Restaurant Pojoda

Don Cvjetka Marasovica
Kut, Vis, Croatia
Ph: +385 (0) 21 711 575

FOR me, the best thing about travel is the dining experiences that come with it. So before my recent jaunt to Croatia I did a bit of internet research to see what the Dalmatian coast had in store for my palate.

Surprisingly, Google revealed not much. Regardless of how many “dining+Croatia” combinations I put into the search engine nothing seemed to jump out. In fact, there was only one restaurant that had more than a couple of mentions and it wasn’t even on the mainland but on the tiny island of Vis. Oh well, one is better than none so I printed out the info and made a point of seeking out Restaurant Pojoda when I was in the area.

While at Vis, our boat was docked in the main port so to eat at Pojoda we had to catch a taxi to the town of Kut, on the other side of the island. As it turned out, it was lucky we did because I think it may have been of a challenge finding the restaurant without some local knowledge.

Pojoda is owned by chef Zoran Brajcic, who also runs cooking classes for men who work on the many local chartered yachts and want to cook their guests traditional Croatian dishes.

When he’s not teaching others how to master his dishes, Brajcic is found in the tiny kitchen of his restaurant, where his selection of traditional Croatian dishes feature fish and plenty of chickpeas, lentils and vegetables.

On the night I visited, our party of six was keen to sample some of the fresh fish Pojoda is known for (which the waiter had presented to us at the table so we could choose the particular snapper we liked the look of) but the fish was a bit pricey so instead we decided to order a selection of Brajcic’s traditional dishes to share.

With some guidance from our waiter we opted for a seafood cocktail with prawns and scampi and topped with olives, tuna in caper sauce, yellowtail with capers, a fish broth and a barley broth with lentils and herbs.

Most were about 60-70 kuna (about AUD$15-20) and all were sumptuous. A seemingly never-ending supply of bread meant we were able to soak up the tasty juices and by the end we were all too full to fit in dessert.

While Restaurant Pojoda doesn’t seem to have much competition from other Croatian restaurants offering a high-end dining experience, I think it would hold its own even if it did.

8.5/10

- Zoe