Our close friend Duncan Robertson’s mum is from Zagreb, Croatia, and growing up he loved the dishes and flavours she would cook. Whilst Duncan doesn’t work in restaurant world, he is a seriously good cook and some of you old school Margations may remember his & Lisa’s (Scotch and ginger) sell out pop up at Urchin Wines back in 2018.

We’ve discussed this evening many times over wine and at school pick ups, and are so happy to have a night in the calender. There’ll be 4 courses for £45pp and Croation wines too.

We hope to see some of you here, pop us an email to book.

Purgerica

Purgerica (‘Poor-ger-its-sa’) is Zagreb slang that means a woman who is a true resident of the city, someone whose parents and grandparents are also from Zagreb since way back. 

My mother Nellica (‘Nell-its-sa’) is from Zagreb. Croatia’s capital city is the center of a delicious continental food culture, which mixes indigenous specialties with influences from Italy, Germany, and Hungary as well as the wider Balkans. Although Nellica left home to live in England when she was 18, the way she cooked remained deeply Zagreb, revealing her identity as a Purgerica even when she was doing her best to blend in with the Brits.

I love the magic of Bottega and Cantina: how the food here forms a connection that stretches all the way from Thanet to Foglianise, from Simona to her parents, her grandparents, and beyond. I hope my food can give you a sense of what connects Nellica to Zagreb and of what connects me to her.

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Liptauer, ajvar, mast i Kruh | Spreads, pickles and bread

Mum believes you have to start a meal with some ‘deli’: this can be a selection of almost any cold cheese, meat, fish or vegetables, just as long as it comes with bread. Her speciality is liptauer, a lightly spiced cheese spread that pops up throughout central Europe and has been adopted by Zagreb folk as a more sophisticated take on sir i vrhnje, the ubiquitous Croatian dish of cottage cheese and sour cream. 

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Grah | Borlotti bean soup

Gablec is a Zagreb word for a particular kind of worker's lunch. It means something cheap and nutritious you can eat with a spoon and some bread. It could be goulash or tripe, but most often, it’s beans. Gablec is accompanied with gemišt; high acidity white wine diluted with water, so workers could enjoy a drink, but stay productive until the end of the day.

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Pašticada od srnetine i njoki | Venison Pašticada with Gnocchi

Gulas od gljiva i nojoki | Mushroom goulash with Gnocchi (vegetarian)

Pašticada is an ancient dish of beef in a sweet and savoury sauce that originates in Dalmatia, although some believe it has even earlier roots in a 5th century Veronese dish pastissáda de cavál. After the Italians brought it to Croatia, the Dalmatians brought it to Zagreb, and then Mum brought it to England disguised as ‘braised beef’. Although, in a nod to my grandfather’s frequent hunting trips to Slavonia, my pašticada is made with venison instead. 

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Štrudla od Višanja | Sour Cherry Strudel

Zagreb is a city of cafes and bakeries. Central to a large number of both sweet and savory baked treats is vučeno tijesto, hand-pulled dough that’s a little like phyllo. Whether the dish is burek from Turkey, or strudel from Austria, in Croatia it has to start with dough stretched out across the living room table until it is thin enough to read a newspaper through. Here it is filled with sour cherries steeped in rakija.