A well-known restaurateur is opening a new place in a hidden courtyard in the center of Zagreb

He says that there is a lot of work, so the bar will "grow" together with visitors and be upgraded from week to week

Tuesday. The beginning of the second heat wave in Zagreb. Five in the afternoon. We lazily descend the Ilica with the intention of hiding from the merciless heat. Suddenly, a familiar voice calls us from the passage at Nama. The car enters the back yard of this legendary department store, the front window is down. The hand is waving to us. Due to the strong glare of the Sun, we cannot see the face behind the wheel. The driver presses the brake, pulls the manual, gets out of the vehicle. When it…

…. Marin Levaj attacks again!

Experienced Zagreb restaurateur Marin Levaj, owner of the gentle city oasis Mojo wine bar, is up to something again. He invites us to come with him because "he has something to show us". A spark ignites in us, to begin with, because we have never seen what exactly lies behind the massive – eternally closed – door in the Nama passage. For all the curious – nothing special, warehouse. However, passing through the warehouse, we reach the real scene of events.

Major works are underway. Marin's dear friend and business colleague Šiško Horvat Majcan is in serious business, bathed in sweat. He pulls chairs, wipes tables. He stops for a while and looks from afar. Then he moves the chairs, brings a bag of earth with which he will fill the upper floor of the beautiful hidden courtyard at the back of the Nama.

Namely, it is there that their joint gastro project Pri Nami will be born.

Good food and an even better drop

As a duo, Šiška and Marina got to know Zimus more closely at Advent in Zagreb, where they supplied many visitors with food and drinks from their Lako Tako house. Marin was pouring drinks, and Šiško was throwing out tacos, both of them in a competition to see who would do it first. They decided to use this proven recipe 365 days a year in the Pri Nami bar.

First-class drinks and cocktails will be served there, and to begin with, they will offer three types of tacos – meat, vegetarian and fish. With the offer of food and drinks, they will combine, as only they know, live concerts. The entrance will be from the passage leading to Zakmardi stairs . Surely you know that door at the bottom of the stairs that was always closed, and which you mostly didn't notice? Well, get ready, soon a considerable traffic jam will begin to form there.

When do they open?

Since the guys have a lot of work ahead of them, and they don't want to miss the season, they are planning a kind of "soft opening" and working in two shifts. The first shift will be the baushtel, and the second will be catering. They say that they like the idea that the bar grows with the visitors and that the guests can follow how the space will be upgraded from week to week.

The broader vision of the whole story is to open a restaurant in the area of the former canteen of Nama employees, but more on that in future announcements. 🙂

So far we can say that the guys have announced the opening for next week, and we have already reserved our seats.