Hisa Franko

We first heard of Hiša Franko and the chef, Ana Roš, while watching the second season of Chef's Table on Netflix. She had a very interesting journey to becoming a chef. When we decided to visit Slovenia, I remembered her story and looked up the restaurant. I discovered that since her appearance on the series, she has been named "The World's Best Female Chef" and her restaurant is No. 69 on the 2017 list by The World's 50 Best Restaurants. 

When we arrived for dinner, we were given a choice between a six or eleven-course tasting menu. We decided on the eleven for the full experience. 

grayling, cabbage water, red beets, pumpkin oil mayo, sedum maximum

sardine, candy lemon, fennel

dirty cuttle fish, aigretti, charcoal grilled young onion

sheep cottage cheese and bone marrow ravioli, prosciutto broth, yeast oil, hazelnuts

beef tongue, celeriac & scallops

soča trout in a spring garden

wild duck in the garden

tripe, fava beans, duck jus, cave cheese, fried nettles, chanterelles

Drežnica—Idrsko—Mexico City / 

Mountain rabbit 2.0 on vacation in Mexico

walnut meringue, 21 day kefir, pear in camomile, forest honey & polline ice cream

blood orange, black tea, granola, carrot ice & salty almond mousse

hisafranko.com

Soca Valley

We continued our journey from Lake Bled through the Triglav National Park to reach the Soča valley. Driving through the mountains, we encountered steep winding roads, the most memorable being the fifty hairpin switchbacks going through Vršič Pass (Vrsič is Slovene for "little peak" though it happens to be the highest mountain pass in Slovenia and the Eastern Julian Alps). After the pass, we entered the valley and the beginning of the Soča river, which flows from western Slovenia through to northeastern Italy. We followed it through the towns of Bovec, Kobarid (which we used as our base), to Tolmin and Most na Soči, before heading back east to Ljubljana. 

Overlooking the valley on a hilltop in the small village of Livek are four chalets. Modern and minimalist in design, the Nebesa chalets are a unique place to stay and enjoy the Julian Alps. We woke up early one morning when the valley was still asleep and quiet and admired the view of the mist-covered river from our terrace. 

nebesa.si