Where to stay

Domačija Firbas

Try home-cured ham, local cheese, bone broth and gibanica (curd cheese cake), and traditional pear brandy. Bed and breakfast from £33. Four-course menu: £13. Cogetinci, 00 386 27 03 50 90, http://firbas.com

Grand Hotel Primus

Elegant hotel that serves local fare, such as Ptuj’s famous chicken. Double rooms from £125. Three-courses from £17. Ptuj, 00 386 2 749 45 00, http://sava-hotels-resorts.com...

Hotel Livada Prestige

Spa hotel with thermal waters on tap in the rooms, and superb food by Borut Jovan. Doubles from £135. Three courses from £22. Moravske Toplice, 00 386 25 12 50 55, http://sava-hotels-resorts.com

Hotel Grad Otocec

Fairy-tale Relais & Châteaux castle with contemporary rooms, a riverside setting and elegant dining. Doubles from £225. Menus from £30 to £110. Otocˇ ec, 00 386 73 84 89 00, http://terme-krka.si

Tourist Farm Štern

Agriturismo amid Alpine meadows near Maribor. Bed and breakfast from £28 per person. Fram, 00 386 26 01 54 00, http://kovacnik.com

Matjaževa Domacija

This 150-year-old, family-run country house offers a double room with kitchen, living room and spare bed for €60. Paha, 00 386 41 880 813, http://matjazeva-domacija.si

Zidanica Ucman

Comfortable cottages set among the vines. From £55 per night, including a fridge pack of bread, cheese, salami and a carafe of the local country wine. Paha, http://zidanice.si

Travel Information

Slovenia’s currency is the euro and the country is one hour ahead of GMT. Lying in the heart of Europe, Slovenia offers a contrast between the alpine mountains, Mediterranean coastline and the caves, thermal springs and lush forests of the east. Temperatures in the diverse terrains differ – but summer averages rise above 20°C, with winter temperatures falling to around -2°C in January.

Getting There

Easyjet (http://easyjet.com) flies from London Stansted to Ljubljana, from where Maribor is approximately two hours by train.
Wizz Air (http://wizzair.com) operates flights from London Luton to Ljubljana.

RESOURCES
I Feel Slovenia (http://slovenia.info), the official website of the tourist board, has comprehensive information on geography, travel, climate, accommodation, culture, events and even 360° panoramic views of various picturesque locations.

Further Reading

The Food and Cooking of Slovenia by Janez Bogataj (Aquamarine, £15.99). A showcase of Slovenian food that brings together more than 60 traditional recipes from across the regions, including smoked sausages, stuffed turnips and the famed gibanica of the north-east.
Slovenia and the Slovenes by Cathie Carmichael and James Gow (C Hurst & Co). There are few history books that focus solely on Slovenia but this tome provides an overview of the country, taking in politics, economics and culture.

Where to eat

Unless stated, prices are per person for three courses, excluding wine.

Javornik

Hearty fare prepared in a wood-fired oven is served in a surprisingly formal restaurant setting, although there is also a casual bar for quick dining in this popular roadhouse where pork, beef and home-made cheese ravioli are the specialities. Tasting menus of local food from £52 for two people. Sˇ entrupert, 00 386 73 43 45 34, http://javornik.com

MAK

Genius chef-proprietor David Vracˇko, who has worked in many of the world’s top kitchens from Spain to South Africa, has returned home to offer some of the most innovative food in Slovenia. Lunch from £22. Dinner from £40. Maribor, 00 386 26 20 00 53, http://restavracija-mak.si

Tavern Debeluh

Jure Tomič, one of the enfants terribles of Slovenian cuisine, has elevated the grill restaurant started by his father into a gastronomic dining destination. Don’t miss his signature starter of beef tartare topped with foie gras, chanterelles and quail’s egg soufflé. But leave room for a pljeskavica– marinated fillet of chopped beef grilled and topped with the purest form of butter, taken straight from the top of the raw milk churn and lightly salted. Dinner from £26. Brežice, 00 38 67 49 61 070, http://okusidolenjske.si

Rajh Inn

Tanja Pintarič is a fourth-generation chef whose grandmother is still in the kitchen every day making her own version of the famed gibanica cake. But while she serves up traditional dishes like bograč, the Slovenian take on goulash, Tanja and her husband Damir have created a contemporary vibe and create modern versions of local dishes, such as asparagus with buckwheat and pumpkin oil mayo, on a beautiful terrace. £30 for seasonal
six-course menu. Murska Sobota, 00 386 25 43 90 98, http://rajh.si

Food Glossary

Bogracˇ

Slovenia’s version of goulash combines three kinds of meat – pork, beef and venison – with paprika, cumin, tomato paste, red wine and potatoes.

Cvicˇek

Home-made wine exclusive to south-eastern areas of Slovenia, made from a mix of red and white grapes and preferred young and distinctly acidic.

Gibanica

Curd cheese cake made using fine baking and layering skills, most notably in the north-eastern area of Premurkje, where a protected recipe specifies multiple layers of apple, walnuts and poppy seeds as well as curd, piled high and topped with strudel dough. Elsewhere the slightly sweetened curd and egg filling is poured onto a base of yeast dough and topped only with a crème fraîche glaze before the edges of the pastry are folded over and the flat cake set to bake, pizza-style, in a hot oven till lightly set and browned.

Hren

(pronounced ‘kraine’). Horseradish sauce, sometimes mixed with grated beetroot

Mlecˇne kumare

Julienned cucumber mixed with crème fraîche, paprika and chives, often served as a delicious summer appetiser

Murke

Potatoes mashed to a thin purée with butter and milk, into which ribbons of shaved cucumber are mixed.

Potica

Slightly sweet yeast cake with spirals of tarragon filling, though many variations exist.

Pljeskavica

Minced beef, served as a large grilled patty in flatbread – Slovenia’s answer to the gourmet burger.

Vila Istenicˇ

Named for the sparkling wine that underpins it, Slovenia’s favourite summer cocktail sees the eponymous bubbly poured into tumblers packed with mint and ice cubes.

Food and Travel Review

The country’s Italian influence is the element that tends to strike first-time visitors to Slovenia. Its sliver of sparkling Adriatic coast, pasta-and-polenta culture and award-winning, Friulistyle wines are as familiar as they are exceptional.

Yet while the capital, Ljubljana, lies only two hours from Venice, and the borders of the two countries were for centuries part of the same empire, Slovenia’s links with Italy tell less than half the story. Austria, Hungary and Croatia also nudge the borders of this food-filled little country, while its picturesque eastern side clings fiercely to a culinary culture unknown in its more cosmopolitan west.

Eat polenta in the east and you can expect it to be soft and creamy, laced with smoky cheese and topped with barely cooked asparagus tips. For pasta, read home-made noodles rich with eggs, into which the cook has folded ceps and chanterelles freshly foraged from the abundant forests. Although Slovenia’s golden grain basket stretches for miles across the north-eastern flatlands that were once an ancient inland sea, farmhouse bread here is as likely to be made with buckwheat or spelt as it is with the wheat that’s used in the loaves enjoyed in the cities. And whereas olive oil rules in the west, pumpkin seed oil is prized in the east; the seeds themselves turn up as a crunchy praline to accompany ice cream (often drizzled with the oil to great, nutty effect) or roasted and salted for a snack.

For such a small country – roughly the size of Wales – Slovenia is diverse in its landscapes and culinary culture. Start in the southeastern province of Dolenjska – all verdant river valleys dotted with mushroom-dome churches and fairy-tale castles – and segue to the broad yellow horizons of the north-eastern Prekmurje region, for nearly a millennium part of Hungary’s territory and famous for every kind of pork product. In and around this eastern corridor are the alpine hills of the Pohorje region, the ancient town of Ptuj, colonised by the Romans, and Maribor, Slovenia’s elegant and lively second city.

Wherever you travel in the east, expect a dual-pronged attack from farmhouse hosts still proudly recreating the dishes of their ancestors, and the hot young chefs who, while not forsaking ‘grandmother cuisine’, are adding their own innovative twists. Given how many have worked abroad in Michelin-starred kitchens, it may not be long before some leave a country whose culinary talent Michelin inspectors have yet to discover, in search of a wider audience. In the meantime, travellers seeking a truly original and exciting style of central European cooking should hit eastern Slovenia sooner rather than later.

Surprise is around every corner when it comes to a form of tastebud titillation that also provides a feast for the eyes. Although we dined at a Relais & Châteaux castle on our first night in Dolenjska, its thunder had been stolen by an assault on our appetites at a roadhouse whose wood-fired oven we simply couldn’t pass by. Don’t expect pizza at Javornik, however: ‘Here we only heat the wood to 200˚C, a much gentler temperature, in order not to overcook the meat,’ explains Goran Pevec, lifting from the oven a delicious dish of zlinkrof – home-made, curd-filled ravioli that’s liberally sprinkled with cheese, then melted and bubbled to perfection.

Pork ribs emerge succulent and sizzling from the oven. It is simply impossible to travel anywhere in Slovenia without encountering every kind of pig product imaginable. Crackling and scratchings, often in combination with back fat, are enjoyed with as much relish as pork, ham and salami. This is, after all, a country where almost every rural inhabitant seems to keep their own hogs; guests who do not have the benefit of home rearing book ahead for Javornik’s big weekend speciality – suckling pig. But when most locals come to Javornik, they want a change from home cooking. For them, Goran creates a delicious dish of tagliata – rump steak pulled out of the fire and sliced just before it’s done, then topped with eggs, sour cream and a liberal grating of fresh horseradish before being slipped back into the oven for five minutes to set to a delicious, spicy custard.

The sophisticated and rather cosmopolitan little dishes served at the exquisite Hotel Grad Otocˇ ec struggle to compete with such seductive, rustic fare, but the elegant dining terrace is a lovely place to lounge beside the emerald-green Krka river, and to enjoy the super wines of this south-eastern corner of Slovenia. These include the incredibly accomplished, award-winning sparklers from Janez Istenicˇ , who has won more than 60 gold medals for wines produced using méthode champenoise from pinot noir and chardonnay, with those heady, toasty notes not generally achieved outside Champagne.

His triumph has been a half-century-long struggle: ‘Times were very tough for entrepreneurs in the former Yugoslavia, and only got easier in the 1990s after independence,’ says Janez, who made his first 100 bottles in 1967 after being sent to study winemaking in France. He now produces 150,000 bottles a year, including some incorporating the indigenous rumeni plavec grape. Sipping on a flute of Prestige Brut 2003 as we overlook the sloping green horizons of the Bizeljsko-Sremicˇ region, we see why Janez has inspired 140 small producers to try their own hands at making Slovenian bubbly.

It was a far less fine but no less beloved sparkling wine with which we were greeted by Matjaž Pavlin at his 150-year-old country house, Matjaževa Domacija, in the hilltop hamlet of Paha, overlooking an incredibly beautiful valley. Here they entertain visitors with traditional food and drink, and Matjaž also owns a clutch of converted vineyard cottages for lodging high above or among the vines in Dolenjska. Every householder in this area seems to have inherited a little cottage in which to make cvicˇ ek, a wine from mixed white and red grapes, which is definitely an acquired taste – much more quaffable as fruity bubbles than when still, and slightly sour.

Matjaž and his wife Marta are fiercely proud of the local culinary traditions and at their home, preserved to show how life was lived 150 years ago – which also has a double room for guests (see ‘Where to Stay’) – serve us a traditional farm supper. It starts with pâté and ham alongside the sliced raw onion, cucumbers, tomatoes and peppers that signal the arrival of summer in east Slovenia. Several kinds of sausage and štruklji – delicious dumplings stuffed with curd cheese – follow, and Matjaž’s witty ‘declension’ of cvicˇ ek means we enjoy the much more agreeable white and red wines that constitute the mix as separate, single varieties – a fine accompaniment to rustic fare. Cherries straight from the tree outside, plus a snifter of Matjaž’s excellent home-made plum brandy, are the only dessert we can manage before repairing to the Ucman family’s modern, utterly charming cottage across the road, with its huge balcony and spectacular view of the vines and valley.

If vineyard cottages dominate in the south-east, it’s all about tourist farms in the north-east, where the culinary offerings will inevitably include tunka (a deliciously piggy spread of melted smoked pork belly); the PDO smoked ham known as šunka; salami; and bone broth enriched with home-made egg noodles. Expect the celebrated gibanica curd cheese cake for dessert, most likely tipped as a single layer onto yeast dough before being topped with a mixture of sour cream, eggs and sugar, then run into a hot oven for half an hour. Applecheeked Angelika and her daughter-in-law Barbara demonstrate the technique at Tourist Farm Štern, where you can enjoy a breath of alpine air high in the hills above Maribor, close to the Austrian border. In Prekmurje, almost touching Hungary, visitors find their curd cake layered with apples, poppy seeds, walnuts and strudel dough to produce the finest form of gibanica, arguably the most nutritious and delicious – cake in the world, surprisingly unsweet and a meal in itself. Master charcutier Janko Kodila is involved in preserving the tradition of gibanica, which has been accorded its own PDO here, and a toothsome slice is as much a reason to visit his shop and kitchen as the excellent pork products and home-made dried noodles he sells. Kodila’s neighbour has created thatched self-catering cottages for visitors who want to enjoy this region’s cuisine while eschewing the crowds that descend by bus on the spa hotels of Murska Sobota, known for its healing waters.

Still, for as long as Borut Jovan is cooking at the nearby Livada Prestige, it’s worth braving the hotel’s slightly despondent à la carte dining room to enjoy outstanding culinary creations, like his soup of ceps foraged from the nearby hills with an egg lightly poached in apple vinegar hiding in the bottom of the cup. This is followed by local zander (pike-perch) served on a large stone straight out of the river in which it was caught, accompanied by hren – the ubiquitous horseradish sauce, here mixed with beetroot in the eastern European tradition – and a shot glass of dill soup. Then comes celeriac topped with pork belly cooked sous vide for 12 hours before it’s served with baby leeks, chicory and a slice of rich goose liver. The clean tang of rhubarb in a platter of dessert delights is the perfect finish.

Even without its earthy and original food, Prekmurje would be worth visiting for the landscape. Head north from Dolenjska over the vineyard-dotted hills known as Jeruzalem and suddenly you are in a different realm, where golden flatlands stretch for miles towards the horizon. This area sat below the Pannonian Sea in prehistoric times, and it’s not surprising, given its history and proximity to the border, that Hungarian was until quite recently the main language. A rather cut off region with its own very distinct culture – parallels with Cornwall come to mind – it’s also no surprise to learn that Prekmurje declared itself an independent republic in 1919 before it was swiftly absorbed into Maribor county.

Make the short journey to Maribor itself and again the landscape and culture change dramatically. Here the Austrian border is close, and Tirolean-style hills loom above the city, showcasing the alpine appeal of northern Slovenia. It’s possible to stay overnight on a tourist farm breathing pure mountain air, with only crickets at night and cockerels at dawn breaking the blessed silence, yet within half an hour be in the heart of the city’s riverside buzz. And it is in Maribor, which almost became part of Austria in 1918, that you find the greatest sense of Slovenian nationalism. There is particular pride in having preserved a national language that both Italianisation and Germanisation programmes, imposed during turbulent periods of fascist occupation, failed to suppress.

As well as a medieval castle, cobbled streets, the cultural vibe engendered by a university population and what is claimed as the world’s oldest vine (proudly incorporated into a wine museum on the river bank), Maribor fields perhaps the country’s greatest culinary innovation in the hands of David Vracˇ ko. At his MAK, sublime is the only word to describe a melting carpaccio with a nub of warm bone marrow on the plate and a side of gazpacho topped with tomato foam – the essence of summer in a Martini glass. It only gets better with veal ravioli and slices of black truffle in a creamy salsify soup followed by a veal cutlet smoked on the spot and served with a sweetbread bhaji topped with onion ragout.

Vracˇ ko’s genius does not come as a total surprise, since the previous night he had delighted us with soupçons of divine street food at Slado Lent, Maribor’s riverside festival, which is one giant street party. The tent not to miss is the one hosted annually by Violeta and Uroš Mencinger, who write a guide to Slovenia’s best restaurants and invite guest chefs from all over the country to prepare offerings throughout the festival. At less than £3 a portion, you can get a quick taste of the best of the country’s gastronomy. Fancy street food at Slado Lent and avant-garde cuisine at MAK are hard acts to follow for any chef, but our final meal in Slovenia proves that a skilled cook showcasing local products in a simple but technically perfect way will always win the day. Picturesque Ptuj, the country’s oldest city, with Stone Age, Celtic and Roman roots, has a centuries-old poultry tradition, and at the Grand Hotel Primus, Slaviša Amidžic serves us a fine chicken leg, crumbed and deep-fried in the local manner, accompanied by murke – a thin, creamy potato purée laced with ribbons of shaved cucumber. A dessert of ice cream, pannacotta and shortbread, all based on pumpkin seed oil and served with an irresistible dish of candied pumpkin seeds on the side, shows off another fine local product, at once both traditional and highly modern. Quite exquisite white wines – in succession a Sancerre-like sauvignon blanc, a fragrant, dry traminer and a seductive muscat, all from Pullus, a local producer who took the chicken for his name and emblem – also leave us aching to return and discover more. Unusually, we enjoy our digestif the following morning, in the company of an attractive blonde who looks as though she has stepped straight out of Harvey Nichols. Julijana Kejzˇar is indeed a regular at the Knightsbridge department store, but as a supplier rather than shopper. ‘They love our blueberry brandy,’ explains the economist who, with her dental technician husband, has managed to turn a still inherited from his hobbyist mother into a profitable spirits business. Locally known as borovnica, theirs is a refined version of the purple spirit that seems to grace the start of many meals in this part of the country, where blueberries are plentiful.

The Kejzˇar poire William was not the first pear liqueur we encountered in Slovenia – there is a tradition in the east of tying an empty bottle around a small fruit and removing it when the pear is fully grown, to immerse the fruit in schnapps before capping. ‘But I think you get bitterness from the pear like that, and ours is much smoother,’ says Julijana, pouring her own, very fine take, made using a more orthodox method whereby the fruit is fermented in the still before the spirits are added. We also enjoy a tot of fragrant strawberry liqueur before progressing to the honey brandy – another Harvey Nicks favourite. It’s barely ten in the morning but the gentle spirits make a lovely accompaniment to crusty buckwheat bread spread with melty tunka and the world’s sweetest, ripest strawberries, picked that morning. Blessed with fabulous plump and juicy fruits, fine breads and wines, and perhaps the world’s most diverse and accomplished lexicon of charcuterie, Slovenia is a place to feast any time of day. And we haven’t even got to today’s gibanica..