Soul Kitchen Buzara for Two: Hvar's Most Theatrical Seafood Dish
Dalmatian buzara is the seafood dish that defines Hvar's coastal cuisine. Soul Kitchen's buzara for two - shrimp in white wine, olive oil, garlic and fresh herbs - is the best way to eat seafood on Hvar island.
Buzara arrives at the table in a wide, shallow pan, still hissing from the heat. The smell reaches you before the pan does: garlic, white wine, the sea. Two people lean in. It is, without question, the most theatrical dish in the Dalmatian repertoire, and the best versions of it - including the one Soul Kitchen has served for years - are also the most delicious. This is what buzara in Hvar should be.
What buzara is
Buzara is a method as much as a dish. The name refers to the broth-based cooking technique used across the Dalmatian coast for shellfish - most commonly shrimp (škampi) or mussels. The method is simple in its components and demanding in its execution:
- Olive oil - generous, good quality, Dalmatian
- Garlic - sliced, not crushed, to control the release of flavour
- White wine - a dry Pošip or any crisp Adriatic white
- Fresh parsley - added at the end, not cooked through
- Breadcrumbs - a small amount, to bind and thicken the sauce
- The shellfish themselves - the best available that morning
Everything cooks together in an open pan over high heat for a few minutes. The wine reduces with the oil. The garlic softens. The shrimp cook in the steam and the liquid. The result is a sauce that is simultaneously light and intensely flavoured - the kind of thing you drag bread through long after the shellfish are finished.
Buzara for two: the ideal format
The Dalmatian seafood dish works best shared. A buzara for two means a substantial portion of whole shrimp in the pan, enough sauce that you cannot finish it without bread, and the particular satisfaction of a meal that requires you to slow down and pay attention. You cannot eat buzara quickly. The shells require effort. The sauce requires bread. It is a meal that structures the conversation around it.
We serve ours with crusty white bread on the side and a small lemon wedge. The bread is not optional. The lemon is a personal preference - some guests use it, some find the wine acidity in the sauce sufficient. We serve both and leave the decision to you.
The best seafood in Hvar for two people
If you are choosing a shared seafood dish for a dinner at Soul Kitchen, buzara is the recommendation for people who want something dramatic, deeply flavoured, and genuinely Dalmatian. It is not a refined, plated dish in the contemporary fine-dining sense. It is a pan of excellent shellfish cooked in the way Dalmatian cooks have been cooking them for centuries - with olive oil, wine, and nothing more than necessary. That restraint is the point. The quality of the shrimp is unhidden. The sauce does not mask. The experience is immediate and honest.
For the best seafood in Hvar for two, there is no more definitive choice on our menu.
Wine pairing
Drink what went into the pan. Pošip from Korčula - a structured, slightly textured white - is our pairing for buzara. It is not a coincidence that the wine used in the cooking is also the best wine to drink alongside it. The flavour logic is circular and it works every time.
Written from the kitchen at Soul Kitchen, Hvar.