Water:
The tap water is safe to drink and tasty. It is ok to order tap water in restaurants. Usually "tap water" was understood. We never experienced any hesitation from a waiter to bring tap instead of bottled water. I think the locals are quite proud of their water. In Ljubljana, we had several restaurants with tap water at the ready. (It was really just the Michelin 3-star restaurant with waiters who speak perfect English where tap water was not understood and we were charged.)
Useful words:
Pekarna--bakery
Pastries:
Fetiche Patisserie: if you like cakes, this is a must-visit spot. The flavors are intense and the presentation adorable. They can compete with the best in Paris or elsewhere.
We very much enjoyed the cake appreciation in Slovenia. Most cafes had a nice selection of pretty decent cakes.
Above: Fetiche Patisserie's raspberry rose cake, Yuzu cake, and assorted others in the case. 7-7.50 Euros each. (We also tried the black sesame chocolate cake. it was equally good)
Restaurants
In high season, it is wise to make reservations in advance at restaurants. We were here in low season (mid-November) and a few of these spots filled up after 6 PM. Even when they don't, or when you are trying to eat early, this is a culture (like Croatia and Bulgaria) where reservations are very much appreciated and will also get you "the nice table" if nothing else.
Really great versions of traditional foods. We started with scallops on lemony mashed potatoes and polenta with smoked cheese sauce. These were fabulous and big enough that they could each be a small-sized dinner. For main courses, we had beef goulash which was a huge portion with lots of meat that was not too fatty, a good sauce, and polenta squares. We also had the duck confit with sour cherries which was excellent. Our only complaint is that
the waiter should have told Dan that he was ordering two dishes with polenta and arugula as the sides. However, the polenta and arugula were good and somehow we managed to eat it all.
Probably best to make a reservation at this place. We were here in the low, low season at 6 pm and they started turning away folks with no reservations.
Solid versions of traditional foods. We had risotto and gnocci. Very friendly service and a bonus glass of house-made teranino (fortified red wine).
This is the bakery owned by chef Ana Ros (3 star Michelin restaurant in the countryside, reviewed below, and featured on Chef's Table). The bread is good and some combinations are interesting. We had a cruffin filled with honey buttercream, apple strudel flavor and rum-soaked raisins. The raisins were chopped up so only provided the flavor, which was good. We also had a peanut chocolate cookie. It was pretty good: soft with the right sweet/salty balance, but not enough nut flavor and chocolate chunks too small. We also tried the chocolate croissant which was good but didn't have enough chocolate. That is usually our complaint about chocolate croissants though).
Before all that sweetness, we had a sandwich with eggplant, firm sheep cheese, tomato, and herbs with baked yeast cream. This was a good sandwich on nice focaccia. The Michelin restaurant menu features many fermented or yeasty flavors, so if you can't manage the nearly $300 bill for dinner there, get a sando with something like "baked yeast cream" and you will have a good enough idea of what the salad course is like at Hisa Franko.
We first saw chef Ana Ros and her restaurant featured on the TV show Chef's Table. Her story is a lovely one and the images of both the food and the location were compelling. So, we thought, as long as we are in Central Europe, why not work in a visit?
To do that, we planned time with a rental car in Istria, Croatia, then drove (through Italy and then to Slovenia), spending the night at Hisa Franko after dinner. The next day we drove to Lake Bled, then the airport in Lijibliana to drop off the rental car, and took a taxi into the city.
If you don't want to rent a car, you can fly into Udine, Italy and take an expensive taxi perhaps?
In other words, getting to Hisa Franko is at least half the fun of booking a dinner with them. It's about her story, the way her food highlights the area, and it's the countryside itself.
Now for the food. We enjoyed most of the dishes. It's nice to see the local foods and stories, especially in her country setting and house. A "classic" Hisa Franko dish of corn beignets with fermented cottage cheese was fabulous. We also really enjoyed a simple baked potato with cream and caviar--classic combo but she baked the potato inside a shell of hay, salt, and egg white. This made it fun to eat, including crumbling the salted shell onto the potato and smelling the hay. They also acknowledged Dan's birthday and our anniversary with a bottle of Ana-made spirits and a white chocolate cake with pear filling, and a bouquet of roses.
We did not think it was comparable to other 3-star Michelin restaurants we have been to. There was one dish that was actually off. Sarah didn't finish it and Dan sneezed for about 5 minutes. We also thought there should have been a bread course and a cheese course included. (A cheese course was offered for an additional charge. We were too full to try it.) The "Funky" wine pairing was actually bad and very expensive. But all that said, we still enjoyed the overall experience. She's supporting an entire town (it has doubled in size with her employees) and the food is good and the location stunning, the story is nice, the cows are pleasant and the cats are friendly. We would recommend it to others who indulge in Michelin restaurants or similar on a regular basis, but probably not recommend it to those who will splurge on one expensive restaurant in their whole lives.
Photos above: 3 photos outside, pre-dinner drinks if you choose, one of the cats, view into the breakfast room (also used as a second dining room for dinner), gifts of amaro and flowers, breakfast spread.
We stayed in the Hisa Franko hotel, which they describe as basic accommodations. The beds were comfortably firm and the rushing water from the stream lovely. Breakfast is included and that was a very good spread, though we were confounded by the extra charges for some things. Granola was provided "and if you want milk or yogurt with it that's an additional charge." I just asked for milk with my coffee and used that. If you are staying in the neighboring town instead of the Hisa Franko hotel, they will let you add on breakfast if they have room.
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