Food&Wine
Discover the exceptional restaurants that caught the eye of the Michelin inspectors. Three names on the Makarska Riviera now sit inside one of the most closely watched restaurant guides in the world! Here’s where to find them:
Which restaurants on the Makarska Riviera are in the Michelin Guide?
Three restaurants along the Riviera carry a Michelin recommendation in their current guide: Ješka Fine Bistro in Makarska, Jeny in Tučepi, and Nicolo Polo in Gradac. A Michelin recommendation is itself a real distinction: it means Michelin’s inspectors judged the cooking to be well above average, built on quality ingredients handled with real skill.
Ješka Fine Bistro, Makarska
Trg fra Andrije Kačića Miošića 5, Makarska
Ješka is the newest of the three to join the guide, added to the Guide only this year: a genuinely new gastronomic accolade for Makarska itself, right on the town’s main square. Ješka reinterprets Dalmatian classics through a modern, seasonal lens: think chicken liver pâté with turšija and focaccia, black mussels done “buzara” style, sea bass with swiss chard and citrus, alongside local octopus, scallops and cuttlefish risotto. By day, the restaurant leans into a lighter lunch concept inspired by the traditional Dalmatian “marenda,” served alongside organic wines and freshly squeezed juices.
Jeny, Tučepi
D512, Tučepi
Set roughly 250 metres above sea level in the old part of Tučepi, Jeny looks out over the Hvar channel and the islands of central Dalmatia, a view most restaurants would consider the main event on its own. Michelin lists its style as modern cuisine, built around tasting menus with wine pairings using local Croatian ingredients and wines. Reservations are required, the full tasting menu is served to the whole table, and it is generally considered one of the standout dining rooms on the entire Dalmatian coast.
Nicolo Polo, Gradac
Obala 15, Gradac
Nicolo Polo sits inside the small, boutique Marco Polo hotel, right on the Riviera’s waterfront facing a quiet beach. According to the Michelin inspector’s own notes, the food impresses with its sophistication and technical precision, whether you eat in the cosy Dalmatian stone dining room or out on the candlelit terrace. The prawns come particularly recommended, served in both traditional and more imaginative preparations. Michelin lists the kitchen’s style as Mediterranean, playing between classic and modern.
Beyond the Michelin picks
Michelin picked these three, but don’t stop there. The entire Riviera is packed with cozy local taverns, fresh seafood, and family traditions worth discovering: the kind of konoba that will never appear in any guide, run by someone’s grandmother, serving whatever came off the boat that morning. A Michelin recommendation is a wonderful place to start a trip’s food itinerary. It was never meant to be where it ends.
Three tables, three towns, one recognition that this stretch of coast is cooking at a level worth crossing an ocean for. Book ahead, dress for a view, and then spend the rest of the trip finding the konoba nobody wrote down yet.
