Eta Gverović

Born in Dubrovnik, Eta Gverović trained as a nurse before choosing cooking as her career instead — a decision shaped by her mother, Kate, who remains her culinary role model. She now co-owns and runs the kitchen at Gverović-Orsan, the family restaurant set in a building that once stored the boats of Renaissance-era Dubrovnik noblemen, right on the water in Zaton. Her daughter Nea has increasingly been taking on the running of the restaurant in recent years.

What draws Eta to cooking is the creativity — inventing new recipes and unusual dishes rather than repeating the expected. Her own favorite thing to cook is a seafood brodet built on lobster, scampi and shellfish, served with pura (Croatian cornmeal); she says it tastes best when her other daughter, Ena, makes it for her instead.

Over the decades, the restaurant's waterside terrace has hosted its share of well-known guests, including Bono Vox and Caroline of Monaco — regulars remember the U2 frontman arriving by yacht and going unrecognized until a waitress asked if he was, in fact, Bono.