Slovenia’s Culinary Scene Is Finally Having Its Moment — Here's Who You Need To Know
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Now, the prestigious Michelin Guides are positioning Slovenia as the new fine-dining destination — a must-try venue for any serious foodie. The first-ever Michelin guide to Slovenia highlights some stunning chefs creating superb creations which combine delicious local produce with outstanding culinary expertise. Here's who you need to know.
Tucked away in the Soča river valley amid dramatic mountain peaks bordering Austria is the Hiša Franko owned by Chef Ana Roš, a former diplomat, who was named the world’s best female chef in 2017 and Ambassador of the United Nations World Tourism Organization for Gastronomy. Self-taught, Ana runs the restaurant with the aid of her partner Valter, who is in charge of the wine cellar. This two Michelin starred restaurant has appeared on the Netflix series, Chef’s Table, showcasing Ana’s innovative dishes using local specialties.
No luxurious ingredients can be found in Ana’s dishes, just traditional food sourced from the local area. Instead of caviar, Ana offers trout roe, and anchovies rather than salmon. What makes her dishes stand out are the unexpected combinations such as seafood combined with meat, lots of dried chili and herbs grown in the kitchen garden. Ana’s favorite ingredient is fermented albumen cottage cheese, which finds its way into numerous dishes along with produce supplied by local hunters, mushroom pickers, shepherds and fishermen.
Two very different dining experiences are provided by the brother chefs, Gregor and David Vračko, who run restaurants in Podravje, North East Slovenia and Maribor, Lower Styria.
Based in a rural area, Gregor Vračko’s main inspiration comes from his farming neighbors. He visits them daily and bases the menus at Hiša Denk purely on the ingredients they have available.
Gregor believes that, “In our small area, we have everything we need: chamois, stag, doe, fish, trout, Mangalitsa pigs etc. If fresh scampi from Kvarner is available, I don’t see why I should pass it up. One must be open to everything.”
Having trained in top restaurants in Austria, Germany, the UK and the USA, he prefers to let his dishes speak for him, believing that there is no such thing as a perfect plate. A versatile chef, he has no signature dishes being prepared to replace ingredients with something else as needed, combining fermented ingredients like Sauerkraut with rabbit or poultry. Although his wine cellar is well stocked, especially with Podravie wines, he doesn’t match food with wine, just encourages diners to choose the wine they like.
Trained by Dieter Koschina in Portugal and Gerhard Schwiager in Spain, brother David Vračko, prefers to work in the pretty, Baroque town of Maribor where his restaurant MAK offers surprisingly whimsical and unconventional dishes individually tailored to each guest. Dining at MAK has been compared to jumping down Alice in Wonderland’s rabbit hole —diners can find themselves being sprayed with peppermint liquor or served flaming bacon hanging from grissini
while listening to background music ranging from Creedence to The Beatles. He likes to create a very sociable ambiance, encouraging guests to socialize with each other while drinking a glass of wine. This is a restaurant where the unexpected and eclectic can be enjoyed — you may find yourself eating dishes reminiscent of medieval feasts or suddenly switching to a refined dessert of forest-flavored biscuits and ice cream.
A much more Mediterranean ambiance can be found at Dam in Nova Gorica. A boutique restaurant and hotel run by Chef Uros Faku, it is located only 20 kilometers from the Adriatic so not surprisingly, fish dishes dominate the menu. Ever tried trout with truffles? Or breakfast on fried egg yolk with a truffle crust? When dining at Dam you can expect international sophistication combined with the best local produce on offer, for this is a chef trained in New York, Monte Carlo and Italy as well as Slovenia itself. Faku enjoys pushing the boundaries of food, constantly experimenting with flavors and ingredients, both raw and cooked, all of which are tried first by his family because Faku believes that they are his best critics.
Looking at these innovative chefs attracting worldwide attention, the principle of sustainable, local products provided farm to table shines out as the reason why diners are beating a path to their doors.
