Chef Ana Roš is one of the most renowned chefs in Europe if not in the world. I first heard about her in the Netflix Show Chef’s table. The strong connection she has to her roots in the Soča Valley in Slovenia and the originating ingredients and dishes from this region were so inspiring that I had to visit her restaurant.
With her exceptional innovative and yet traditional dishes she has rightfully achieved the 38th place in the 50th best restaurant list. And when in June 2020 the first edition of the Slovenian Michelin guide was revealed, Hiša Franko immediately received two Michelin stars.
Atmosphere.
Arriving at the stunning Soča Valley.
To reach this remote place, you have different options, you can drive in from Austria or Italy. No matter which option you choose both will take you for the last hour through the stunning Soča Valley at the feet of the alps with its beautiful emerald river.
Hiša Franko.
The place consists of different houses. That are the wine shop, guest rooms and the restaurant itself. When you first arrive, you’ll be surprised about the number of cars in the parking lot in front of the houses after driving through the remote area and almost seeing no one for the last hour.
The houses look very romantic. They are painted in yellow and pink, flowers are growing along the facade of the house and a small patio can be found in the centre. When you are staying in one of the guest rooms, you can check in at the wine shop and will be guided to your room which is either above the restaurant or the wine shop.
Our room was above the restaurant which made the walk to the restaurant 3m short. You take the indoor stairs, come across the kitchen and land at the entrance of the restaurant. The seating area at Hiša Franko is divided into two rooms, one in the main house and one wintergarden that was added to the front of the house. We were sitting at the bright and open wintergarden and absolutely loved it.
Food.
Nature is the source.
The produce at Hiša Franko are coming from what the nature has to offer, regional and seasonal. Nature in the Soča Valley is dairy, and meat based, Chef Ana Roš, uses a lot of cheese and its by-product in her menu. Further the region is rich of trout, deer, goats, fruits, and wild plants that are incorporated in the dishes as well.
Summer menu 2020.
When we visited in August, the SUMMER menu was inspired by the last chapter of her new book “Sun and Rain”.
In my eyes, the kitchen is a symbiosis of three elements: the territory, the season and the personality of the chef.
A. Roš
Here you find pictures of the different courses with the ingredients, I highlight my favourite dishes.
Menu.
Young corn – roasted young corn with brown butter and hollandaise.
The corn had a very intense corn taste which was so well combined with the heavy and buttery tasting sauce hollandaise.
Finger bites.
Like a kombu – cured sardine, seaweed, black lemon & plantago tacos and wild plants & apricot tartelette, baby carrot, blue cheese.
Mountain yoghurt Tzatziki style.
This dish was amazing. Inside the yoghurt bubble was a second bubble of liquid food. Both explode in your mouth at the same time.
Rosette, purslane, local beans, local pit cheese, rose and walnuts & Istrian summer truffle bite.
Buckwheat beignet, sour ricotta, porcini mushrooms.
Fork bites.
Cold almond soup and peach.
Roasted green tea consomé, zucchini and Adriatic tuna fish.
Pasta filled with suckling pig of Krškopolje breed, sour cherries and elder blossom, wild horseradish.
This dish was one of my favourites. The spicy taste of the horseradish was very unexpected but yet so well combined with the subtly tasting meat filled past.
Trout trilogy from nose to tail – trout fillet, beurre blanc, poppy seeds and salted gooseberries & trout skin with trout belly emulsion and trout liver bottarga & Verbena sensed trout consommé, kaffir lime.
Roasted corn tortilla, drežnica lamb tartare, wild mustard, fake guacamole of lovage and broccoli.
Roebuck, beeswax and bee pollen garum, preserved berries, wild mushrooms.
Sweet convertions.
Plum and meadowsweet sorbet, cider of acacia flowers, plum juice and mezcal.
How creative it to make a sorbet out of meadowsweet? The taste was unique, slightly bitter, something I haven’t tasted before.
Tolminc cheese mochi filled with pear butter and elder blossom vinegar, hazelnuts.
This is a different mochi to the one you know. The Tolminc cheese has a quite strong taste that was translated into the mochi dessert, very interesting and unexpected.
Sour milk ice-cream and pinus mugo cones, dry plumes.
Summer fruits and spicy salt.
With another glass of wine.
Selection of aged Tolminc cheese from Valter’s cellar.
As cheese lovers we had to have the cheese selection. It consisted of one-year-old, two-year-old, three-year-old and four-year-old Tolminc cheese. We liked the three-year-old Tolminc cheese the most, the consistency and the taste were in the best combination.
End.
It was such an amazing visit which broadened our culinary horizons. You will learn the umcombinable ingredients can be combined if you are Ana Roš. Her cuisine is called, expressive, intense, and unorthodox for a reason.
We truly enjoyed our stay and can highly recommend it to any food enthusiast. Her team will make you feel at home.
The restaurant is taking strict COVID-19 measurements and remains open.
To read more about the restaurant, have a look at their website.
“Picked in the morning, served in the afternoon” – Restaurant De Kas, Amsterdam