The Konoba Dionis restaurant on the island of Sv. Klement
The first searches on the internet led me to a restaurant that had been a libertarian bubble in times of the single-party regime of the communist Tito. A refuge for artists and writers who opted for apolitical bohemia. A gastronomic hideaway to fantasize without Yugoslav intrigues among olive trees, vines and Mediterranean mist. It was all a lie.
Upon arrival, the head chef tells me that the restaurant has been on the island for 12 years – Tito's regime fell more than fifteen years ago. He wears a mustache and flip flops with white socks and at the main table not artists eat, but a group of Austrian archaeologists who prefer Roman ruins to Boris Vian's novels. The site is even better than expected.
In the Konoba (restaurant in Croatian) Dionis there is no pose or artifice. Mediterranean cuisine in the middle of the Mediterranean. Pjerino Šimunović is an ecochef who makes slow food (raise the food culture of citizens and promote a different quality of life, based on respect for natural rhythm and time) and Kitchen Kilometer 0 (cuisine offered by some restaurants under the premise of buying food directly from producers within a radius of less than 100 kilometers) without knowing that he is an ecochef who makes slow food and Kitchen Kilometer 0. At least not intentionally.
The false trail on the internet paradoxically led me to a real trail in Hvar. As soon as I met Wolfgang 'Wuf' Schulze-Boysen, the co-owner of Hula-Hula Hvar , he suggested I go out to eat at Konoba Dionis . The Hula Hula Hvar is a beach club located ten minutes walk from the port of Hvar. Beyonce's favourite. The same one that revolutionized last year when he came to spend his vacations during his pregnancy. So you had to go. The poster? Octopus and caper salads, lamb brochettes and many varieties of white fish, such as dentex, sea bass, monkfish, sea bream and San Pedro fish.
The restaurant is outdoors. Only part of the kitchen occupies an old house. The grill is outside where you are greeted by Pjerino, both cook and owner of the restaurant and the flip-flops. The tables are shaded by a delicate wicker roof and a pleasant Adriatic breeze blows. When you sit down, the view couldn't be more Mediterranean. If I had been an artist in Tito's time, I would have come to the place.
Panoramic view of Hvar from the castle
The terroir is disputed by fields of olive trees and vines with branches green with enthusiasm. On the horizon you can see the island of Vis and the sea covered with a light whitish mist. To get to the restaurant from the small jetty on the island, you have to walk a path through the Mediterranean forest. Very close to here is a Catholic chapel where the occasional romantic marriage has been officiated.
The island of Sv.Klement is half an hour from Hvar (pronounce juar), the most famous Croatian island on the Dalmatian coast. In summers the yachts of the rich and famous dominate its marinas. At least those who can afford it. Billionaire mogul Roman Abramovich, owner of Chelsea, can't. The last time he came to Hvar his yacht was so big that it didn't fit in the harbor. In the marshland of the port there are motor boats that serve as taxis to get to Sv. Klement (taxi boats, about 66 kunas, around €10).
From Spain, the best option to reach Hvar is via Split , the splendid Croatian city that dazzled the Roman Emperor Diocletian. From Split to Hvar there is an hour on the Jadrolinija ferry. Direct flights between Split and Barcelona started last week. Madrid inaugurates them next July 15. Konoba Dionis is open from May to October and to avoid mishaps, reservations are recommended (tel.: +385 (0) 981671016).
The charming port of Hvar
Mediterranean blue on the shore of Hvar