Restaurateur
Saveliy Libkin

Concerning that thing that the cows doesn’t attract much the citizens of Ljubljana hanged the easel…
It is really needed to shock the tourists with someting…
And if we will take into account and that thing that the residents of Ljubljana leave the city for weekend,
then the tourists in two opened restaurants here from the barman the following:
Only the traffic lights and we work at the weekend in our city:)

Slovenia

Tags: путешествия, Словения, Photo

The question of the national cuisines and how much they are interesting does nor raise doubts…
The half of the tourists want to taste the typical dishes of one or another city\country where they spend their vocation. It is clear that if the demand is exist  then there are enough restaurants oriented on the tourists exactly and which specialize in only that thing to represent the domestic, local or national cuisine the most bright and precise.

When I travel I find out beforehand what interesting dishes are cooked in one or another region and what restaurants stand out for cooking the specialities too.

When I have prepared to the trip to Slovenia I did not create illusions because any of the looked over sources did not note the Slovenian gastonomic pleasures.

In the result my daughter and I have found one home restaurant ( Gostišče - in local languege) Jurg, in the small town with the same name situatedin 4 km from Rogaska.

The owner Greg Narat cooks in the restaurant . Two cooks help him and two waiters serve the guest by turns.
The owner lives near the restaurant and his wife with the child are at the restaurant constantly. In general it is difficult to call this a business but you can eat there. At least the nonpretentious dishes in combination with home marketing give the result. We have come back there four times.
Though the food is primitive in whole but it is delicious. The owner and his restaurant do not pretend to the oddities and pseodo gourmet tricks in food but … everyting is local-clear-delicious.
It is interesting to work with local cuisines. The products are local, the cooks are local and the tourists like a good local food. The important word  – a good food.
in the Jurg  the local, good food is served by the way it costs the adequate money 15- 20 Euros per person without a wine.

The travel agent in the hotel has recommended us one more restaurant which specializes in the national cuisine and he recommended it as a famouse and popular place.
On Saturday for lunch we have come to Celje, to the restaurant Gostilna pri Kmetec.
We have arrived there in the very lunchtime. all the guests of the restaurant are tourists, so we were not surprised much by the silent greeting and cold-removed service. All the names in the menu are in three languages, so everything is readed more or less clear. We have ordered the small portions of the meat snacks and the dish from the deer and other game with several garnishes and the salad for two persons. Beforehand we have specified what exactly we will get …,the answer was standard …you will get a venison and game plus potatoes etc.

The snack was expected enough…several slices of the salami-prosciutto with salad leaves and a piece of tomato. When the bowl with the main course was served we have hold our breath….

The dish was consisted from about 6 types of the garnish and all these have floated in the sauce with the pieces od the stewed  venison. No less then a kilogram and a half of food did not seemed the be freshly made but there was no smell of the spoiled food. So we have tried to taste all the componenets of the garnsh and we have reached the meat. It is difficult to describe that thing which was named the garnish because there were a porridges and a pancake roll with curd and a potatoes and  a pear  and an apple… . At that everithing was as if cooked and laid out in the form of hill to the ceramic plate.
It looks like the dish was arranged with the remains form the next banquet and it was served as the main and special dish of the restaurant.

Having tried and  having convinced of the little eatability of everything including the cold rubber meat I have asked the chef to come  up to our table. The chef has noded and has talked with approval something about the mistake of the waiter… At that in spite of the language barrier  the chef understood that the staff has missed the mark  and they failed to get rid of «this». In a few minutes the another waiter came to us and asked would we like a dessert. After the refusal she left us for 10 minutesapproximately. «The dish» in the dishevelled look was taken away. I have asked for the check and I got it in a moment.

Everything in the check  pointed out that questions and claims to the eatability were not noted.
We have paid 55 Euros for the non eated meal we went to buy the cookies to the shop.
I have decide that it would be incorrect to argue and wrangle further as the mood was spoilt and I didn’t want to spoil it more. In short  55 Euros were paid for that I won’t spoil my mood further.
The abominable place…the most abominable within the last several years of the restaurant tourism. 

If you will be in Slovenia I recommend to keep clear of the «popular» restaurant Gostilna pri Kmetec.

We went to Zagreb for one day.
It is big enough city. It is bears a strong resemblance to Ukrainian province. it seems that the fronts,the roads,the infrastructure are present  but  nominal mostly . When it was time to look for the restaurant we have decided not to risk and chose the restaurant Le Bistro in the most expensive hotel in the city.

It is indicated in the menu that the restaurant offers the authentic French cuisine and the specialities of Croatia.
The waiter has spoken English but he has faltered answering the question what can you recommend and asked the counter-questions for a long time… We have ordered the mozzarella with tomatoes and the salad with avocado and the ravioli with ricotta as a main course.
The food is satisfactory, the service is enough. The taste of the dishes resembles more the tourist cafes in Milan but not the French cuisine.

I associate the Croatian food with a huge selection of fish in Dubrovnik but there weren’t fresh fish in the  five-star Regent hotel. The restaurant was empty. There were only couple except us there.

Also the positive enough recollection has left the visit of Slovenian town Jerusalem.
The continuous vineyards transplanted radially to the sun and the decent hotel at the main and only square of the town. We have had a meal in the hotel. The interior is the provincial classics. The silver-plated  covers, the expensive line of glassware and very expencive chinaware…. Everything is very decent and promising in a grand  manner. The soup was delicious indeed. By the name made from the pumpkin and as it was turned out it is cooked from the several types of  pumpkin with the pumpkin seeds. It is an excellent dish. The main course was somewhat simpler but it is also deserves the firm four. The only thing which made the restaurant dull is the empty room in which there were only two Italians except us.

Here and further below you can see several interesting photoes from Jerusalem

Tags: gostilna pri kmetec, Restaurants, Словения

Upon a request for restaurants of Slovenia the Michelin guide gives in the results only the restaurants of Italy and Austria…

It is more or less clear what to eat in Slovenia, it is Europe still. There are no bounds and the alike more or less prices do its stuff. Even in the medium shop you can find 5-6 types of fresh salad and the decent enough selection of meat. The fish is expensive at the market but the assortment is decent too, though it is more poor then in Paris.
The sitiation with the restaurants is quite different. There are no restaurants there. Maybe we look for them in the wrong place, maybe we look for them in a wrong way, maybe we ask for them incorrectly  but in any way we have no luck with the restaurants never.
We have passed four cities and about 800 kilometers along Slovenia and we did not find  food. Today we were adviced again to visit restaurant Amadeus in the city Ptuj. It seams that the menu isn’t long, it seems that the waiter is not a boy, it seems that everything is quite ususal… and only when they served us the main courses I have wanted to go home. We have met the chef before the main course. His name is Branko and he has worked in Odessa in the Mercator 8 years ago. I haven’t visisted this restaurant as it’s guests have spoken bad about the cuisine. Now I uderstand why. I do not understand how such people can be named the cooks. Under the decent for reading name Turkey Escalope with curry rice was served the overdone sole poured over with starched gravy with tinned pineapples and peaches. My kebeb from several types of meat was swimming in the hot  ketchup delited with water with green pea and cauliflower, carrot etc. It was the skewer on the sides of wich were the sausage cutted in the form of frill and also several pieces of someting  meat but warmed at best.  The decore is like in Soviet canteen. The waiter does not speak Russian and it seems he does not speak English too. So the feedback was pointless. If anyone knows the decent restaurants in Slovenia, please write…We will be here 10 days still.


Some more photoes from the Amadeus.

Tags: Restaurants, Словения