Cella XVIII

There are restaurants where you come for the food, those where you come for the wine and those rare ones where, after a while, it is no longer quite clear what it is precisely that made you want to stay so long. Cella XVIII belongs to this last category.

In King Tomislav Square, a few steps from one of the busiest parts of Zagreb, behind the discreet entrance to a cellar, there is a new Zagreb bistro – old brick vaults, wood, dimmed lighting, intimate rooms and bottles of wine all around you. The space also has its own Zagreb story – the studio of painter Vlaho Bukovac used to be here – while today siblings Lucia and Borna Jergović stand behind Cella. Lucia handles the kitchen, Borna takes care of the wines, and it is this relationship between the plate and the glass that perhaps best explains the whole concept.

What’s on the menu?

As for the cuisine, it includes some Mediterranean, Italian, familiar flavors and occasional throwbacks to tradition, but interpreted from today's perspective. The menu follows the microseasons and produce availability, so the offer naturally changes throughout the year. Creative seafood hors d'oeuvres stand alongside classics such as vitello tonato, tartare, but also traditional dishes such as copanjek and komiška pogača. As for the main courses, there is a selection of pastas and bold variants such as sweetbreads and beef heart. And then we come to the wines. It takes one look around Cella to suggest that the bottles are not merely a decoration here. Wine is an equal part of the restaurant's identity and perhaps one of the best reasons why you should return here time and again. The selection speaks volumes about the ambition of the wine list. It can satisfy a guest who just wants a good recommendation over dinner, but also one who will get lost among the labels and find a bottle that will make them stay for another hour. What we especially like here is that being serious about wine does not mean being stodgy. Here, wine is to be enjoyed, rather than an exam to be taken.

Cella finds a similar measure in its service. It is relaxed, confident and above all unobtrusive. The staff is present when you need them, but without unnecessarily interrupting the conversation and turning each plate or bottle into a small lecture. In such an intimate space, service like this makes sure the evening is yours and yours only.

What did our chefs eat?

Our dinner showcased the breadth of this seemingly simple, but very effective approach. All of the dishes can be shared. We started off with a cuttlefish crudo and mackerel ceviche – two fresh, vibrant seafood starters that whet the appetite and show the kitchen's ambition. The cuttlefish, broad beans, red grapefruit, celery in the crudo variant are unexpectedly tender, while the creamy mackerel ceviche with figs, fig leaf and fresh and pickled cucumbers is unusually creamy and layered. And then cacio e pepe. One of those dishes that looks almost too simple on paper, but that is precisely why they don't leave much room to hide. Finally comes the osso buco with gremolata, cinnamon and dried blueberries – a richer, deeper and more concrete finish that almost right off the bat begs for red wine and a little more time at the table.

Four quite different plates, but none of them seem to have accidentally ended up in the same sequence. And maybe that's what we've liked the most. The food is simply good – thoughtful, delicious and enough easygoing to let you enjoy it without analyzing every bite. As for the wine, we kicked things off with Pinot Blanc by Markus Molitor from Mosel, continued with Gigondas by Famille Perrin from Southern Rhône, and finished with Viña Bosconia Reserva 2015 by López de Heredia of Rioja.

Mosel, Rhône, Rioja – a small tour of classic wine Europe without leaving the Tomislav Square.

And maybe "measured" is the word that best describes Cella. There is no theatrics or need for the restaurant to explain to you every few minutes how serious it is. Instead, you get an intimate space, a good kitchen, a wine list that makes you want to explore, and service that knows when to be there and when to just leave you be. You are sitting under the old vaults, empty plates on the table, another bottle opened, the conversation has long gone in some different direction, and you suddenly realize that several hours have passed.

Cella XVIII is simply a place where you want to stay. And sometimes that is the best definition of a good dinner.