Croatia

G and I spent 10 days in Croatia, eating our way around the beautiful islands and sampling some incredible food, usually in the sunshine or to the sound of the sea.

A favourite was the squid ink risotto which, given the location of the restaurant (nestled into the wall, next to the harbour, right in the heart of the old town of Dubrovnik), we'd expected to be overpriced and unimpressive. Not at all. The sticky sweet risotto rice initally looked fairly scary due to its shimmering blank inky colour and the lumps of squid certainly appeared to have a lurking quality. How wrong we were. We ended up going back twice and discussed when we'd be able to visit again so that we could work out the recipe.




The food you get on day trips when abroad is often, understandbly in some cases, pretty underwhelming. Sadly, the prevalence of bones in the above picture does hint that this was one of those. Except, when you are munching on crispy, yet soft, fish whilst sitting on a boat gazing over intoxicating turquoize seas, you don't really notice the bones because you simply want fuel for more swimming and sunbathing.

G LOVES oysters... LOVES them. So, whilst I took the opportunity to feast on giant langoustines, he sampled a seafood platter which included huge, squidgy, slippery oysters. I managed to pilfer one and was instantly transported to a world of salty sunshine in one momentary mouthful. I still vote for oysters kilpatrick, but for those people that can't bring themselves to get over the texture, try them in Croatia and you won't look back.

One of our favourite nights out in Croatia was on the island of Korcula, in a fishing village called Lumbarda. We'd had a beautiful day walking through the pine forest to reach a small, rocky cove so returned to the apartment hungry and ready for good eatin'. Once a week, the local producers brought their finest fish, meats, cheeses, wines, cakes and concoctions to either cook for you or pack up to take home. Families and friends gathered under the fairylights or strolled from stall to stall, sampling an array of sweet and savoury snacks. We grabbed a bottle of homebrew for 20Kuna (about £2) and a couple of plastic glasses to wash down the succulent squid kebabs and(more) charcoaled fish. Bliss.