Eating Out

Dalmatian cooking is all about the sea and the olive tree: grilled fish, salted anchovies, octopus peka (slow-cooked under an iron bell), black risotto made with cuttlefish ink, pašticada (slow-braised beef in prune and wine sauce), and good olive oil from the surrounding hills. Look out for the local specialities crni rižot (black risotto) and brudet (a tomato-based fish stew). The streets inside Diocletian's palace are lined with restaurants — some of them tourist traps — but genuinely good places exist if you look: Konoba Varoš in the old town for classic Dalmatian home cooking, Zinfandel for something more modern, and Kadena on the waterfront for fresh fish with a view. For cheaper options, the konobas in Varoš and the bakeries around the Green Market do excellent cheap lunches: burek, grilled sardines, and sandwiches with air-dried Dalmatian ham (pršut).