We are on holiday at the moment in Slovenia, we have never been here before and started with a night in the capital city Ljubljana. They know how to do Christmas! There are amazing Christmas trees in every square and the castle has a lovely Christmas food market, where we enjoyed mulled wine under heaters. For dinner on our first night we ate at the Robba Restaurant and this is how it went.
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The ambience / the atmosphere:
On arriving outside we were immediatly drawn to the Robba. The outside is cool and welcoming, with a glass door allowing potential guests a view of what awaits them should they choose to spend their evening indulging inside. When you choose to walk through the doors, you are greeted by a warm, welcome atmosphere, where the guests are oblivious to the comings and goings of others. Each group of guests is involved in their own experience and are at home here.
The staff are on constant look out for new arrivals and welcome each one individually. Our waiter spoke more languages than I had fingers, which put us as an English couple to shame (We agreed to learning french ... again). The waiter was friendly, warm, knew the menu, and was intent on ensuring we had a great evening. His service throughout was excellent, not too slow or too pushy, I could not find fault.
The Drinks menu was great, there was lots of beer and wine on offer, with a more than adequate selection of soft drinks. The alcohol was all Slovenian in origin. Before coming on holiday, we read that Slovenia produces a lot of wine and beer, it just was not that famous and therefore did not sell as well as your Bordeaux red’s or your Amstel largers. Both the wine and beer we drank was of the same quality as well known products and went well with the meal. There is something for everyone, potentially with the exception of wine snobs who only care about the name not the wine itself.
So the important bit. The food. The part where you share a meal and your life. As newcomers to Slovenia we wanted to experience the local cuisine and the Robba provided.
I had the wild boar neck with sweet potato mash, cranberry and red wine jus, and broccoli. The wild boar was intense and rich, but was cut beautifully by the acidity in the cranberry, both of which were then lifted by the sweet potato. The jus provided a further depth of flavour that I did not expect, whilst reinforcing the boar flavour. The one disappointment was the broccoli, which was pickled, it was very acidic and when eaten with the boar etc it overpowered the dish and resulted in a very sharp experience. On its own it reminded me of strong pickled onions, delightful with cheese, but so much with the rich wild boar.
My wife had veal cheeks. I am aware this can be controversial in England, but we eat lamb and suckling pig, and I personally fail to see the difference. They were served with Cep mushrooms, mustard mash potato and spinach. The dish was well balanced, the veal cheeks perfectly cooked, falling apart in your mouth, and the mushrooms provided a great flavour on which the delicate veal could excel. The dish was wonderful.
Dessert. Recently we have realised dessert has less power over us and we have been moving towards a more savoury dining experience. Today was an exception. For dessert my wife had a chocolate fondant with peanut sauce (although it said strawberry on the menu) and whipped marscapone cream. This was a great way to finish the meal, with rich dark chocolate pudding and a delightfully nutty sauce. I had a chestnut pannacotta with chocolate crumble and dried fruit. The three parts of the meal balanced perfectly providing sweetness, acidity and bitterness to the mouth. The pannacotta was excellent, I don’t believe I have seen a dessert wobble so spectacularly whilst holding its shape, however there was a distinct lack of chestnut flavour. I love chestnut but I couldn’t find it in the pannacotta, it was excellent but there was no chestnut.
The price was very reasonable €16.50 for the main course, and we spent €54 overall for the meal. In comparison to London (the food most certainly was comparable) an absolute bargain.
We were also given a delightful blueberry liquor to finish the meal. Which my wife would like to make sure I got across how wonderful it was!
Overall score 9/10, the chestnut issue, the peanut menu issue and the broccoli not quite being on point was the reason for losing the one mark. Otherwise a truly wonderful experience.
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