Pelegrini — Restaurant in Grad Šibenik

In France, there is a ubiquitous chain of frozen food shops called Picard whose signature item is bland but cutely shaped hors d'oeuvres that get defrosted for cheap office holiday parties - the "Pelegrini experience" reminded me of those: awfully bland but presented in cute little shapes. How this place got a Michelin star is incomprehensible. Not "worth a detour" unless it is to avoid it. The highlight of the evening was a deeply aromatic Croatian white wine I really enjoyed and the friendly demeanor of the manager/sommelier . The low point was everything on our plates: a parade of precious but uninspired and bland dishes served on hilariously ugly plates, consistently at the wrong temperature - lukewarm or congealed. This was particularly unpleasant for a thick potato velouté over which a duck broth was poured and we were instructed to combine, but alas, the artfully piped potato mash was cold and the broth was tepid so after awkwardly mixing the two you ended up with congealed mashed potato clumps in cold broth. How hard is it to serve broth HOT when you only have two customers? I kept giving them the benefit of the doubt, hoping the next plate would be better, but no. A refreshing raw sea bass dish with fresh tomato gel was completely overpowered by a too heavy handed spludge of black olive tapenade that ruined the delicate fish. The octopus was overcooked and covered in already congealing sauce. Even the desserts were bland and lacked creativity: a strawberry plate was composed of sorbet, gelée rounds and coulis which all had in common a sad lack of strawberry aroma or flavor. I would have killed for one single ripe strawberry in place of that whole overworked and underwhelming mess. Oh, and we were put at a table in the back corner, to gaze wistfully at the two tables with a view, which we presumed had been reserved for later arrivals, only to realize two hours into our meal that we were the only two clients the place would get all night (a Friday). The locals are obviously wise to this pretentious, overpriced...

We had an great table outside on a sundrenched evening, the terrace and views are absolutely stunning. Great menu and an especially interesting winelist, with many wines sourced by the restaurant itself and created in cooperation with local producers. The menu, beautifully plated and served on specially made tableware was quite good, however there were some notable "hits and misses". For example: the pasta roll with duck was so great I almost asked for seconds but the coquille dish was underwhelming and underseasoned (and the coquille quite hard to find). Overall, however, the menu was good.

Two small points of criticism: for vegetarians, there is room for improvement: some excellent dishes, but also some real letdowns (the "pizza slice" being the best example). The menu price is the same as the regular menu, so the vegetarian menu really should be on par in terms of quality too.

Also, the staff (although very friendly) seemed quite hasty and poured the first 2 glasses of our wine pairings within 5 minutes of each other to keep up with the tempo of the kitchen, something that is really unacceptable at this level (especially since a glass from the pairings menu comes down to about 15 euros!). The rest of the menu was also served in a quick tempo, even though we requested to slow down a bit. Once again however, these are relatively small issues.

We had a very satisfying evening at...

This was a really good meal, don't get me wrong, but at the price you pay (almost 1000KN for a tasting menu), you do expect a certain standard, hence why I've gone for 4 instead of 5. As the meal was good, but not outstanding either in quality, creativity, or value.

Each dish was executed well, but none of them was truly unique or made you go "wow".

Service was great, albeit a bit slow (took 3+ hours for the menu, despite not going for wine pairings and trying to speed things up a bit). There was also a very odd mix-up where we were mistaken for having pairing wines, and given a taste, and glasses poured, only to have the glasses of red wine immediately taken away without any explanation! We had thought it was maybe a complimentary course/amuse bouche/palate cleanser like you get in many fine dining tasting.

The setting of the meal was nice and covid safe - in a private courtyard away from the hustle and bustle. However, that also meant to great views, which is something many restaurants come with in the area.

Overall, 4 out of 5 is a fair rating. And having eaten at Cap Aureo up in Rovinj just a week earlier, I have to admit I preferred the tasting menu and dining experience there, and it was also cheaper, and that I...