Šug Restaurant — Restaurant in Grad Split

I'm not sure if we just ordered wrong- but I found this restaurant on the Michelin guide, and after reading all the rave reviews I was expecting something fabulous. We ordered a cheese plate as an appetizer that literally came with about 10 huge cheese triangles with one teaspoon of fig jam and one teaspoon maybe of honey mustard. The ratio was off, the cheese was great but the ends were included and tasted chewy, and it came with nothing else- no crackers, almonds, etc. to enjoy it with, truly just cheese with raw red onions. We then ordered the white fish, which was a sea bass, and it came with nothing. No sauce, no vegetables, no side- I understand a la carte, but it's confusing why just that dish was standalone when all the other mains had accompaniment. On top of that, while the fish was well-cooked, it had no sauce or flavor on top of the fish itself. For 25 euro, I at least expected something additional. We ordered grilled vegetables and "baked potatoes" which were just french fries, and both were just fine, again lacking flavor, and heavy on the salt. My husband ordered the duck and said it was very good, but for a restaurant just feet from the sea, you'd expect their fish dish to be outstanding when really it was just mid-teir. We also ordered a salad that never came, and while at the end we noticed and they kindly removed it from the bill, service and lack of attention to detail like that doesn't align with a Michelin guide restaurant. Finally, I ordered a cocktail which was tasty, but it was warm when it arrived, and the server didn't tell me that I was supposed to mix it until I'd already finished half of it. All in all, I was quite disappointed with this experience- I see the potential the restaurant has, and maybe we just hit an off night, but it really wasn't the best experience considering...

When we were planning our trip to Croatia we decided to book ahead and in Split we reserved the Michelin rated Šug restaurant - had to leave a deposit when we booked.

Located just outside of the old town, in almost a residential neighbourhood. We had an option of either the indoor dining area or the adjoining outdoor garden area. The atmosphere and decor is quaint and unpretentious.

We started with smoked swordfish carpaccio (rice, lemon & capers) and Beefsteak tartar (tomato jam, lemon jam, mustard cream & grilled bread). Both of which were delicious.

For our mains we went with the waiter’s recommendation: “Royal Tećada" (lobster, white fish, oysters, octopus, shrimp/langoustines, macaroni). The dish however didn’t live up to its hype. The lobster and langoustines were both overcooked and the flesh was mushy and almost inedible. The heads of the octopus were a little tough and chewy. The sauce was really nice though.

For our dessert we had the recommended traditional Split cake : almond/fig/vanilla panacotta/white chocolate and Paradižot (a floating island of meringue on a milk/egg yolk custard). The split cake was a deconstructed version of cake and completely missed the mark - the apricots were at odds with the other ingredients. The paradizot was slightly eggy for my tastes but loved the biscuit inside the custard.

Each plate was beautifully presented, yet a number of our dishes weren’t well-balanced in flavor.

Based on the seafood we’ve tasted, something at Šug just falls short. For the price, we had high standards and...

Šug was a cute restaurant serving Mediterranean grilled food with Croatian influence, I loved my meal here and everything was presented so beautifully!

Started with the venison stew which comprised of the venison with house made gnocchi in a red wine sauce from Hvar and topped with a creamy sheep’s cheese. This was so unbelievably excellent, the meat was tender beyond this earth, the gnocchi was so soft and the sheep’s cheese in the sauce just made the dish so radiant. It was a pretty generous portion for it being an appetizer.

For the main I got the Adriatic Tuna and Jerusalem Artichoke. This was also a really good dish, I did find the tuna to be a bit salty on its own but when paired with the artichoke puree it was perfect! It balanced it really well.

I got the Šug à la Pelin cocktail mainly because it had this Balkan liqueur called Pelinkovac that I’ve never tried but was so intrigued by. This cocktail was amazinggggg I was expecting it to be pretty bitter but it was really sweet with a smokey aftertaste to it. There was honestly a little hint of a medicinal flavor in there which I know people can be repelled by but I really like medicinal flavors so this drink was so yum.

I ended with their Paradižot dessert which is traditional to Split. It was a tasty custard dessert with a meringue on top and some sort of soaked biscuit or cake on the bottom which had some kind of nuttiness to it. It was a fun way to...