Some restaurants will make me travel. These exceptional, rare restaurants leave you breathless, and you remember every moment of enjoying the food, drink, and atmosphere. You simply fall in love!
Love is in The Sky by Nebo 🙂
Michelin star is more than just a sign of prestige. It is a sign of verification of a particular cuisine and its presentation. Such as – Nebo Restaurant & lounge bar by Deni Srdoč! The chef who signs the delicacies Nebo Restaurant & Lounge is Deni Srdoč, the proud owner of two Michelin stars (2021. and 2022.) and who, as he says, owes his love of cooking to his grandmother. All of us who have tasted that ‘love’ are very grateful to Deni’s grandmother. The quality of an excellent chef, in addition to gastronomic skills, is also knowing how to choose an awesome team. And again; here is Dani Srdoč and his Nebo; located on the fifth floor of Hilton Rijeka Costabella Beach Resort&Spa with an impressive view from above. Nebo in Croatian means The Sky.
Greetings from the kitchen
Upon arrival, in those first moments of seduction, Nebo welcomes you as it should with an excellent selection of aperitifs and sparkling wines. While you are sitting on the sofa – greetings arrive from the kitchen. Greetings from the kitchen or amuse bouche (in English); small complimentary appetizers are related to the regions of Croatia and perfectly represent regional cuisines. If I say these snacks’ decorations are tiny works of art, I have said too little. Play – they say from the Nebo restaurant kitchen, and bring you a scraper – and you’ll discover more about the origin of the bites that literally melt in your mouth.
Greetings from Dalmatia are brought by shrimps and prawns, from Istria – truffles, of course. While Lika sends a potato greeting, a Turkey terrine flavor greeting arrives from Zagorje, and a pork shank flavor greeting comes from Slavonia.
Course after the course – taste after taste – Symposium
When in Nebo they send you a greeting from the kitchen with the theme of Dalmatia, it looks like this; shrimp tartar, chives in a cylinder made of stretched dough.
Istria is the closest Croatian region to Restaurant Nebo, and the most famous one, which owes its serious tourist attraction to its fascinating gastronomy. The taste of Istria in Sky brings a rye basket with black truffle gel, Veli Jože cheese cream, poached egg cream, and grated truffle.
Dani Srdoč knows Croatian gastronomy very well – so the Lika greeting from the kitchen is made of homemade cow’s cheese mousse with fried pancetta, espuma from Lika potatoes almond and sunflower seed crumble, and oil and herb powder.
And ‘greeting by greeting’ here we are in Croatian Zagorje and its tastes of buckwheat crackers, turkey terrine, a sphere with cyclamen juice, and cranberry mayonnaise.
And where to go now, except as a true hedonist – ‘headoneast” to Slavonia for one more greeting from the kitchen, with; shank from a black Slavonian pig, crackling crumble, stewed pepper with onion, mustard mayonnaise, and purified pork knuckle and cabbage soup.
The wine list of Restaurant Nebo is awe-inspiring; we obeyed our ‘sky’ sommelier and had a glass of each Dvanajščak Kozol rose 2021., Budinski Malvazija Omo 2020 and Kurtalj Pinot Noir 2018.
One to see, one to be, one to go for
I could arrange the words in the same way the food courses were arranged in front of us in Restaurant Nebo. Sometime before, for a similar experience, with different ingredients and cooking approaches, I used to come – for dinner to one restaurant in Pula that no longer exists, but – everyone remembers it.
When you experience the excellence and creations, taste culinary delicacies, see variety, and feel the passion for modern gastronomy – you just know that’s The restaurant you want to see, where you want to be, and why you will come…and just fall in love.
That’s precisely how only the best become the ones to be remembered.
Desert Post Festum
And what can you say after each course? It was excellent.
But after dessert – in three courses – when we were asked how we liked it; it was the ice desert, crushed ice with an indescribably interesting taste, I had to answer; It seems to me that it is not cooked enough.:-) And made our delightful waitress laugh.
Greetings from Heaven
My warmest recommendations for Nebo – Restaurant and Lunge.
That’s Nebo – the Sky.
Well done, Deni Srdoč and the entire team of professionals.
It’s really Staylicious!
Andreja Pruša Horvatić
