Restaurant Review: Baltazar

By: SP

In the last weeks of summer, Zagreb feels very empty. No traffic, no noise, but also not so many open restaurants.  We wandered from restaurant to restaurant, but nothing seemed to be opened. Then I remembered. Lets go to Baltazar. This restaurant seemed to have always been there, I can’t remember when it hasn’t been.  So we went.

The restaurant has a fish and a meat part, although if you sit in one, you can always order from the other. We were seated outside on the terrace. We were waiting for some friends, but the waiters made the wait comfortable. I hate it truly when you are waiting and the waiter asks every five minutes about the other guest, as if he wants to boot you out if they do not arrive.  The waiters in Baltazar seem to have been there as long as the restaurant. Patient, pleasant, but not pushy.

When we finally were ready to order food, there it was. Something Croatia is lacking and I didn’t even know it was right in front of our noses the whole time. I am aware of some steak places in Zagreb, but still reading the words Angus Argentinian steak, made me excited.  And it was good. And they had variety. And did I mention it was good? Cooked perfectly, which sometimes is a challenge in Croatia, if you like your meat rare.  And they had about 6 different varieties of steak.  We also had some fish, which was not much to talk about, compared to the steak.

foto: Baltazar

The wine list could be updated. In Croatia I find producers and wines vary a lot more from year to year than for example in France. I’m bored of seeing the top red wine being Zlatan Plavac. I think restaurants in Croatia should review their wine list more often. It could get more exciting every year. Nevertheless, this is good food, good wine, good service and if you miss a steak sometimes, this is the place to go.