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Ana Roš (Hiša Franko): The tectonic of love
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(c) Ciril Jazbec, TENT
To understand Ana Roš and the success of her restaurant – Hiša Franko – you need to travel to Slovenia, over the Julian Alps, deep into the Soča Valley – say “Sotcha”- near the city of Kobarid. This is a land of collisions: between tectonic plates, meteorological masses, powerful emotions and delicious contradictions.
When two continents collide.
The daughter of a doctor and a journalist, Ana was pushed towards success from an early age. After her parents moved temporarily here, her father went hunted with the locals: they became part of the community and stayed. This is where she was born and feels rooted with her feet. Chef Roš was good enough to become a professional skier but decided to train as a diplomat. One day, she dined at Hiša Franko and fell in love with Valter Kramar, the son of the owners at the time, who was working in service there. They embarked on a long list of trips, visiting winemakers, restaurants and cities. This new-found freedom, centered around love and its wide range of emotions, defined the future chef, finally free to do as she liked. When Valter’s parents decided to retire in 1999, Ana had an opportunity to work in diplomacy in Brussels. She turned it down and soon after started to work as an autodidact Chef. For her “Failure is the engine for success”. What could go wrong?
“This new-found freedom centered around love defined the future Chef.”
Boury Academy's students
The art of survival.
Everything started like an avalanche: she started cooking, had 2 children in 16 months, zero investor, and not much experience. She mostly used 3 ingredients: the terroir, the seasons and who she was. “It took me years to understand who Ana is and what Ana likes”. But right from the start, her survival instinct helped her to avoid deadly pitfalls by asking herself “What can I do?” rather than “What would another chef do?”. Slowly but surely, progress was made. And just like water can pierce a stone if you let it flow long enough, Ana’s passion made a global impact: in 2017, she was elected “The World's best female chef by The World's 50 best restaurants”. In June 2020, when the inaugural edition of the Slovenian Michelin guide was revealed, Hiša Franko received two Michelin stars and the green star. In September 2023 the third Michelin star found its way into the valley.
Dining at Hiša Franko.
Ideally, book a room at Hiša Franko. Otherwise, take a 5-minute taxi from Kobarid so that you do not miss the ‘Classy’ or ‘Funky’ wine pairings. After the aperitive on the terrace, think about this experience as a theatre piece in 5 acts. The menu is called “50 shades of red” and starts with a green introduction featuring garden leaves covered with thin slices of Istrian Truffle, a small celeriac pillow with crab and mustard seeds before a small wild plant sandwich with tiny dry fruits for good measure. Act II heads straight to the summit with two of the house’s classicals: the corn beignet, fermented cottage cheese and smoke trout roe – I could eat this every day - and the hay-baked potato, roasted yeast infused sour cream. After a little “Summer harvest” break, Act III focuses on 2 delicious pasta dishes and an orzotto with puffed barley, goat cheese water, green bean and black truffles. Act IV celebrates “Trout, the Queen” and Roebuck with oyster and kiwi. And finally, Act V goes sweet, with a carrot ice cream and oxalis, a dumpling with walnut, roasted apples and bee pollen. I normally do not write about the food itself, since it often ends up being a pale copy of the experience itself. In this case, I wanted to highlight the essence of Hiša Franko: Miha, the forager, brings what he finds in the mountains, and Ana sublimes it. “True pleasure only comes after you are disciplined enough to realize your dream at its best” she told me. How many hours did she put with her team to reach this level of intensity, using only a few local ingredients and ancestral techniques? “I am like my father. Tough”, she concludes.
2-day dried aged trout
Love, love, love.
Where was the red in the menu? Nowhere! And everywhere. Hiša Franko has all the attributes of autodidact mastery. Ana poured her soul into these plates, after decades of resilience in a brutal valley ironically located 45 minutes from the sea. Her relentless quest for authenticity has done what other extremists such as Ferran Adrià did a few decades ago: her passion established her own legacy, based on a radical sourcing of ingredients and masterful preparations. “Simple” comes to mind but these plates illustrate the most complex environment. Come without any expectation. Stay at least 3 days in the region. This dinner will impact you more than any well-known table in Paris or New York. For me, it was a tangible illustration of the tectonics that have impacted my life over and over. The impossible choices between passion and reason; selfishness and concern for our planet; easy temptations and hard-fought victories; immediate pleasure and delayed bliss; guilt and self-recognition. The eternal tension between love and career; between true happiness and false pride. Ana and Valter’s marriage did not survive this mineral ordeal, constantly traveling between Kobarid, Ljubliana and Istria for their various projects. But surely, you will feel their love during the whole dinner. The spirit of Hiša Franko remains intact! Book a table.
