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The highly talented, experienced and charming\u00a0Ana Grgi\u0107\u00a0<\/strong>already in her sixth year continues her role as executive chef of the prestigious Zagreb Esplanade Hotel. In 2012 Ana proudly became the very first woman to lead the Esplanade\u2019s kitchen and went on to follow the tradition of crafting exceptional cuisine, placing her specific culinary touch within all her dishes.<\/p>\n Ambitious flair, exceptional talent and bundles of creativity have led Ana to the most prestigious global gourmet restaurants with two Michelin stars. Here she spent valuable time perfecting her culinary skills under the leadership of famous chefs, such as\u00a0Yves Mattagne<\/strong>\u00a0at the Sea Grill Restaurant in Brussels<\/strong>\u00a0and\u00a0Christian Lohse from the acclaimed Fisher’s Fritz in Berlin<\/strong>. Ana\u2019s knowledge and expertise was also developed at the\u00a0culinary academy<\/strong>\u00a0of the\u00a0Rezidor Hotel Group<\/strong>.<\/p>\n Ana continues to drive her passion and perfect her culinary talent working alongside a number of award-winning chefs as guests at the hotel, such as\u00a0Xavier Mathieu<\/strong>\u00a0and\u00a0Pascal Tingaud<\/strong>. In cooperation with the Embassy of the Republic of Korea, Ana had an amazing opportunity to prepare Korean dishes with the President of the Korean Food Institute and the leading chef of the\u00a0Royal cuisine in Korea, Sook-JA JOON<\/strong>. Ana used this wonderful and insightful experience to introduce the new Korean menu to Le Bistro Restaurant.<\/p>\n In 2015 Zinfandel’s restaurant found itself within a unique selection of 1000 top global restaurants. They united on the very same evening in 150 countries, over five continents to celebrate French gastronomy as part of the\u00a0Good France<\/strong>\u00a0global project. For this joyous occasion Ana delightfully crafted a special menu. That same year, Ana received an invitation from the\u00a0President of the Republic of Croatian, Kolinda Grabar-Kitarovi\u0107\u00a0<\/strong>to take part in preparing a gala dinner entitled Croatia on the plate, Slovenia in the glass, which was held in the presidential palace for numerous world leaders such as US Vice President\u00a0Joe Biden.<\/strong>\u00a0Once again, Ana returned to the presidential palace creating a gala dinner for\u00a0Prince Charles and the Duchess of Cornwall<\/strong>\u00a0together with numerous guests, and again during the visit of the\u00a0President of Turkey\u00a0<\/strong>in Croatia.<\/p>\n [\/vc_column_text][vc_empty_space height=”40px”][\/vc_column][\/vc_row][vc_row row_content_width=”grid” parallax_background_image=”10189″ css=”.vc_custom_1662714771601{margin-top: 15px !important;margin-bottom: 15px !important;}”][vc_column] During Ana\u2019s career at the Esplanade she has prepared outstanding meals for numerous state officials such as Former Secretary of State\u00a0Hillary Clinton<\/strong>, Italian President\u00a0Giorgio Napolitano<\/strong>, Austrian President\u00a0Heinz Fischer<\/strong>\u00a0and royalty such as\u00a0Prince Albert of Monaco<\/strong>,\u00a0Princess Anne<\/strong>,\u00a0the King and Queen of Sweden<\/strong>, the Japanese Prince and Princess, the royal family of Denmark and\u00a0the Prince of Saudi Arabia<\/strong>. The endless list continues featuring celebrities and sporting legends including\u00a0Pep Guardiola<\/strong>,\u00a0David Beckham<\/strong>\u00a0and\u00a0Cristiano Ronaldo<\/strong>, and those from the world of show business:\u00a0Enrique Iglesias<\/strong>,\u00a0Shakira, Sade<\/strong>,\u00a0Sting<\/strong>,\u00a0Jos\u00e9 Carreras<\/strong>,\u00a0Bob Geldof<\/strong>,\u00a0Bono Vox<\/strong>,\u00a0Robbie Williams<\/strong>\u00a0and many others.<\/p>\n Creatively leading as executive chef of the Esplanade Hotel, Ana has received numerous awards for competence, excellence and style of cooking. In 2015 she became the\u00a0ambassador of the Fish Forward<\/strong>\u00a0project, an initiative of the\u00a0World Wildlife Fund<\/strong>, which aims to increase consumer awareness of global environmental and social consequences of the consumption of products from fisheries.<\/p>\n Between 2012 and 2016\u00a0Zinfandel’s Restaurant<\/strong>\u00a0and\u00a0Le Bistro<\/strong>, gained various awards \u2013 where Ana\u2019s supreme menus and creative cuisine certainly have not been unnoticed.\u00a0Certificates of excellence<\/strong>\u00a0were awarded by the world’s largest tourist service which evaluates the quality of services in tourism –\u00a0TripAdvisor<\/strong>. In 2015 Zinfandel’s received a special award and was proudly positioned in the\u00a0Hall of Fame<\/strong>. In 2013, Ana\u2019s superb risotto featured in the prestigious guide\u00a0Guida Gallo\u00a0<\/strong>–\u00a0among the 101 world’s best risottos<\/strong>. The young Ana Grgi\u0107 prepared her risotto to the warm delight of the Riso Gallo board members thus Zinfandel’s found itself once again on the pages of this prestigious guide – the third consecutive time.<\/p>\n Confirmation of this was recently best illustrated upon\u00a0Prince Charles and the Duchess of Corwall\u2019s visit to Croatia<\/strong>. The royal couple actually requested their personal chef to ask Ana for the specific recipe of her very own risotto. Ana not only shares her inspirational dishes but notably her cheerful personality and sincerity. In 2013 she was nominated for\u00a0Woman of the Year by Zaposlena<\/strong>\u00a0magazine, in 2014 the daily newspaper\u00a0Ve\u010dernji list\u00a0<\/strong>nominated Ana for\u00a0Person of the Year<\/strong>, and equally in 2016 the prestigious magazine\u00a0Storybook<\/strong>\u00a0nominated Ana for the\u00a0Veuve Clicquot Business Woman Award<\/strong>.<\/p>\n [\/vc_column_text][vc_empty_space height=”40px”][\/vc_column][\/vc_row][vc_row row_content_width=”grid” css=”.vc_custom_1662714802243{margin-top: 15px !important;margin-bottom: 15px !important;}” parallax_background_image=”10191″][vc_column] In 2016, the production board of MasterChef Croatia and the Nova TV channel approached Ana asking her to become the\u00a0first female jury member\u00a0<\/strong>of the special\u00a0Celebrity MasterChef<\/strong>\u00a0series. From show to show, Ana closely followed every move in the kitchen the cooking celebrities made. Satisfied how the series positively developed during filming, she concluded this warm valuable experience will help in her further progression as chef de cuisine of the Esplanade.<\/p>\n Ana drives an extensive culinary operation that combines work in the kitchen and creating concepts for several outlets. From the luxury\u00a0Zinfandel’s Restaurant with the Oleander Terrace<\/strong>, the charming French Le Bistro to providing menus for room service, the\u00a0Esplanade Bar<\/strong>\u00a0and\u00a0Esplanade catering<\/strong>\u00a0which includes crafting innovative cuisine for events, conferences and wedding receptions.<\/p>\n Almost daily Ana manages to conjure up new promotional menus with seasonal ingredients, fabulous personalized menus for customers and successfully keeping newlyweds impressed exceeding their expectations. Each season Ana carefully creates – \u00e0 la carte menus, which pose their own set of challenges. Fundamentally it is striking a distinctive style, then using local and currently available fresh ingredients – and then from that magically create something that will provide guests with a truly unique experience of taste and smell.<\/p>\n Ana’s style of food preparation can be characterized as a combination of\u00a0Mediterranean and Continental<\/strong>\u00a0classic dishes<\/strong>, prepared in a modern style. Ana occasionally plays with\u00a0molecular gastronomy<\/strong>, which often creates delightfully unusual combinations of flavours pleasing to the eye and palate. Ana monitors global gastronomy trends and strives to introduce them into her creations.\u00a0Special attention<\/strong>\u00a0is paid to the selection of top quality fresh local ingredients, and food presentation – ensuring each and every dish placed in front guests represents a unique work of art.<\/p>\n [\/vc_column_text][vc_empty_space height=”40px”][\/vc_column][\/vc_row][vc_row row_content_width=”grid” parallax_background_image=”10192″ css=”.vc_custom_1662714824111{margin-top: 15px !important;margin-bottom: 15px !important;}”][vc_column] [vc_row row_content_width=”grid” content_text_aligment=”center” css=”.vc_custom_1614880518956{padding-top: 80px !important;padding-bottom: 0px !important;}”][vc_column][vc_empty_space height=”28px”][vc_column_text] The […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4,"featured_media":0,"parent":0,"menu_order":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","template":"full-width.php","meta":{"_links_to":"","_links_to_target":"","_wp_rev_ctl_limit":"5"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/lebistro.hr\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/10089"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/lebistro.hr\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/lebistro.hr\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/page"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lebistro.hr\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/4"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lebistro.hr\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=10089"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/lebistro.hr\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/10089\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":10261,"href":"https:\/\/lebistro.hr\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/10089\/revisions\/10261"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/lebistro.hr\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=10089"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}