The expectations were confirmed today, a good week before the announcement of this year’s best restaurants in the world in Melbourne. The Restaurant magazine, which organizes the event, announced the list of best restaurant from positions 51 to 100.
As a newcomer on the list, the Hiša Franko restaurant ended up in the high 69th position, leaving behind culinary institutions as Chateaubriand from Paris (93rd place), Sydney’s Quay restaurant (95th place), St. John from London (91st place), Maaemo in Oslo (79th place) and the New York-based Per Se (87th place).
Trailing Hiša Franko are also restaurants headed by Ana’s predecessors to the throne of best female chef in the world: Dominique Crenn (Atelier Crenn, San Francisco, newcomer placing at number 83) and Helena Rizzo (Mani, Sao Paulo, 81st place).
This is not Slovenia’s first placement on the list of best restaurants. Before Hiša Franko there was the JB restaurant, headed by Janez Bratovž, which placed 89th in 2010.
Ana’s ascent to the top of Olympus
Roš, who has been steadily climbing to the very top of world culinary, was acknowledged as one of the best and most recognizable chefs last year – more precisely through Netflix’s series Chef's Table, where one of the episodes was dedicated to Hiša Franko and its master chef.
Since then the restaurant has faced a surge in table reservations. Ever since May, when the series was premiered, Hiša Franko has been flooded by enthusiastic Americans who fall in love with the idyllic landscape and genuine culinary artist.
Slovenia has thus received something which was previously unimaginable – culinary tourists which choose their travel destinations based on the culinary offerings. To put it in other words: tourists (usually the more refined and wealthy) first make a restaurant reservation and then start looking at the surroundings. And that is why Roš’s most recent success is so important for Slovenian tourism, if it has the desire to turn towards boutique tourism.
"The sky’s the limit"
Following her Netflix success and her crowning as best female chef in the world, Ana Roš made guest appearances across the world and was invited to some of the biggest culinary events. She cooked for a wedding in India, and at events in the Maldives, Australia, Scotland and Sochi, Russia. She is now preparing to travel to Melbourne, where as part of the 50 Best awards ceremony she will officially receive the title for best female chef in the world.
When we asked Roš today, what we could expect in the future from a restaurant such as Hiša Franko, which still feels more like an intimate family-friendly restaurant than a holy temple of high culinary, she said: "The sky’s the limit!"
By the way – after a three-month holiday Hiša Franko opens its doors again this week. Needless to say, the tables are more or less all booked until the end of the season. For some time now Ana has only been serving degustation menus. A five-course tasting menu would cost you 70 euros, while a nine-course menu costs 90 euros.
Kaja Sajovic; translated by K. J.
