Lila and Ive are the owners of this konoba (tavern) just on the right from the main entrance to Korčula old town. If you don’t know exactly where you’re heading, Arsenal is hard to spot, unlike most of the screaming touristy summer restaurants. The terrace looks like a simple café and the atmosphere is low-key. Apart from the cheesy but somewhat amusing live one-man band which entertained us during our dinner.

Forgotten dishes of Korčula distinguish this unpretentious konoba from other places. For starters, have some goat cheese and marinated peppers. Or maybe toasted bread with vegetables and goat cheese? Steamed potatoes with goat cheese and olive spread is such a simple dish, yet it tastes so good since they pick the best local ingredients.

Lila is from Žrnovo, a cute stony village just above Korčula, known for its macaroni – žrnovski makaruni. It is a matter of pride for her to prepare the indigenous home-town pasta. You can choose between more than ten sauces to accompany žrnovski makaruni – meat ragout, king prawns and shrimps, vegetables… We had makaruni with delicious meat ragout and something really special – steamed rice and land snail sauce with dried figs. The latter dish tasted like it was prepared following a cookbook from the ancient Rome. Wash it down with good house wine for fair price – Pošip or Pagadebit (Plavac Mali from Korčula). And for the final touch, you can’t miss with the classic dessert – rožata, citrus-scented creme caramel.

Konoba Arsenal is the younger sister of Konoba Maslina that is owned by the same people.

Entrance to Korčula old town

Steamed rice with land snails and grapes ragout