Best Breakfast in Zagreb: Where to Eat in the City Centre

What breakfast looks like in Zagreb

In most Zagreb households the first meal is at home or skipped altogether, with the morning's five spare minutes reserved for coffee. Office workers tend to grab a pastry from one of the city's many bakeries and eat it on the go, which is why a burek or an apple strudel counts as a legitimate local start to the day.

The sit-down breakfast menus now posted across downtown are a response to visitors staying in rented rooms and apartments who want a proper meal before setting out. Menus lean heavily on eggs, with omelettes, toast and sandwiches the standard offer and the occasional full English appearing for British and American guests. Knowing that helps you choose: a bakery stop is the local move, a table with eggs is the holiday move.

If you want to eat like a Zagrebian on the cheap, a bakery breakfast is the answer, and the city's pastry shops go well beyond the chain standard. Our pick of the best bakery Zagreb has for morning pastries covers the strudels, pies and rolls worth queueing for. And if you would rather assemble your own, Konzum in Zagreb branches stock yoghurt, cheese and fruit for a picnic start.

Otto & Frank on Tkalčićeva: the Zagreb breakfast

Otto & Frank sits on Tkalčićeva, the pedestrian street of cafés running north from the main square, in a dark, comfortable room that suits a slow start. Its signature plate is billed as a Zagreb breakfast: two softly poached eggs with a crispy fried coating, grilled ham, horseradish-infused cottage cheese, sour cream, radicchio and spring onions.

It is the one dish here that tells you where you are, so order it rather than the standard eggs and bacon. The kitchen also does sunny-side up eggs with bacon, apple, cinnamon and almond oatmeal and Nutella and banana French toast if you want something sweeter or lighter. In the year the menu was written these plates were priced in single euros, and the Zagreb breakfast sat in the middle of the range.

Louie Cafe & Kitchen on Nova ves

Louie Cafe & Kitchen occupies a small industrial-style room on Nova ves, one of the oldest streets in the city, a short walk east of the main square. The kitchen leans healthy but covers indulgence too: scrambled eggs with goat cheese and spinach, scrambled eggs with truffle cheese, a croissant sandwich and a full English in two sizes.

Lighter options run to smoothies such as banana and forest fruit, and a chia seed, banana, almond and honey yoghurt, with muffins, croissants and cake on the counter. Coffee comes from Lively Roasters Co., a small Zagreb specialty roaster, which makes this a good stop if the coffee matters as much as the eggs. As with most Zagreb breakfast kitchens, the menu runs into the late morning and then moves on.

Hemingway Bar & Bistrot by the Croatian National Theatre

Hemingway Bar & Bistrot faces the Croatian National Theatre on Trg Maršala Tita, with a bright 1930s-style interior and a terrace that catches the morning sun. Breakfast here is simple and French-leaning: omelettes with mozzarella or vegetables, toast sandwiches and croissants, all served through the morning rather than all day.

In the year the menu was recorded, omelettes were around three euro and toast sandwiches around two, which makes it one of the cheaper sit-down starts in the centre. The coffee is from Lively Roasters Co., so you get a properly made flat white or espresso with the croissant. Choose it when you want a short, stylish breakfast before a morning in the lower town rather than a long brunch.

Le Bistro Esplanade by the station

Le Bistro Esplanade sits inside the art nouveau Esplanade Zagreb Hotel near the central station, and its terrace is the most polished setting for breakfast in the city. The menu covers a lot of ground, from a fresh fruit platter or grilled pineapple with honey and pumpkin seeds to French toast with maple syrup, hot oatmeal with acacia honey and crêpes with jam.

The dishes worth the splurge are eggs Benedict over smoked salmon and an omelette with Pag cheese, mushrooms, ham and fresh herbs; in the year the menu was recorded both sat around nine euro. Pag cheese is the hard, salty sheep's cheese from the island of Pag, and it gives the omelette its edge. It suits a departure day, since the station is a few minutes away.

La Maison des Waffles on Masarykova

La Maison des Waffles is a small shop on Masarykova, the street that runs from the main square down towards the Croatian National Theatre, and the smell of frying batter reaches the pavement. You build your own waffle from toppings such as Nutella, Belgian nougat, Lino lada milk and hazelnut spread, forest fruit, apricot, vanilla cream or honey, then add chopped walnuts, coconut, peanuts, cookies or whipped cream.

Waffles are served all day, so this works as breakfast, a mid-morning stop or an afternoon sugar hit. You can take them to go or eat on the small terrace when the weather allows, which makes it the best option for a quick, sweet start with children in tow. Lino lada is a Croatian milk-and-hazelnut spread, and it is the topping to choose if you want the local version.

Bistroteka on Teslina and Pithos on Deželićeva

Bistroteka on Teslina, a short street linking the main square with the lower town, has built its morning around gourmet egg dishes such as poached eggs with cream cheese and fresh spinach on toast. It is a step up from a café breakfast without the hotel formality, and a sensible choice if you want one well-made plate and good coffee rather than a spread.

Pithos on Deželićeva takes the other route entirely, serving Balkan-style pies and the local favourite bučnica, a cottage cheese and squash pie. Bučnica is a rolled filo pie with a savoury pumpkin and fresh cheese filling, and it is the closest thing to a traditional Zagreb morning bite you will find on a café menu. Pick Pithos if you want to eat what the city ate before eggs Benedict arrived.

Sweet Zagreb mornings: pancakes and Čokolino

Kava tava is known for thick American-style pancakes, the sort that arrive stacked and covered, and it has become a weekend favourite for families. Choco cafe goes the traditional route with thinner, European-style pancakes, so the choice between them is really a choice about texture and appetite.

Jutro, a laid-back café downtown, serves Čokolino, the chocolate-flavoured cereal flakes that Croatian children grow up on, which makes it an easy win with younger eaters. For a morning that ends in something cold, our pick of the best ice cream Zagreb serves is a short walk from most of these tables.

How to choose: sit-down or bakery, slow or quick

Choose a sit-down breakfast when you want eggs, coffee at a table and a plan for the day, and a bakery when you want to be walking within ten minutes. The sit-down places above cluster in the centre, between the main square, Tkalčićeva, Nova ves and the station, so you can walk between them without a tram. If your morning involves the Dolac market, eat first and shop after, since the stalls are busiest early.

For a slower, more indulgent morning, Le Bistro Esplanade and Hemingway suit a long sit, while La Maison des Waffles and the bakeries suit a fast one. If you are heading to the airport later, our guide to Zagreb airport restaurants covers where to eat before you fly.

Booking and timing in the centre

Weekend brunch is not a Zagreb habit, so mornings tend to be quieter than in London or New York. Weekday mornings are calmer still, with the busiest spell falling later, when locals take their mid-morning coffee. For the tables above, an unhurried start after that coffee rush is the calmest way to eat.

If you are self-catering, the city's markets and fish market are worth a morning visit for cheese, produce and cured meat to eat at home. Our guide to the fish market Zagreb cooks shop at explains what is available and when to go.

Which breakfast in Zagreb suits your morning?

For one plate that captures the city, order the Zagreb breakfast at Otto & Frank on Tkalčićeva; for a quick, sweet start, take a waffle from Masarykova; for a polished sit, book the Esplanade terrace by the station. If you only have twenty minutes, follow the local habit and buy a pastry from a bakery to eat on the walk. Whichever you choose, keep the coffee stop separate and unhurried, because that is the part of the morning Zagreb takes seriously.