Yesterday, I had to rush to Dubrovnik for a meeting. It was just in-and-out thing but still had to get up early and drive for few hours. Dubrovnik, beautiful as always, was basking in misty morning (and afternoon, and evening…) and I had a chance, after a while, to visit Villa Argentina – one of Dubrovnik’s iconic hotels. As the talk was that the food served here was not good, I was avoiding offering it to my clients. But, things changed.

And changed dramatically! Last year, the owners of Villa Argentina hired Mr. Thierry Caruel to be the chef at Villa Argentina. Chef Thierry Caruel has vast experience at numerous high profile jobs: from being the chef at Harod’s, Four Season’s London… he was also hired at Prince William’s wedding. So, the owners of Villa Argentina brought a chef with stellar reputation.

Since my business partner was French, she was really interested in chef Thierry’s cuisine and dishes as her client is extremely picky. So, we invited chef Thierry to recommend something for lunch. As the terrace was empty, and there were no other orders, we had his full attention and chef also decided to make a twist on the items on the menu. Just for us. We started with superb Ston oysters (best at this time of the year!).

Then it was time to continue with another light appetizer: ceviche of Adriatic squid.

And then we continued with fresh John Dory served with vegetables…

..and all that was accompanied by the bottle of chilled Dalmatian pošip! Life rarely gets better than that

Chef Thierry is a not only great chef but also a great person so he also took time to  take me to see the refrigerators and storage facilities. Needles to say, everything was spotless and most of the ingredients were from France. Villa Argentina is taking it’s restaurant Victoria seriously and definitely becoming one of my favorite places to eat in Dubrovnik!

Villa Argentina is taking it’s restaurant Victoria seriously and definitely becoming one of my favorite places to eat in Dubrovnik! And I will have to send some clients their way if they are looking for great food!
Leaving Dubrovnik, all these images were still quite vivid in my head and I can still taste that wonderful lemon tart.
Well, just another day in the office 😉