What to do, where to sleep, eat and feel good in Caporetto, the city of Slovenia's most famous chef
It is said that where today there is Hiša Franko, Ernest Hemingway wrote the novel during the First World War Farewell to Arms. Whether this is legend or reality is unknown, but what is certain is that the story of Hiša Franko begins well before and extends far beyond the walls of this restaurant.
Caporetto in the jargon of us Italians is Waterloo and Pearl Harbor, synonymous with defeat. For the Slovenians "it was a Caporetto" means victory. Today, a hundred years after the Great War, Kobarid (Caporetto) has not stopped fighting, but the trenches are very green pastures and the fight is for the preservation of an Alpine economy and sustainable tourism. Also thanks to the award-winning Hiša Franko restaurant, Kobarid has become a point on the international tourism map, growing double-digit for visitor flows and is a case history of territorial marketing.
Hiša Franko, one of the best restaurants in the world
Hiša (alias home) Franko was built in 1868, but it was only in 1973 that Franko Kramar bought this inn in Staro Selo, a suburb of Kobarid and made it a famous tavern throughout the area thanks to soups, ravioli, goulash and hearty local dishes. In 1999 his son Valter and his young girlfriend Ana took over the management: he, a sommelier, was in the room; she, a graduate in International Sciences with no experience in the kitchen. Ana Roš she was elected best cook in the world in 2017, earned an episode of the documentary Chef's Table on Netflix, 38th place in the ranking of The Worlds 50 Best Restaurants 2019. Today at Hiša Franko there is a double shift for dinner for 35 covers at a time. Sold out, months before, for € 150 excluding wines. Haute cuisine interests less than 1% of the world's population, 70 covers per day don't make history, but ended up on the pages of newspapers around the world, but yes. People need heroes and Ana has awakened the entire nation to the media, inspired a new generation of young chefs, showed how much her green land had more than lakes and potatoes to offer.
Hiša Polonka, the kitchen of Hiša Franko as he was
As Hisa Franko became what it is today, a temple of fine dining, frico, polenta, goulash and traditional dishes came out of the menu together with the customers of the past, replaced by American and Scandinavian viewers, lovers of natural wines. "I didn't want the memory to disappear, no one would eat these dishes anymore. They are family memories, "says Valter. «Like roast beef, in English, pink in the middle. My mother was the first to do it here in the area. Raw meat? At first it seemed strange, but it has been on the menu since 1975 for 45 years . Today he came back from Hiša Polonka, trattoria in the center of Kobarid which serves i traditional dishes and recipes from Valter's mother, roast beef included. The kitchen works non stop from lunch to dinner, and people come in for a dish, a coffee or a beer, which is a real specialty of the place. There are those who do the double, and book in both restaurants, but most are local customers looking for a hamburger (the only exception to the rule of tradition, but local beef), tourists on bicycles, families. Paper place mats and dishes from € 5 of bruschetta with ricotta cheese and candied tomatoes for € 15 for a venison goulash with bread and potato soufflé. In the kitchen and in the living room, kids from the surroundings, like all the ingredients used in the dishes, such as milk and the cheeses of the Latteria Sociale Palanika.
Feo beer and night hospitality
Hiša Polonka is just one of the projects born of Hiša Franko and the mind of Valter. FEO is the name of the craft brewery born together with the partners Simon Konavec and Amadej Kofol. The name is inspired by the Slovenian poet Ivan Volarič Feo, who all knew here and now that he has disappeared, they want to remember him as he would have liked: with a drink. They produce five or six beers in the sheds behind the social dairy, also using Slovenian hops, and can be tasted not only at Hiša Polonka but also in other restaurants in the area. In Caporetto Hiša Franko also means hospitality, and not only in the large house, in the rooms above Ana's restaurant. Next to Hiša Polonka a small guest house was born, managed by the trattoria, with simple and clean apartments and rooms. A few kilometers away, in Livek, in the panoramic area of the valley, his family runs Nebesa: an alpine mini-resort with four design chalets also finished in magazines across the world: but those of architecture.
Since the winners make history and overcome morality, we can allow ourselves to say that doing excellence, or luxury, does not only serve to épater le bourgeois. It makes induced, but above all it makes tendency, and so it gives the good example.
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