It is a wonderfully improvised approach that takes us to Footscray’s Croatian Club this chilly Friday night.
It’s the usual drill – get in the car and seek food with a handful of only vague locations rattling around in our minds.
We’ve enjoyed the food at Restaurant Katarina Zrinski several times, but it’s at least a couple of years since we visited.
It’s good to be back in this big, cheerful room. As expected on a Friday night, the place is almost fully booked – not full yet but working on it. But we’re early enough to snag one of the undressed tables, joining another pair of walk-in, non-Croatian types.
On previous visits here we’ve mostly loved the grills – things such as cevapcici and raznjici (grilled pork pieces), served with chips and utterly brilliant cabbage salad of the kind so often found in cuisines of eastern Europe.
Tonight, though, perhaps feeling the onset of winter in our bones, we go big on old-school Croatian comfort food.
But not before tucking into a massive bowl of girice ($11) as found on the specials blackboard.
“You have got to be joking!” proclaims my son Bennie as our whitebait arrives at the table.
In New Zealand, I grew up regularly eating whitebait of a much smaller kind, usually mixed in a gloopy batter and fried as fritters. These whitebait are different – bigger, deep-fried, salty, crunchy and very fishy.
From there we head into much more familiar and heart-warming territory …
Mains here hover around $18 for smaller serves and $25 for larger portions – more if you’re inclined to seafood. But we’ve learnt from previous visits that the larger deals – especially the non-grill meals – are humongously big.
So we get smart by ordering $17.50 serves of sarma (cabbage rolls) and “gulas”. This turns out, on top of the whitebait, to be just right for two moderately hungry boys.
The cabbage rolls are both different from any I’ve enjoyed before and as good as any I’ve eaten. The point of different comes from the filling being less rice and more meat, in this case a tangy mix of pork and beef.
The gulas is a stunner – and very generous for a so-called smaller serve. Atop gorgeously smooth mash, the beefy stew is rich and has heaps of tender meat.
As far as I can tell, it’s cooked with not much more than onion and seasoned with little more than salt and pepper – sublime in its simplicity and packed with earthy soul.
Restaurant Katarina Zrinski is back on the radar. The food is great, it’s a very family-friendly place and the service is fine.
