Experience
the island

Experience the island

Local cuisine: What to eat and drink on Korcula Island?


Like many other parts of Dalmatia, Korcula is known for its traditional Mediterranean cuisine, in which fresh fish, home-grown vegetables, and olive oil play the main role. Whatever type of dish you choose (grilled fish or meat served with baked potatoes and aromatic seasonal salads, tasty soups, seafood prepared in its sauce, homemade pasta…) you are up for a treat.

But Korcula also offers some specialties which cannot be enjoyed anywhere else. One of them is zrnovski makaruni. This traditional homemade pasta is originally made in the village of Zrnovo and is usually served with delicious beef sauce. The pasta is made by wrapping small pieces of dough around a thin stick which takes some time and requires certain expertise. Zrnovo is so proud of this specialty that they have organized a whole festival around it - Zrnovska Makarunada. It is held in August and is frequented by many locals and their guests who first have fun in preparing the meal and then, of course, enjoy eating it.

After a fine main course, we are all up for a fine dessert. Korcula is famous for its dry-cake biscuits such as cukarin, specific for its lemon or orange hint, and klasun, filled with ground nuts. Lumblija is another treat specific to Korcula. This spicy and aromatic cake has a quite romantic backstory. Legend has it was first made by a French baker who served under Napoleon during his rule over Korcula. He was in love with a local girl, and when the French troops had to leave, he gave her this cake to remember him by. The last thing he said to the girl was "ne m'oublie pas" (forget me not). Over the years the cake became known as lumblija and is usually made in November when we remember our loved ones who are no longer with us.

The perfect way to complete a perfect meal is to enjoy a drop of exquisite locally grown white wine, such as Grk, Posip, or Rukatac. These varieties are characteristic of Korcula, and even more so, Grk is exclusively cultivated in the town of Lumbarda. If you favor wine, here you will find a small piece of paradise.