Aleph, beth, gimel, daleth and eighteen
other ancient letters are lined up from left to right
in versatile permutations, while the numerals are
lined up from right to left.
The Hebrew script has been written for the first time
on the Menu in a Croatian restaurant. And this Menu
is to undergo alterations every month. Along with
Hebrew letters there are also Japanese characters,
as well as six menus in other languages of the world.
From this year the NAUTIKA restaurant, in a cove protected
by steep rocks and fortresses above the rooftops of
small crowded houses in the fishermen’s living quarters
of the town by the name of Pile, has definitely become
the address in the world, on the global map of luxury.
Already, before summer a place at the table on the
terrace should be reserved during the morning hours.
Should someone search for a table with the best view,
certainly the table no. 35, then, it is advisable,
to make reservation even couple of days ahead. Dishes
cooked with asparagus and artichokes were the most
sampled specialties before the summer season, the
obligatory points of difference in this restaurant
which rightly emphasize the seasonal flow of food-stuffs.
One of the most pleasant surprises were the snails
imbued with Dingač - Pelješac style. Fresh goat cheese
with aromatic honey from Southern Dalmatia is an excellent
local interpretation of traditional Italian practices.
To serve aromatic cheese slices with cubes of honey-comb
instead of some routine honey sauce is the masterminded
spark of wit that singles out superior restaurants
from those fair ones.
Prices are not the topic
Each new Menu brings the new thematic stories along
with the change of the seasons of the year. In all
this, the Master Chef Mr. Nikola Ivanišević tends
to react to the grand renaissance of the top-level
cultivation of olives in Croatia. He offers the best
parts of the most esteemed fishes in the white and
black emulsion. He succeeded in making his own coupage
of the three selected kinds of olive oils and blended
it with cuttlefish ink. Upon having a glass of Dubrovnik
Malvasija as an aperitif and ending up tasting the
enchanted domestic wormwood liqueuer-pelinkovac, made
to the traditional family recipe, the folk cuisine
provides a supplement for cuisine of the commoners,
traditional and modern, fashionable cuisine: Fish
Brodetto with Polenta from the Island of Lopud next
to Caviar on Ice - Beluga Malossol. More red wine
from Petrus castle is poured here than in any other
restaurant in Croatia. And the prices, as the architects
would say are not the topic any more. The relations
of NAUTIKA are global in all segments, so that a portion
of the top-level caviar at a price of 1280 kuna, instead
of being a shocking one can be called appropriate.
Food-stuffs, cooking presentation and serving are
fully incorporated into the price, as well as a month’s
rent falling due for the premises attaining the 6
digits sum in kuna.
Elitism as a system
Luxury in the luxurious restaurants is dubious when
misrepresented or superficial. In NAUTIKA, elitism
is transformed into a system .The restaurant catering
served His Holiness, the Pope with an air of equal
self-confidence, as it hosted a thousand journalists,
who had been invited by the Chevrolet Company (GM),
before the season started. NAUTIKA is open all the
year round, and has been almost fully booked for nine
months during the year so far.
|
June 19th, 2005., Rene Bakalović