Noel Street
The latest exciting addition to the scene is Noel Street, a new project by an experienced Noel restaurant team that, among other awards, boasts a Michelin star.
Michelin underground
In the last few years, the Zagreb restaurant scene has seen an interesting change. Fine dining is no longer the only route that high-level, ambitious chefs and restaurateurs take. While ten or fifteen years ago everyone was trying to create the most formal experience possible, today serious cuisine is increasingly moving to more relaxed formats, with dish sharing preferred over formal menus, and the line between the restaurant and bar becoming blurred.
The latest exciting addition to the scene is Noel Street, a new project by an experienced Noel restaurant team that, among other awards, boasts a Michelin star. For those who follow the local gastronomic scene, this development did not come unexpectedly. In recent years, Noel's team has often participated in festivals and occasional events outside the restaurant. Such formats have allowed for experimentation with dishes that do not find a place in the classic fine dining environment, but are clear favorites among Zagreb foodies. The kitchen is headed by Ivan Temšić, known to the wider audience as the winner of MasterChef, who developed some of the ideas that make up Noel Street's story today precisely through numerous festival appearances. Instead of highly elaborate dishes, tasting menus and a more formal style, the emphasis is on urban vibe, casual approach, somewhat simpler dishes, bombastic flavors, designed for sharing with cocktails and wine, and an atmosphere that gradually reaches club levels in the evening.
Noel Street is located in a large old cellar space below Noel in Zagreb's Lopašićeva Street. In contrast to the calm elegance of the restaurant upstairs, Street is dominated by darker tones, red lighting, graffiti, a more open rhythm of the space, and a louder atmosphere that organically sits between a restaurant and a bar in the evening. There are seats for about 40 people, and on weekends the party vibe ramps up with DJ music.
The staff is quick and efficient, as well as friendly and professional. Some team members worked in the city's best restaurants and wine bars such as Dubravkin put or AHA bar.
What’s on the menu?
The menu is conceived as a kind of journey between Latin America and Asia, without focusing on geographical authenticity too much. Instead of reconstructing traditional recipes, Noel Street uses the motifs of different cuisines as a starting point for its own takes.
The selection starts with smaller bites and snacks such as tuna tostada, croquettes and spicy edamame. Right away, it is clear that the kitchen loves loud flavors, acidity, contrasts, chili and crispy textures. Then follow shared dishes, including variations of international classics such as ceviche, sando tatar (beef tartar), birria taco with lamb, and several other interpretations of street food favorites. The hot offerings include thai gyoze, mole sauce chicken, pepper lamb and pork steak.
At this point, the dessert menu is relatively short and features mango sticky rice and ice cream sandwich.
Cocktails hold a special place in the program. From the outset, Noel Street has been conceived as a space where drinks are not merely a sidekick to food, but an equal part of the experience. The list includes a series of original cocktails by Luka Bistrović, with several non-alcoholic options, and its style follows the energy and character of the kitchen itself.
Likewise, the wine list is excellent, which is not surprising since it is the work of Noel's champion sommelier Kristjan Harjač.
What did our chefs try?
The first logical step was ceviche, fresh and full of citrusy notes, with enough character to set the tone and fully open up the appetite. Next, sando tatar, or beef tartare in Japanese sando sandwich form, disappeared from the table as soon as it arrived, thanks to a combination of soft milk bread and rich, well-seasoned meat. Then birria taco, juicy and full of aromas, with that touch of messiness that gives charm to this kind of food. Mole sauce chicken was among the more complex dishes of the evening; the sauce in charge, giving the layers of spices a depth that quenches the hunger of both the body and mind. In the end, of course, we couldn't resist the sweets either. Mango sticky rice, a deceptively simple, delicious, refreshing and pleasantly measured dessert, with the "king of fruits" in the title role. For the aperitif, we had two great citrus cocktails, while we "soaked" our dinner with Tenuta delle Terre Nere cuvee, an excellent Sicilian white wine.
