On Tuesday, 20 November 2018, the gala event upon the issue of the first independent guide Gault & Millau Slovenia paid a tribute to the Slovenian gastronomy and awarded 8 prizes for 2019.
The flattering title of the 2019 Chef of the Year was awarded to Igor Jagodic (Strelec), and the title of the best restaurant was awarded to Hiša Franko and Gostilna pri Lojzetu, as both received the same number of points and four hats by the Gault&Millau inspectors. Other awards included: Best Waiter (Matic Šubic), Young Talent (Mojmir Marko Šiftar), an award for the contribution to the progress of the Slovenian contemporary cuisine (Janez Bratovž), Chef of the Future (David Vračko), Traditional Cuisine Chef (Meta Repovž) and Best POP (Odprta kuhna).
According to the authors, the issue of the guide is an important step for the Slovenian cuisine and also tourism, since our country is becoming increasingly established as a culinary destination.
The restaurants, which have been awarded three or four hats, and the wineries from our wine-growing regions presented their dishes at the event. Four hats were assigned to six restaurants and three hats were awarded to 25 restaurants and gostilnas. This event presented the best Slovenia has to offer, we tasted the dishes of 27 incredible chefs and the wines of 21 top wineries. Japanese chef Ippei Uemura received a lot of attention as well when he carved a 50-kilogram tuna at the event to depict how different types of cutting can affect the taste of delicious tuna and even emphasise it.
"I am happy Gault&Millau Slovenia confirmed how incredible the Slovenian cuisine actually is and demonstrated that we have excellent wines, which are one of the best in the world. I am convinced it will open the doors to recognition of Slovenia a bit more ajar," said Mira Šemić, Director of the Gault&Millau Slovenia.
Guests were greeted by Côme de Chérisey, owner and Director of the company which publishes the Gault&Millau guide. Great French chef Christian Le Squer, awarded with the highest rating by the guide (5 hats), was impressed by the creativity of our chefs and the quality of our ingredients. The first independent international gastronomy guide, which includes objective and independent ratings of the restaurants and wineries in Slovenia, was published in Slovenian and English. The rating system is standardised for all countries, and the restaurants, which meet the Gault&Millau criteria, can acquire one to five hats and are included in the guide. In the past eight months, anonymous inspectors travelled all around Slovenia and provided independent ratings of 130 restaurants, 50 popular gatherings (i.e. pop-up places), 50 top quality wineries and 15 small breweries.
