This area of Kyobashi, a few minutes’ walk from Tokyo station, is mostly office buildings interspersed with a handful of art galleries. Evenings, the pedestrian traffic is almost nonexistent, but the Dobro dining room was filled on a Thursday night.

What lures them are unique dishes like strukli or sarma, which, unless you vacation in Zagreb or Dubrovnik, you’ll never have tasted. Croatian cuisine is a blend of Slavic, Mediterranean, Italian, Hungarian, Austrian, Turkish and French influences, and Dobro’s varied menu touches all bases. Strukli is a type of ravioli filled with cheese, meat, or vegetables. Dobro’s version, put together by their Croatian chef, is filled with fresh cheese, zucchini and red pepper and served in a flavorful broth (¥1,600). Sarma are cabbage rolls—a comfort food in any culture. Originally a Turkish dish, these neat little units are pleasantly sour, like sauerkraut, and filled with a fragrant mix of beef and rice. The rolls rest on a small bed of mashed potatoes moistened by some of the aromatic cooking liquid (¥1,980). 

Other authentic dishes include the seafood buzara with red wine, cognac, tomatoes and garlic (¥1,780) and the paprika goulash (¥1,980). Along the Dalmatian coast, pasta and risotto dishes are quite popular, and Dobro features a risotto with fresh peach and vegetables that is unexpected but good (¥1,200). One of their most popular dishes is the pasta with crab in a velvety cream sauce (¥1,800).

The wine list is short but includes several Croatian and Romanian wines. A few Croatian whites and reds are available by the glass starting from ¥900. One red in particular, the Postup, is outstanding (¥1,200).