Zagorje, Međimurje, Podravina
Memories of noble feasts in these regions have reflected in contemporary specialties, mainly meat dishes of complicated preparation. As far as cold starters are concerned, you should definitely try meat from “lodrica” (meat preserved in seasoned pork fat), cheese “prge”, fresh cottage cheese with red paprika, homemade ham and goose pate. Hot starters include soup with “štrukli” (dough rolls with cottage cheese), Zagorje soup with potatoes, ham baked in bread dough and Gorice goulash. For main course you should try roast turkey, duck or goose with “mlinci” (special pasta served with gravy) or stuffed with buckwheat, cured and boiled pork knuckle or blood sausages with sour cabbage, sarma (sour cab-bage rolls with minced meat), Stubica roast, stuffed veal breast, stuffed chicken, chicken with homemade noodles, Samobor cutlet and “kotlovina” (specialty with different kinds of meat prepared in a special pot), roast meat in net with side dish of buck-wheat porridge, corn “zlevka” or Podravina beans. You should leave some room for savoury and sweet “štrukli”, Zagorje pumpkin cake,
strudels with different fillings, “bregova” pie or Croatian pancakes.The most popular white wines are Graševina, Rhine Riesling and then Chardonnay, Sauvignon), Pinot and Traminer. Red ones include Pinot noir and Portugizac. County wine brand Pušipel is produced from grapes of sort moslavac bijeli (šipon) with each vineyard selecting the technology that gives the best sorts. In Mala hiža near Čakovec they managed to combine tradition with new gastronomic trends in a spectacular way. Zelenjak in Kumrovec, Međimurski dvori near Čakovec and Terbotz in Štrigova excel in autochthonous ambience and a wide range of regional specialties. Palatin in Varaždin combines its dishes with tales from history. Podravina specialties can be tasted in Koprivnica, in Podravska klet. Mamica in Nedelišće offers homemade specialties. In Villa Magdalena in Krapinske toplice, Academia in Marija Bistrica and Bernarda in Varaždinske Toplice they follow new world trends, and in Bedem new Varaždin cuisine is being created. 183
