I went to Slovenia didn't expect to like the country, or its culture,  that much. Probably because it wasn't as popular and ditinct as, say, Italian or Scandinavian ones. And that is, in fact, true. Slovenian culture is kind of a mixture between Italian, Austrian, Hungarian and Balkan, which is very unique and charming in its own way.

And here are my 8 reasons I'm looking forward to visiting Slovenia again.

Gelateria Romantika

At first, I didn't plan to visit this gelateria since there were so many recommended ones in Ljubljana. However, I've heard that Romantika makes 'experimental' flavours, and I'm a sucker for that.

It was love at first lick, and I knew there was no going back. After trying more thann 10 gelateria in Bologna (and even more in other cities in Italy) I can say with confident that Romantika won my heart over. Not only they make creative flavours that blew my mind, like 'Ljubljanska' with ricotta and sage, which is the flavour combination for Potica, the famous cake from Slovenia, or my favourite one like 'Mediterranean' with tahini, honey and cocoa powder, the gelato here is also not too sweet, and it's clearly noticeable in a very good way. Everything tasted so natural, pear sorbet tasted like fresh pear, which was a rare find for me.

The owner of the shop took 3-week gelato making course in Bologna, and she said she put around 10-15% less sugar than in her gelato, making it taste much more pure and natural.

There is no doubt that I could choose only one gelateria in the world to go to, this one would be it.


Prekmurska Gibanica



Slovenia has a lot of delicious cake, like Kremsnita from Bled (which tasted much better than its appearance, but try it at Slaščičarna Zima!) But my favourite one was this Prekmurska Gibanica, an 8-layer cake consists of sweet pastry, grounded poppyseed mixture, cottage cheese and cooked apples.  The cake is dense, full of flavours and texture and not too sweet at all, for me is was the perfect cake for breakfast


Austrian-Italian-Hungarian-Balkan-Inspired Cuisine


As I said at the beginning, Slovenia is like a melting pot of cultures from its surrounding countries. In the region next to Hungary, traditional dishes often contains meat, like stew and goulash. Most of the  pumpkin seeds oil productions are also from there.  On the seaside towns next to Italy, the food was clearly Italian and mediterranean-inspired, including a lot of farms producing olive oil and cured meat. Inspired by Austrian food, Štruklji with both sweet and savoury fillings is a popular dish around the country, as well as Balkan street food like Borek is very cheap and popular, which is like essential stop on a night out that's ten times better than any other fast food chains.

Slovenia has it all, meat, seafood, vegetarian dishes, cheese, cured meat, wine and good bread.

Too bad it's a bit cold, otherwise I might have loved it as much as Italy.



Social Enterprises Cafes 
Skuhna is not like any other cafes in town. Even though the food wasn't, in my opnion of a person who's been exposed to ethnic food since I was born, anything spectacular, but the concept wins. Everyone but two Slovenian who work there are immigrants from different continents. Each day, the cafe has a country theme which the food served that day will be cook by someone from, say Indonesia or Kenya, and it would be a 3-course dishes from their countries. The menu and countries change everyday, depending on the chef that day.



Not only a cafe, Skuhna also has (and actually started off as) a catering business and organise food-related cultural events every once in a while. On the end of the week that I was there, they organised a Zimbabwe night with 3-course meal with traditional live music from the country.

Apart from this cafe, there's also another social enterprise cafe in town called Gostilna Dela which hire unemployed youth to work there. The cook using market-fresh ingredients and vegetables from a farm nearby, therefor the menu also changed daily according to what's available that day.


Pumpkin seed oil


I love pumpkin seed oil, in salad and on bread. It's a delicacy from Slovenia. They put it in everything here, from soup, salad to chocolate bars and pralines. Romantika even has a pumpkin seeds oil gelato!

I swear I receive no commission from this place, it's just simply so good I can't help but spreading the word.


Creative Chocolate


Nowadays every country sells chocolate as souvenir, and Slovenia is no exception. But the flavours chocolate here are impressive, from the more 'expected' one like season to chocolate with added spices like cumin, coriander seeds, pink pepper and many more. My favourite brand is Passero from Prekmurje region. Its flavours are things like cumin with pumpkin seeds or coronary seeds with raspberries.

Sound weird, I know, but it's done so well that the flavours mix and mellow with one another so beautifully.

And it's not easy to find, only in a few shops in Ljubljana and Kranj!


Buckwheat Walnut Bread


As a bread-obsess, I have to try bread from famous bakeries in any places I visit. But in Slovenia, even bread from the supermarkets is so good! Especially this one with buckwheat flour and walnuts  (Ajdov Kruh z Orehi) which I couldn't get enough of. There are two types of this bread, a denser one with more buckwheat flour, and lighter one as shown in the photo above.

It was so good it was hard for me to not eat the whole loaf all at once, and this was just from a supermarket bakery...


Okay, the nature too!


So far, I've only talked about food (which is kind of my speciality, or rather obsession) but I didn't only go there to eat, I actually saw some breathtakingly beautiful places too! Of course, Slovenia has much more to offer than just food, like the bright crystal blue Soca river where you can join a lot of outdoor adventure activities in the summer, or the Alps for skiing in winter. There are also so many lakes (not only Bled) where you can go trekking or swimming, or seaside towns where you can enjoy fresh seafood and sunshine.