Zagreb cooking is more Central European than Mediterranean — heavier than the Dalmatian coast, with traces of Austrian, Hungarian, and Turkish influence rather than Italian. The city's signature dish is štrukli, a baked or boiled pastry filled with fresh cheese, and you should eat it at least once. Other essentials: zagorski štrukli (the regional variant from the hills north of the city), purica s mlincima (turkey with thin baked pasta), bregofska kremšnita (cream cake from the Zagorje), and Slavonian kulen sausage.
The restaurant scene has improved sharply over the last decade. There is now a small group of seriously ambitious places, several excellent neighbourhood bistros, and an enormous café culture that spills out onto every available pavement from spring through late autumn. Eat lunch in the Upper Town or near Dolac; eat dinner around Britanski trg or in the Lower Town side streets.