Ivan Petrovic introduced to the show host, Nevena Rendeli, the boutique hotel Villa Magdalena, the first four-star hotel in Croatian Zagorje, recently equipped with luxurious wellness.
"Beside luxurious arrangement and the view on the Zagorje hills from the hotel windows, you won’t even wish to come out of the room. However, we will give you a good, or, better to say, an excellent reason for that. And that is the hotel restaurant which offers you sensational gourmet pleasure as well as the home wine offer. This unique gastro-story, junction of Italian and French kitchen with zagorje details, was recognized by our famous gastro-expert Rene Bakalović, and its author is a young gastro genius Mislav Božić..."
The Best Shop - May 2010: "Utočište za tijelo i duh" ("An Asylum for body and spirit")
"Zagorje food, French-Italian way of preparing and Japanese design of dishes... Sounds like a weird mess of unconnected components, but that is also possible. Mislav Božić gave himself a mission to create neither more nor less but a creative kitchen, which is common in Istra for years."
Lider trend – June 2010: "Japanski naklon zagorskoj kuhinji" ("Japanese bow to zagorje kitchen")
"Relaxed atmosphere of the little family hotel, Villa Magdalena, from which you can enjoy the beautiful view of zagorje hills, literally draws you to turn off your mobile phone and have a good stretch, even if just for a moment. You will be seduced by the greenery and the birds singing in the fresh air. Each apartment is equipped with Jacuzzi with healing thermal water, and if you get hungry after the bath, the chef Mislav Božić, who combines Japanese, Croatian, French and Italian cuisine, takes care of the various and creative menu especially for you."
Mary Novosel, Damir Fabijanić – iće & piće – April 2010
Gastro guru Rene Bakalović and chef of the Villa Magdalena’s restaurant, Mislav Božić, participated in preparing omelets at the Dolac in Zagreb, and it’s been shown on the TV-show inMagazin on Friday, January 8th 2009.
"Although everything in Villa Magdalena is unobtrusive, nothing is adrift. Eno and gastro contents are an important element of each hotel of that category. We can see that by only reading through the menu, looking the offer – beefsteak with vegetables and wine-sauce, honey and berries; deer pate followed by 12 flavors on one plate… Mislav Božić, the chef, had been improving his knowledge for 5 years in Japan. The combination of creative and traditional is a greatest challenge, which is solved only by the best chefs. Mislav’s successful solutions will leave you breathless and you will enjoy the food. I’m glad to see that first-class local wines are served with such gastro-offer – which is here a rule, but if you ask for first-class world-origin wines, your wish will be fulfilled."
"Villa Magdalena, the small four-star hotel, is definitely a new gastro-destination which will change the perception of cuisine in Zagorje that is usually connected with meals like “purica s mlincima” (turkey with dumplings)."
Source: Restaurant & Hotel magazine, February 2010
One of Villa’s specialties is its gastro-offer that is carefully designed by Mislav Božić, the chef with perennial international experience, proving the epithet of a first fine-dining restaurant in Hrvatsko zagorje. Considering the perennial professional staying in Japan, in Tokyo – the centre of world’s gastro-scene, Božić successfully combines French and Italian cuisine with Japanese experience."
Villa Magdalena hotel’s restaurant appeared for the first time at the 4th wine and culinary festival 27th November in Zagreb in Regent Esplanade hotel.
At the festival were represented more than 800 wines and culinary delicacies from all over the country, but also from Italy, France, South Africa, Australia and New Zeeland. The purpose of the festival was to raise the culture of wine-drinking and enjoyment of food, which also promoted the gastro and touristic service of Croatia, says the festival-promoter Ivan Dropuljić.
Despite of last-minute invitation and only 20 hours of preparation, Villa Magdalena hotel represented itself with three tasting courses from
the menu of the chef Mislav Božić.
From the "Restaurant&hotel" magazine:
"Unlike San Rocco and The Regent Esplanade Zagreb, from which we expect only the best, a total surprise in this part of festival was the new Villa Magdalena hotel from Krapinske Toplice. Invited in latest minute, the chef MIslav Božić thrilled the guests with secret menu, which could be named an explosion of flavours. His three courses were united with wines from the Vuglec Breg. In the turkey terrine with bacon and pumpkin seeds there were 6 different flavours; turkey from Zagorje filled with chestnuts on the mushroom sauce offered ten different flavours; and in Muscat pumpkin pie with mashed chestnuts there were seven flavours. Villa Magdalena, a four-star hotel, is definitely new culinary destination which will change the perception of cuisine in Zagorje as the place where the turkey with dumplings is the dish number one."
"In small luxurious family hotel, Villa Magdalena, the central position in each apartment has a Jacuzzi which looks like an altar of modern tourism. Thermal water is converted into relaxation and regeneration concepts of touristic offer.
Details for pleasure
Numerous details provide relaxation, new energy accumulation with pleasures, without any abstinence. On the menu there is no place for usual restaurant routine: each and every dish is an original idea of young chef Mislav Božić, who is an expert for combining world’s culinary trends with local cuisine."
20th November 2009
"Gentle hills of Hrvatsko zagorje recently offer a real treat in the world of apartment accommodation, wellness and especially first-class gastronomy. It’s about Villa Magdalena – family business and first four-star hotel in Hrvatsko zagorje.
The restaurant concept, easily described as a fusion of Italian and French gastronomy, Japanese perfection in modern food-presentation and local groceries of Hrvatsko zagorje, results as a creative food-offer. On the menu there are different kinds of delicacies like potato soup with prosciutto, risotto with chestnuts and bacon, deer pate with plum jam, beefsteak with wine- and berries sauce, pork fillet with 4 mushrooms sauce and the strudel from Zagorje. Villa Magdalena is a real destination for hedonists as the owners care for slow-food philosophy through couple of courses and care no less for the flavour and the food-appearance. It’ known that a visual part of the dish opens the appetite, and that is proved by the culinary and visionary art of the chef Mislav Božić. Božić improved his knowledge in Croatian restaurant in Tokyo and today he is using his knowledge to create endless menus with specially decorated dishes."
World’s free-diving record holder Gianluca Genoni stayed in Villa Magdalena from 15th to 17th October.
In Sharm el Sheik in Egypt, in 2006, Gianluca reached a depth of 141 meters in the discipline of “variable weight-variable gravity” Multiple world champion Gianluca Genoni worked hard to promote apnea and education, so he trained hundreds of apnea instructors. His name will forever be notable within the apnea.
+385 49 233 333
info@villa-magdalena.net
World’s free-diving record holder Gianluca Genoni stayed in Villa Magdalena from 15th to 17th October. 
