Stone-walled dining room with long wooden table set with mismatched ceramics and candlelight, green hillside visible through far window

Krčma

Karst Plateau · Slovenia · Est. 1962

Chapter I

The Land

Every dish begins long before the kitchen. The Karst plateau is limestone and wind — thin soil that forces plants to concentrate their flavour into something fierce. The Soča runs ice-cold from the Julian Alps. The farms that supply us have been feeding this valley for generations.

Karst plateau landscape with limestone outcrops and wild herbs in morning mist
Soča river valley with emerald water and alpine meadows
Alpine farm with wooden beehives and flowering meadow

Our suppliers

◆Kmetija Kovač — Lamb & root vegetables
◆Čebelarna Pirnat — Linden honey
◆Planina Zajamniki — Aged mountain cheese
◆Sadovnjak Mlakar — Stone-fruit brandy
Chapter II

The Family

Black-and-white photograph of grandmother Marija Kocjančič stirring iron pot over open hearth fire
Aged black-and-white photograph of stone farmhouse homestead on Karst plateau

The original homestead

Kocjančičdo Sežane →planina ↑

Three generations. One pot. The same hands that planted the walnut tree in the garden now roll the štruklji dough every morning before service. This is not a concept. It is simply what we do.

Marija Kocjančič opened the first hearth in 1962, feeding farm workers from an iron pot that still hangs above the fire today. The menu was whatever the season allowed.
Her son Franc added the stone dining room in 1981, hauling blocks from the hillside himself. He planted the walnut tree in the garden that now shades the terrace.
Today Anja Kocjančič runs the kitchen alongside her father. She trained in Trieste and Lyon, but returned to the valley because the ingredients here are unrepeatable.
Every autumn the family preserves — quince paste, pickled mushrooms, pear brandy. The cellar holds bottles going back to 1988. Guests may taste and take home.
Chapter III

The Kitchen

The menu changes with the plateau. What you eat in October — game stew, pickled mushrooms, the last of the summer honey — will not be on the table in April. We do not apologise for this. We consider it a promise.

Close-up of štruklji dumplings steaming on worn wooden board, dusted with brown butter and breadcrumbs
Hearth Room

Štruklji

Walnut & tarragon, brown butter, toasted breadcrumb

Cast-iron pot of game stew simmering with root vegetables and herbs on stone hearth
Seasonal

Divjačinski Golaž

Wild boar, juniper, root cellar vegetables

Smoked Soča trout on ceramic plate with wild herbs and lemon
River

Postrv

Soča trout, cold-smoked over alder

Žganci browning in butter in black iron pan over open flame
Alpine

Žganci

Buckwheat, rendered pork fat, cracklings

Hands rolling fresh dough on floured wooden table in stone kitchen
Daily

Ročno Testo

Rolled by hand every morning before service

Reserve your table to experience the full menu
Guests

Those who stayed
past the candles

Anniversary Dinner

“We came for our twentieth anniversary. Anja brought out a carafe of the 1998 Teran without being asked, said it was a good year for long marriages. We did not leave until the candles burned down.”

Maja & Tomaž Bernik

Ljubljana

Food Writer, La Cucina

“I have eaten in every serious kitchen between Vienna and Dubrovnik. The štruklji here are the most honest thing I have tasted in twenty years of writing about food. No irony. No flourish. Just the thing itself.”

Helena Marchetti

Milan

Alpine Traverse

“Came down from the Triglav traverse, wind-burnt and half-starved. They sat us by the hearth, brought žganci and game stew before we even looked at the menu. We stayed two nights.”

Luka Šturm

Kranjska Gora

Come to the table

Three ways in

The fire burns from noon until the last guest finishes. Choose how you would like to arrive.

01

Reserve a Table

You have been planning this dinner for a while. Tell us when you are coming and we will have the right corner ready.

02

Order Our Pantry

The preserves, honeys, and brandies that appear on the table can follow you home. Made in small batches through autumn.

Quince Paste

Small-batch, Karst orchard

€6.50

Linden Honey

Pirnat apiary, Soča Valley

€9.00

Pickled Forest Mushrooms

Autumn harvest, wine vinegar

€7.50

Pear Brandy

Williams pear, double-distilled

€18.00
03

Host a Gathering

The private cellar seats fourteen. The garden terrace holds thirty under the walnut tree. We build the menu around your occasion.