The first Masterclass workshop of the global restaurant guide Michelin was held in Zagreb on Monday, bringing together about 15 Zagreb chefs whose restaurants boast the guide's stars and other symbols.

It was the first such workshop held outside France and the first of its kind in the world.

The workshop was led by renowned chef Riccardo Gaspari, owner of the SanBrite restaurant from Cortina di Ampezzo, Italy, which has had a Michelin star since 2020, and was recently awarded a green star for sustainability in gastronomy, which was one of the main topics of the workshop.

“We are glad to be in Zagreb, and I believe that the workshop will be useful to everyone, especially for the further development of the gastronomic offer in Zagreb. You have a lot of potential for that and a lot of work to do, and that’s why this is a good idea of the city’s Tourist Board,” Gaspari said in his opening remarks. Like other chefs, he emphasised the importance of passion and love for cooking, and local and quality ingredients for the promotion of haute gastronomy.

The workshop was hosted by the restaurant Dubravkin Put, and everyone who has a Michelin designation in Zagreb was invited to it. Among them, two restaurants, Noel and Zinfandel, boast red and green symbols.

The workshop was free for everyone.

“I am thankful to all the chefs who attended the workshop, which I am sure will give them a great experience, new techniques and knowledge, as well as love for the selection and preparation of food, which is the basis of every good restaurant. For many years, TZGZ has nurtured a relationship with Michelin (based in Paris), and it is an honor that Zagreb was chosen for the first such workshop outside France and generally in the world. They plan to continue with this new format,” said the director of the City of Zagreb Tourist Board (TZGZ), Martina Bienenfeld.

As for tourist arrivals in Zagreb this year, Bienenfeld told Hina that September was already better with arrivals and overnight stays than the same month in 2019, and the results since the beginning of the year were excellent.

“From the beginning of this year to mid-September, about 900,000 tourists visited Zagreb, generating 1.7 million overnight stays. Compared to the same period in 2022, these are increases of 22 and 15 per cent respectively. The largest number of overnight stays was generated by tourists from the United States, and there was also a noticeable return of tourists from other distant markets, such as Australia,” she said, adding that these favourable trends were expected to continue until the end of the year.