Blanca Valbuena

Hajduk Restaurant Klis, Croatia

If you are visiting the Dalmatian coast in Croatia, chances are that you will be eating lots (and lots) of seafood. When you’re ready to make a change, hit up the town of Klis. It is about 30 minutes away from split and it is famous for three spit roasted lamb restaurants: Hajduk, Perlica, and Uskok. They are all immediately next to each other. Sadly, we found out about this tiny town, its beautiful fortress, and roasted lamb fame on our penultimate day in split, so we were only able to try one of the three restaurants. We winged it and chose Hajduk only because it was on our side of the road and the restaurant’s owner flagged us down.

We started off by ordering a chicken soup for 2 (30KN $5 USD) and a mixed salad (10KN or $1.70 USD). We did not expect these “portions for 2” to be able to feed the entire Croatian army, but they could have. Best part, while this was in no way complicated food, it was quite delicious. The soup was simple and comforting with some noodles that were pleasantly al dente. It was hard not to fill yourself up with it.

The salad was outstanding. Best salad we had the whole trip. It included slightly bitter greens, gorgeous Croatian tomatoes, red onions, red cabbage, all topped off with Croatian olive oil (which is divine).

The lamb 242KN ($42 USD) was very nice. It was not the best lamb we had in our lives, but it was fresh. Something kept telling me I should have tried Uskok across the street. Not that I was dissatisfied, it was more my brain fighting me with curiosity.

Klis was a wonderful experience and so was Hajduk. If you’re in the area, please make the trek to Klis…and while you’re at it, check out the fortress. Pretty impressive.

Hajduk is located at Branimirova Klis, 21231, Croatia (go through the tunnel, up the hill, and when you see three restaurant with lamb on the spit – you have arrived).