Slovenia’s favourite restaurant, led by the winner of The World’s Best Female Chef Award 2017, is reopening on 28th May after a long winter lockdown. As the team gets ready for the big day, Ana Roš talks to 50 Best about how Hiša Franko is changing, what innovations diners can expect and why she’s embracing a fully collaborative approach to running the restaurant
“Hiša Franko 2021 is one organism, where everybody counts and everybody is important,” says Ana Roš, the energetic, self-taught chef at the helm of the Slovenian restaurant that was voted No.38 in The World’s 50 Best Restaurants 2019, sponsored by S.Pellegrino & Acqua Panna. For Roš, 28th May will be more than just a date – it’s a symbol of recovery and hope for a positive future for the hospitality industry.
“Slovenia had one of the longest lockdowns in Europe. From March 2020 to May 2021, we operated for only 18 weeks. The reopening looks a bit neurotic, a bit chaotic, there is a little bit of panic. The feeling is like that of a child going to school for the first time, when you’re not really sure if you have everything you need in the school bag,” she reflects. “We had time to rethink a lot of things, to think about our mistakes, about the direction we would like to go into and the areas where we can improve or change.”
Hiša Franko translates as "house Franko", the name of Roš's father-in-law (image: Suzan Gabrijan)
These reflections led Roš to implement some changes at Hiša Franko – a historic country house in the village of Kobarid in Slovenia’s stunning Soča Valley, where the chef and her team have been putting out creative combinations of local produce ever since Roš and her husband took over the business in 1999. Most of all, she has been rethinking the way the restaurant is structured.
“The idea for 2021 and for the future of Hiša Franko is based on the sharing of knowledge among members of the whole team,” she highlights. “It is based on cooperation and not competition, which in the hospitality sector can be difficult to achieve.” As a result, Roš decided to set up a kitchen and service team that are in constant communication. “What we would like to achieve is a sensation that service and kitchen can be one, can be thinking in one way and can be directed in one way.”
Of the 10 people in the service team, five are sommeliers, while two focus on the restaurant’s new line of fermented and non-alcoholic drinks. “We want everyone to share knowledge, to create a cooperative way of working where everybody is contributing something to the final result,” she stresses. “Working on our fermented and non-alcoholic drinks we have a Slovenian and a South African – an amazing combination of knowledge and confrontation, but again not competition.”
Hiša Franko's kombuchas in the making
These structural changes are also leading to innovations in Hiša Franko’s menu, with the team about to launch a whole new concept for the restaurant’s bar and beverage programme. “Cocktail culture is something new for our part of Europe, where the bar has never had much importance. We are including our signature cocktails not only in the bar, but also on the menu itself. So we will have three different pairings the guest will be able to choose from,” she explains.
“This is a big step forward for us compared to previous years. One will be the Slovenian wine pairing. Then, we'll have the non-alcoholic pairing, featuring different fermentations and juices. But the one I’m most looking forward to is the ‘funky’ one, which combines Slovenian beers, international and national wines, and cocktails. In one pairing only, you get several layers of beverages that incorporate so many different fields of knowledge and brains of the house,” she says.
As well as taking stock and moving on from the lockdown, the Hiša Franko team are also holding on to the projects and accomplishments they achieved over this difficult period. “With the lockdown, the whole food chain in the countryside collapsed because of the closing of schools, kindergartens, restaurants and bars. Farmers were one small step away from poverty,” she says.
Two dishes the kitchen team has been working on: Japanese knockweed sorbet with different consistencies of peach; and black potato, anchovies and bone marrow
At this time, the team doubled down and decided to use their knowledge to make sure that products such as local milk, cottage cheese and lamb meat wouldn’t be wasted. Roš created a product line in collaboration with Slovenian supermarket Tuš, working closely with local farmers. “In the first months after the launch, we sold more than 300,000 products in a small Slovenia that has only two million inhabitants,” she highlights. “The project happened in collaboration with the whole team and helped us understand how well we can work together.”
“At the same time, it also helped our team because we didn't fire anyone and because we motivated ourselves by working and saving the most important thing for us, our first partners: nature and the farmers. Through this lockdown and this project, we understood how much everyone in the house can contribute not only to the restaurant, but also to nature.”
As a living, breathing organism full of delicious discoveries, Hiša Franko is finally ready to emerge from hibernation.
Ana Roš in Slovenia's Soča Valley (image: Benjamin Schmuck)
Reservations for Hiša Franko can be made on the restaurant’s website.
Header images by Suzan Gabrijan
‘50/50 is the new 50’ is a content series created by 50 Best and supported by S.Pellegrino with the shared aim of promoting equality, inclusivity and balance in the hospitality sector and beyond.
The World’s 50 Best Restaurants is coming back in 2021, with an awards ceremony and hybrid event programme to be hosted in Antwerp, Flanders, in October. To be the first to hear about the latest news and announcements, join the community on Instagram, Facebook, Twitter and YouTube.
