Croatia calling: the Istrian Pensinsula is an unexpected foodie heaven

Like world-class olive oils, wine and truffles? Read on
Adriatic town of Rovinj
Ben Norum25 May 2018

We can’t take on Italy and Spain when it comes to quantity but we can when it comes to quality.”

That’s the mantra of the Chiavalon family (chiavalon.hr), who sit me down in a custom-built tasting room amid lush green olive trees and tell me to swill a selection of different oils around my mouth as if wine-tasting. There’s no need for bread, or to spit.

Led by brothers Sandi and Tedi, the family is a small olive-oil producer based near the Roman city of Pula on Croatia’s rugged Istrian peninsula.

When I visit, its Ex Albis extra-virgin oil has been ranked 13th-best on the planet by the World’s Best Olive Oils organisation. It’s the latest medal since the business started 20 years ago after the death of the brothers’ father and the inheritance of his 30 olive trees. They now have more than 7,500 and export 9,000 litres of oil each year to fans as far afield as America, Japan and Thailand.

Adriatic town of Rovinj

Some 75 oils from Istria were in the 2018 edition of the Flos Olei guide, which ranks the world’s best 500 olive oils. That’s more than any other region. It’s not just oil, either. At the latest Decanter World Wine Awards, producers in the region racked up four platinum and gold medals. And later in the autumn the region achieved a Guinness world record for holding the longest truffle festival, spanning 10 weekends.

There are whispers in Livade, where Zigante Truffle Days (sajamtartufa.com) was held, that it might return for longer this year, though Istria’s truffle-hunters would do well to find enough to sate the appetites of the 35,000 foodie visitors attracted by the festival as well as the top chefs queueing up for them.

Such is the demand that Istrian white truffles sell for €2,000 a kilo, with their black counterparts not far behind.

Truffles

One of the best ways to experience the region is to find some of your own. I meet the family behind Prodan Tartufi (prodantartufi.hr/en) in Buzet, near the north of Istria, whose clients include chefs Mark Hix, Francesco Mazzei and Nathan Outlaw. Early in the morning, I join them on one of the hunting trips they run most days during peak truffle season (October to January). After a glass of home-made brandy, it’s off into the hills of the Istrian countryside, accompanied by third-generation truffle-hunter Višnja Prodan and two of her sniffer dogs, terriers Pico and Mel.

The dogs bound across the open grassland, heading for a patch of forest where for about 15 minutes they run, bark, jump, swat flies and roll around in the leaves. Suddenly, one starts digging. We gather round and Višnja rushes to uncover what’s been found before an eager jaw gets there first.

The Chiavalon family's olive groves

We’ve been lucky. Mel has found us a perfectly formed black truffle, which somehow looks even more decadent covered in dry mud straight from the ground than when shaved onto a dish.

The dogs are rewarded with treats but our prize comes on the return to base, after another hour searching. Višnja’s mum — when they say family business, they mean it — is cooking up a breakfast of buttery scrambled eggs and she’s ready to toss in freshly sliced truffles. It’s every bit as good as it sounds. The dogs get a piece of truffle-infused sausage, which I’m told is part of their training. It’s all right for some.

Clearly you don’t have to be a dog to eat incredibly well in Istria. Last year Monte (monte.hr), in the coastal city of Rovinj, became the first restaurant in Croatia to gain a Michelin star. Its five-course tasting menu built around local ingredients is an experience to savour at £100 a head, while more rustic restaurants deal in local cheeses and well-aged meats, plus pasta and gnocchi. It’s clear that Istria is the larder of a gastronome’s dream. And it is still largely unknow

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