Pula sits on the Adriatic, so seafood is the thing to get right, and the local way of buying it is unlike the menu you may expect. Fish is sold by the kilo and priced live, not as a fixed plate, and knowing that changes what you order and what you pay. Our where to eat page lists the kitchens we have reviewed.
Fish by the kilo
Along the Croatian coast, the catch is weighed and priced per kilogram, then cooked and deboned at the table. A whole sea bass or bream for two runs to a few hundred grams each, so a shared fish plus a starter and a side is a normal order. Ask the price per kilo before you commit, because it varies with the day’s catch and the species, and a quiet confirmation spares a nasty surprise at the till.
What to order
Buzara is the dish to know: shellfish, usually prawns or clams, cooked in white wine, garlic and breadcrumbs and soaked up with bread. It is the test of a konoba, because it is simple and cannot hide a tired ingredient. Fuži or pljukanci with a seafood sauce, grilled whole fish, and a plate of boiled greens round out a meal. The local wines to pair are malvazija, the crisp white, and teran, the darker red.
Spotting frozen fish
Fresh fish smells of the sea, not of fish, and the gills are red rather than brown. A kitchen that cannot tell you the price per kilo, or that offers the same species at the same price in every season, is a sign the fish came frozen rather than off a local boat. Pula’s own boats land within the day in season, so a konoba that buys from the morning market is serving the real thing.
Where to eat it
For the traditional end done properly, Konoba Batelo and Konoba Vaca both cook Adriatic fish the Istrian way, while Restaurant Farum takes a more modern hand to the same larder. All three are on our reviewed restaurants list. For the wider picture, the where to eat in Pula guide covers konobas, markets and the coffee culture around them.
