Bonita [Sandwich Bar & Fast food]

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Hi everyone! Another posts for all the visitors of Zagreb. I would like to share my experience with one of my favorite fast food & sandwich bars in the city center. Whether you are a local, an Erasmus student or just a tourist for a day or more you are going to love this place!

Bonita has been there on the Cvjetni Trg (or Trg Petra Preradovića) for quiet a long time and is a very popular place to hang out with your friends or a dear person. The atmosphere is always friendly and you feel pretty comfortable. I have never had some negative experience with the staff or the guests. It is good whether you just want to drink some coffee or sit down for more than 10 minutes and enjoy some fresh and delicious meal from quiet a rich and diverse offer.

Since I am pretty traditional and have my favorites among the meals that i do not like to change I practically always order the same thing - a super tasty cheeseburger for around 15-16 kuna (which is about 2 Euros only). If I have to choose between any other fast food (including the popular McDonalds) and Bonita... the choice is pretty much clear and you can find me few seconds later at Cvjetni trg waiting for my cheeseburger.

But hey, where can you find this magic place?

Right in the city center

Bonita Fast food is just about 3-4 minutes away from the Square of Ban Josip Jelačić (the Main square). You have to go towards the skyscraper at the corner of Ilica street and then have a few options:

1. walk through Ilica and then enter the passage through the building that will get you straight next to Bonita (as it's located at the entrance/exit of this place on the Cvjetni trg). This route is called Oktogon.
2. the other way how you might discover it is few meters away by walking into Margaretska Street and just continu walking down the street for the next 40-50 meters and you will notice the bar chairs and sun umbrellas and the bar itself.
3. the third popular way is by going through Gajeva Street where the Hotel Dubrovnik is located and then at the first corner to the right through Bogovićeva Street (the street with lots of cafes and bars plus the sculpture of the Sun by Ivan Kožarić). You will end up again right next to Bonita.

Really, you cannot miss it as it's on one of the most accessible spots in the center and even if you want it is impossible to pass by and not notice it.

The last two routes you can take are from Frankopanska Street where you might have been using the tram lines 14, 17, 12 or 13 or walked from the direction of the Museums. There close to the tram station you might choose to walk through Ilica until reaching the square and the Orthodox Church or... you might wish to take the less crowded Varšavska Street and walk about 4-5 minutes and cross Gundulićeva, pass by Kino Europa and then you end up in front of the fast food.

With all being said you really have no excuses not to go to Bonita now, it is really easy and fast to reach from the center of the city!

Opening hours and the free delivery

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The opening hours are pretty flexible. It is opened daily from 6am till 4am. Now how good is that?

They also have a free delivery within the range of 500 meters in the period from 9am till 1am. And the minimum price of your order has to be 25 kuna.

From sandwiches to pancakes

I believe this fast food is mostly known for its sandwiches where you can buy:

• classical meals such as hamburgers, cheeseburgers, so called pizza shells, hot dogs, toasts, pršut, lepinja bread with meat, buđola, fried pork, fried fillets and more. You can also get omelettes.
• They also have vegeterians menus though heard that they have recently dropped the vegan's sandwich from their offers.
• They also serve a few sorts of salads.
• Last on the list are several types of pancakeswith jam, nuts, vanilla, cocos, chocolate, nutella, banana and much more..

But that is not all! You can also get the free side dishes for your meal. These include ketchup, mayonnaise, tartar, mustard, pickled gherkins, green salad, cabbage and corn.

As mentioned Bonita is pretty fair, more than fair with the prices and what you get for it. The prices are in range from 15-20 kuna when talking about an average. Hot dog for instance costs 12 kuna (about 1, 6 Euros) and one hamburger or cheeseburger costs about 16-17 kuna or about 2, 2 Euros. It is even cheaper during the "happy hour" period in the evening. The fried chicken or fish fillet will cost about 2, 5 Euros.

The vegetarians' sandwiches cost all 15 kuna or 2 Euros.

The salads either 15 or 20, depending on the type and the more expensive one (still less than 3 Euros! ) is about 500g.

The omelettes cost around 20-22 kuna or about 3 Euros.

The average prices for the pancakes are between 12-15 kuna or between 1. 5-2 Euros. For some additional ingredients such as nuts, nutella, cocos, vanilla and others.. you will have to pay up to 5 kuna. This is just if you want it specially separated. Otherwise you get them in your pancake as a part of the order for 13-15 kuna. I believe for the majority of you this is still going to be very cheap. At least when I compare it to the prices and the tortures I've been through in Vienna during the winter holidays i think I will never again complaing about the prices here. It's always so difficultt when an average Croat goes abroad and has to adjust to 2-4x bigger living standards while the foreign students are feeling like in heaven in our towns.

Sitting outside and the atmosphere

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You usually have to wait 2-4 minutes until your order is ready. Sometimes there are more people in the line and more waiters or waitresses are going to serve you. Waiting is there mostly as they have to heat up the meal by either using the stove or the microwave. They will ask you for the side dishes and you can simply look above you head at the table with the menu and the list of the free side dishes. The waiters are pretty friendly and will try to get to you fast once they notice you standing there.

Once you get what you wanted go ahead and take a seat at one of the tall tables right behind you. Also, I always take a glass of water if I do not order anything special to drink, you will be given a glass of cold refreshing water. And in winter one finds the mulled wine (kuhano vin) for about 10-12 kuna.

The tables are always under the sun umbrellas and surrounded with up to 4 bar chairs. Sometimes it is a trouble to reach the free one. Even more when there are lots of people, especially in the evening.

However, it is pretty comfortable sitting there. Besides enjoying the food and your company you are on a place we call "špica" (the peak) where you can see many of the celebrities... or simply enjoy the atmosphere at Cvjetni trg. Not far away from the bar is the Orthodox church and the rest of the square is mostly filled with restaurants and bars... and one of the leftovers of the flower stores. If there are football matches or some other sports events they will bring out a big TV so the guests can enjoy and follow the sport.

And all of this brings us a little bit to one topic I would like to discuss. The word is about

Croatian lifestyle - the coffee and the cafés

If you have ever been to Croatia, especially during the warmer or sunny days, you must have noticed that almost all the cafes and the bars, chairs in the streets, are full almost 0-24h.

Welcome to Croatia!

It is not just a rumour or a stereotype about our culture of spending hours at the bar or a cafe chatting with our friends about everything while drinking only one coffee. If you get invited "to go for a coffee" do not refuse the offer as it means something totally else than what you might have been used to at home.

"Let's go for a coffe" or "Idemo na kavu" is a phrase that can mean several things:

• let's go to the bar and drink beer.
• let's go to some fast food.
• let's just go totally random somewhere, does not have to be a place to drink or eat.
• let's really go for a coffe.

This sentence also means that you are not going to buy a coffee, sit down for 5-10 minutes maximum until you drink it and then leave. No... you are going to spend 2-3 hours at least sitting there with the group of friends and chat and have fun all the time while maybe drinking only one cup of coffe in total. Another thing you are going to learn here is that the majority of the waiters is not going not force you to go away and threaten that you need to buy a new coffe or order something else once you drank yours. You can simply stay for an hour or two more talking at the table and no one has anything against it. It would be fair though to buy a new one because coffee in Zagreb, even in the center, can be found from 9 to 12 kuna. That is really nothing when compared to other cities in the central and western Europe.

The same goes for Bonita where once you are done with your meal or drink you may stay much longer, almost as long as you wish. The problems might occurr if you did not order anything new but the other customers have no place. In this case I believe you will "feel" it is right to leave or order something new, to be fair.

In conclusion

If you are a fan of the old, good, classical fast food and sandwich bar then Bonita is the right choice. Enjoy the good food for the good price at the good location in the very center of Zagreb.

Thanks for reading!