You might have already heard how special Slovenian cuisine is and this might be one of the many reasons you decided at last to come here and see for yourself.

Maybe you have also heard about the beautiful green Vipava valley, one of Slovenia's 7 wine regions.. If you haven't, then it is also worth noting this valley is one of the most beautiful green secrets in Slovenia.

So it is about time we tell you about an incredible cluster of top quality, affordable Vipava valley restaurants.. ALL.. incredibly within just 20-25 mins of the Lodge at the Nanos end of the valley!

 

So why is the world banging on about how Good Slovenian Cuisine is?

The secret is quite simple, but difficult, dare we say, impossible to replicate in a city.. the best Slovenian restaurants grow or source most of their food within view of their windows and in the Vipava valley that goes for the wine too!

So Slovenian cuisine is home made, seasonal & very locally produced and is cooked with dedication, love and passion.. Add a glass of local wine made from unique Slovenian grapes and voila!.. here is your unbeatable recipe!

You CAN cook Indian or Chinese style at home, but you CANNOT reproduce Slovenian cuisine, so the best advice is to try as much of it as possible while you are here!

 

And the reason for this Secret Place article is that in our humble opinion, some of the very best restaurants in the whole of Green Slovenia have gravitated to a tiny radius of Vipava Old town, the prettiest town in the Vipava Valley, where the aptly named Vipava river pours into the valley from 7 different springs..

 

The Vipava river splits this Mediterranean valley down the middle, close to sea level and huge green hills rise up over 1,000m into mountains on either side, making this place perfect for growing wine!

Different grapes prosper at different heights. This was known since at least Roman times, when a Roman lord presided over the entire valley.

Since socialism failed in the 90's, all winegrowers in Slovenia's 7 wine regions had their shackles released, the best ones switching from quantity to quality, rediscovering unique grapes, some from those Roman times and this is another reason why Slovenian wine tastes so different and good quality and why there is so little of it produced.. For this micro reason it will never be sold in large quantities by your local supermarket at home.. So you will just have to come here to try it!

 

For us this tight cluster of Vipava Restaurants are the best restaurants in Green Slovenia.. Pound for Pound & Penny for Penny..

What we mean here is these restaurants are incredibly good value for what you will get.. high quality local dishes, top quality service, choice and really fantastic, beautiful locations in which to enjoy your meal..

We are quite sure that if any of these restaurants were transported to your capital city, then you would be paying two or three times more for this kinda top qual service and cuisine.

Yep, the TV shows and guide books might be talking about Michelin stars, maybe and quite wierdly having a posh meal at the bottom of a coal mine or lazily suggesting you dine in Ljubljana or Bled, which is also absolutely fine..

But we know our guests, cos they are pretty much just the same as us and we know you love exactly the kinda restaurants that can be found in bucket fulls in the stunning Vipava valley!

 

Breaking News.. We literally cannot believe our luck, cos we have gone and found another cluster of fantastic local restaurants to potentially compete with the Vipava Cluster and we honestly now cannot tell you which one is our favourite in Green Slovenia, such is the choice, value and quality.. Indeed we love them both, so just another 5 mins further than the drive to Vipava in a different direction is a back door into the Brkini mini region from the Lodge and look out the article we will be writing real soon.. called the Brkini Restaurant cluster!!

 

So we highly recommend to our guests that they eat at least once at one of these Vipava Valley restaurants.. Sometimes the choice depends on the particular day, as these restaurants also need to have a day off or two, but sometimes it is more dependant on where we can get our guests a table!

We can also firmly say that it is impossible to have a favourite one as the locations, price ranges, styles and menus are all different, but if you are lucky enough to try a few of them, you will almost certainly have a favourite.. (just like us, but we are not telling)!

It can also be a little frustrating for us in a good way, when guests will eat at one of these restaurants and have such a great meal that it is impossible for us to persuade them to eat one of the others, cos they want to go back to the first one! This happens a lot actually and it is all good.. our very mild frustration comes from knowing how fantastic the other ones are too!

Just to be clear, guests do not report back at breakfast the next day that the meal was nice or ok.. very often they are raving, purring and frothing into their cappuccinos about how good their Vipava culinary experience was!

 

We will add just two provisos here..

Firstly, we have already written up over a hundred Secret Places to Visit tips for you to consider on your holidays to Green Slovenia and there are so many, we will probably top 200.. so it is difficult enough to keep track of all the amazing new secret places to visit we find to bring to your attention..

Therefore this page might drift a little out of date.. we will refresh the data and us and our guests visit these restaurants all the time, but restaurants can open and close incredibly quickly.. All we can say is that we would not have written this particular page if we didnt know how very, very special all these restaurants are..

Our second request is that you do not just google monkey this list and go by "Boris from Outer Mongolia's tip that he got a really cheap dessert at Restaurant A", cos we are NOT writing this list for you to just hold your hands up and surrender to follow what the other phone junkies will do..

So pretty please, go to the restaurant's own websites by all means, but maybe trust us that ALL of these restaurants are really sensational and just leave your phone in your pocket for once, choose a name and then go for it, like in the old days.. we are pretty confident you will have a really surprising and amazing meal at ANY of them!!

 

We will offer you just a few little unique personal tasters about each restaurant, but again, please, please do not be influenced too much by us and make your own mind up about which restaurant to try first!

NONE of these special places will have menus.. perish the thought.. just put yourselves in the hands of the waiter and everything will be ok!

Oh yes and a very final thing, do not be scared or put off by the restaurant names, several are almost impossible to say in an English tongue!

So here are the Restaurants in the Vipava Cluster in no particlular order , as said, we will not mention our own personal favourite, but what we will say is we absolutley love them all..

So let's start in the centre of Vipava Old town itself, cos THREE of the restaurants are here!

Khrne, in Vipava Old Town..

 

The most difficult to say, but easiest one to find in the centre of Vipava Old town, next to the wine University.. Dine in trendy old cellars or outside next to the main Vipava river spring, flowing out through the old town.

Delicious home made pastas, Gnocchi and spaghetti and passionate knowledge of Vipava Valley wines..

 

Podfavorz, in Vipava Old Town..

 

Dine inside or outside on the terrace next to one of the seven Vipava springs with trout jumping up from the water to catch their own dinner at dusk..

Tends to be a longer Tapas style tasting menu, so good to make time to enjoy it, but you can also order more direct local dishes..

 

Faladur, in Vipava Old Town..

 

The best restaurant in Adjective (Ajdovscina) old town moved here to Vipava in 2022 to join the culinary party! Lovely outdoor terrace and dish after dish inspired by local ingredients and season.

Beautiful lines in the modern interior, with a unique starter connected to the history of the building.. They really know their local wines here too!

 

Thedosius, in Vhrpolje, one of our very favourite restaurants in the whole of Green Slovenia has closed down we are sorry to tell you..

 

The owners are friends of ours and decided to do something different and also have more time with their young family, so any of our guests who have eaten there in the past will know just how good it was and we wish them well for the future!

This decision highlights just how lucky we are to have such amzing restaurants so close in the Vipava Valley and how hard the owners work to give us all a great local eating experience..

 

Majerija, in Slap, a tiny village just on the other side of the Motorway from Vipava, surrounded by vineyards..

 

Feels like you are inside a vineyard with vegetable gardens outside and many home made liquers sitting below in a beautiful cellar..

We ALWAYS put ourselves into the hands of the owners here and just ask them to bring us what they think best.. All you have to do is decide how many courses you want!

 

Zemono, on top of a small hill, just outside Vipava on the way to the unpronounceable Ajdovscina, (we call it Adjective)..

 

Remember that roman Lord who owned the whole valley? Well this Michelin starred restaurant is in his old villa on top of a little hill right in the centre of it all!

It is fair to say the most expensive of the six, but still very different to your Michelins at home with such a friendly, calm relaxed atmosphere.. except for the dessert we had that was smoking.. I don't do lemon desserts.. But I sure eat (past tense) it here, all you need to know!

 

We still have to pinch ourselves to think how lucky we are to be just 20 mins away from this special cluster of culinary excellence!

 

A few more fantastic Vipava Valley Restaurants..

But there are more great local restaurants in the Vipava valley and we will give you just a few more eating out tips now for more local style restaurants, just a bit further down the valley from Vipava.. 

 

Pri Izvir Hublja, Adjective, (Ajdovscina)..

 

At the top of the Hubelj river where the spring pours out of the mountain side! The spring is the name of the restaurant!

Very good local dishes served on the terrace with wooden benches & the sound of gushing crystal clear water coming out of that spring..

 

Guests also often eat out in the Vipava Valley on their way home from Green Wonders like the Soca river, the Gorica Brda Hills, Idrija or the Teran Kras wine region.. 

 

Gostilna Sivi Caven, Potoce..

This is one of our fave local restaurants to stop off at for lunch if we are indeed heading up the Vipava Valley on a longer daytrip to any of those fab places above..

The restaurant is named after the highest peak after Nanos, Caven, which dominates the mountain side here in the middle of the Vipavav valley. You can find it on the main Vipava country road at the end of Potoce village..

 

There is a big car park on the other side of the road and the restaurant has all the swagger of the Vipava Valley with a great daily choice of local menu for lunch.

You should always avoid driving on the motorway through the valley if you can in any case and then you get the chance to see these beautiful unique little Vipava villages and eat at fantastic restaurants like these!  

One of the very last things to tell you about not just in the Vipava valley, but dining out generally in Green Slovenia is the refreshingly friendly, relaxed, informal atmosphere at restaurants here, even the ones you might think you need to wear a jacket and tie to..

So you really don't have to dress up to eat out here.. but to dine out in the Vipava Valley, we strongly recommend you book in advance!

And the final thing to say here must be Dober Tek.. Have a great meal!