Makarska Riviera brings Dalmatian brunch back where it belongs - in restaurants and the destination story

These days, the Makarska Riviera has once again become a stage for authentic Dalmatian flavors.

As part of the fourth edition of the Autentica Food & Wine festival, a gastro patrol led by chef David Skok visited nine restaurants participating in the festival and opened up a much broader topic than just food: Can the Dalmatian brunch become a serious tourist product again?

The answer is very clear. Not only can it, but it must.

Because authenticity is not an ornament in tourism today. It is the content and the reason for coming. A guest who comes to Dalmatia is not just looking for sun, sea and a bed. They can get that somewhere else. They are looking for the taste of the place, an identity, a story, local food and an experience that no other destination can copy.

That's why the Dalmatian brunch is much more than a meal. It is part of the way of life, the rhythm of the place and the Mediterranean culture. It is that moment when the fisherman, the farmer, the tavern, the family, the market, the sea and the hinterland meet on the plate. And that's why its return to menus is not nostalgia, but a serious step forward as a destination.

Festival Autentica Food & Wine This year, it's going in exactly that direction. All participating restaurants must offer at least three Dalmatian brunches prepared from local ingredients from May 15th to 31st at a price of 12 to 15 euros.

This is a concrete, measurable and very important move from a market perspective. We are not just talking about authenticity, but putting it in the offer, on the menu and in front of the guest.

This way, the brunch goes beyond the scope of a festival event and becomes a concrete offer that guests can experience in the destination.

That's the key difference.

The Gastro Patrol visited 9 restaurants that offer Dalmatian Brunch

Authenticity must not remain just a word in a brochure, a communication slogan or a decoration on social networks. It must become a product. It must be accessible, clear, reasonably priced and operationally feasible. This is precisely why the Autentica model is interesting: it connects restaurants, chefs, local gastronomy and destination identity into concrete tourist content.

The gastronomic patrol was led by a chef David Skoko, the popular “fisherman’s son” who comes from a famous fishing family and restaurant Batelina in Istria. Batelina has become synonymous with respect for the sea, local ingredients and authentic gastronomy, while Skoko was among the first in Croatia to systematically promote oily fish, sustainability and a return to the original flavours of the Mediterranean. This is precisely why many consider him one of the most important promoters of Croatian gastronomy.

His approach to cooking is based on authenticity and quality food, and this is exactly the philosophy promoted by the Autentica festival.

Along with Skoka, local chefs were also on the gasto patrol Ivan Vukoja i Marin Zokic, oenologist Maurice Varesko, as well as the festival organizers, Marina Josipovic Director of the Makarska Tourist Board, Mirjam Jukić Editor-in-chief of the Turističke priče portal, HRT journalist Regina Zubanovic, co-organizers of the Autentica festival Duska Zizak i Maja Zlokić, and I personally had the opportunity to hear various stories from the owners about catering, guests, trends, laws, and the workforce. But about that another time. 

The Gastro Patrol visited Hops Beer & Food Factory, Kala Buffet, Restaurant Arta Larga by Gastrodiva, Konoba Kalalarga, Hotel Biokovo restaurant, Restaurant Bura, Restaurant Fonte 75, Restaurant Point and Ješka Fine Bistro.

Each of them showed their own interpretation of Dalmatian cuisine, from traditional dishes such as tripe, dolce garba, cuttlefish with broad beans, brujeta, frigadura and pašticada, to more contemporary interpretations through homemade pasta, fermentation, local fish and a more modern bistro approach.

The special value of the whole story is that it does not talk about luxury as something expensive, inaccessible or imposed. Premium tourism does not mean gold, champagne and high prices.

Premium today increasingly means authentic, local, quality, honest and well presented. A guest who asks for local wine, homemade pasta, small fish, an old dish or the story behind the plate is not a “cheap guest”. This is a guest who understands the value of the destination.

And here Makarska, like all our destinations, has serious room for positioning.

The Makarska Riviera is one of the most attractive tourist areas on the Adriatic, but that is precisely why it must build even stronger content that goes beyond the classic image of the sea and the beach. Gastronomy is one of the fastest and most authentic ways to differentiate a destination. Not because they all have to become fine dining restaurants, but because every restaurant can tell a part of the local identity.

Marenda is an ideal format in this sense. It is simple enough to be accessible, local enough to be authentic and strong enough to become a recognizable destination motif. In the end, the Dalmatian brunch is us - we are what we are, and that's exactly what tourists want to experience, and that's the differentiation and that premium that we keep talking about.

The offer can range from 12 to 60 euros per person - it's all a matter of access, but the tavern as a meeting place for locals and tourists, simple and homemade dishes, a place where locals eat (because they know best, right?) - that is and must be the base. 

That's why the value of Autentica lies precisely in the fact that it connects gastronomy and destination management. Because tourism is not promotion, but management. And management means knowing what we want to offer, to whom, at what value and with what identity.

The Dalmatian brunch on the Makarska Riviera is not just a gastronomic topic. It is a question of destination positioning.

And that's why projects like this only make sense if they don't remain a one-off festival, but become the beginning of a new standard. If a guest in Makarska knows where to eat a good, local and authentic brunch even after the festival, then the festival is not just an event. Then it becomes a tool for destination development.

It is particularly important to emphasize that Autentica is not just a project of Makarska, but a joint project of the Makarska Riviera destination, i.e. Makarska, Podgora, Baška Voda, Brela and Tučepi.

It is this breadth that gives the festival additional value, because authentic Dalmatian gastronomy is not positioned through one point, but through the entire Riviera as a common destination product.

And that is the only right direction.

*Full photo gallery and description of restaurants and their menus at Tourist stories