nearby, by the Hotel Livadić, is the other classic address for it. Stay for lunch at Samoborska klet, which grills meat, cooks under the bell and serves kremšnita and žličnjaci, floating meringue dumplings; book at weekends. South-west of the city, the Plešivica wine hills hold Korak, a family winery whose restaurant has a Michelin star (Michelin listing) and serves tasting menus by reservation only. See all food experiences around Zagreb.

Frequently asked questions

What is the one dish to eat in Zagreb?

Štrukli: boiled or baked dough filled with fresh cheese and cream. La Štruk makes nothing else; Vinodol, Baltazar and Gostionica Purger all have them on the menu.

Where can I eat purica s mlincima?

Gostionica Ficlek under Dolac and Stari Fijaker 900 on Mesnička both serve turkey with mlinci; for the duck version, go to Gostionica Purger.

Where do locals eat in Zagreb?

In the old inns at lunchtime, such as Gostionica Purger and Ficlek, at the grill terrace of Plac on Dolac, and in modern bistros like Beštija and Pod Zidom.

Where can I eat cheaply in Zagreb?

At Dolac: ćevapčići at Plac Kitchen & Grill, burek at Burek na Dolcu and fish soup at Bistro Amfora. Nuré’s lunch menu is the cheapest way into a Bib Gourmand.

Is Dolac market open during the renovation?

Yes. The indoor hall, fish market and dairy section are trading, and the outdoor stalls have moved temporarily to Pod zidom, Tkalčićeva, Splavnica and the west side of Ban Jelačić Square.

Where do I get kremšnita?

In Samobor, half an hour from Zagreb, at Slastičarnica U prolazu or Kavana Livadić on the main square. It makes an easy half-day trip.

Is a Zagreb food tour worth it?

Yes, on a short stay: in a few hours you see Dolac, taste štrukli, cured meats and local wine, and learn where to eat for the rest of your visit. Compare them above or on our Zagreb food tours page.

Plan your Zagreb food trip

Zagreb food tours · Zagreb cooking classes · Food experiences in Zagreb