Acclaimed Croatian chef Andrej Barbieri dies aged 49
- by croatiaweek
- in News
10 March 2019 – Top Croatian chef Andrej Barbieri has passed away aged 49 after a long battle with illness.
Barbieri, who was a well known figure after starring as a judge in the show ‘Masterchef’, passed away in a Rijeka hospital on Saturday, Kult Plave Kamenice reported.
Barbieri studied to be a chef in Italy before running a number of restaurants in Croatia, Greece, Spain and Egypt. In 2017, he opened the first Croatian restaurant in Qatar when he opened Qavanna restaurant in Doha.
At the same time he was running Bevanda in Opatija and Conca d’Oro in Rijeka. Both restaurants had top reputations in Croatia.
Barbieri won a number of culinary awards and was often vocal about the problems of cheap and poor quality imported food.
“Look, in this current economic situation, it is logical for a family to buy the worst chicken or pork which has been frozen three times for 20 HRK, than to buy the right meat or fish for 80 HRK because you can make a lunch for 20 HRK. The same is true for fruit, vegetables and dairy products,” he once said when commenting how Croatia has huge potential to produce healthy, but also authentic food.
In 2017 he opened Barbieri’s in Zagreb but after health problems he had to pull away from the business. His death shocked many public figures who took to social media to farewell the chef.
