Croatia: Licka Kuca Restoran (August 2016)




My spouse and I visited Licka Kuca Restoran for lunch on a Friday afternoon in early September 2016. We visited the restaurant after we spent a few hours exploring in the adjacent Plitvice National Park. This restaurant is located directly across the street from park entrance number 1; you can cross sometimes-busy county road DC429 using the overhead footbridge. To dine in the restaurant, you can park your car in any visitor lot, and you can dine there even if you do not visit the park. Licka Kuca is open daily from 11:00 am until 10:00 pm.

Originally built in 1972, this national restaurant occupies two floors in a traditional-style barn-like building (similar to a structure that you would find in the town of Lika [spelled differently than the restaurant name]). In the summertime when we visited, the restaurant was decorated by flowering window boxes and surrounded by other colorful foliage. Devastatingly, in 2012, the restaurant structure experienced a destructive fire; however, in 2015, the owners rebuilt and renovated its huge rustic indoor dining rooms. The spacious restaurant can accommodate large parties and groups as well as individuals. Interior décor features traditional items that families in the town of Lika would have used in olden days. The restaurant also offers service at a few tables on the outdoor covered deck.

The traditional, meat-based menu offers authentic Croatian favorites like spit-roasted lamb, stew, and fish. The ground-level interior of the restaurant includes an open-hearth fireplace where you can watch some of the cooking. Our lunch totaled 312 Kuna (about $50 USD) for two rounds of drinks and two entrees (including the meat skewers and the lamb under the iron cover, both of which arrived accompanied by side green salads and fried potato chunks). Other house specialties including “basa” cottage cheese, sour milk, fritters, and strudels (cheese, apple or plum) sounded intriguing.
We were thrilled to find such a pleasant dining option right outside Plitvice Lakes National Park!
















No comments: