Vegetarians might prefer to hide behind the sofa now or look away, cos this secret place is the entire 30km or so of road from KOZINA to the Slovenian border, direction Rjeka, known by computers, navigation systems and Northern Europeans migrating to Croatia for a few weeks by the sea as the E61, but by others as "the Hog Roast Road"!

Hog is a "ye olde English" word for pig and there are several restaurants dotted along this road where you can get a mighty fine hog roast!

This road is an excellent example of a Slovenian secret place WE did not find ourselves!

Look out for these roasting cabins on the side of the road..

Often we might be prompted to go investigate a new secret place by tips from friends here, but this particular culinary nugget came direct from one of our guests who eat there during their stay here and reported back about a road full of hogs, roasting away!

Every year, we have an army of Lodge guests exploring Green Slovenia from tip to toe, sometimes following our advice and often finding their own new little routes or places, nooks & crannies that we love to hear about at breakfast the next day and put into our own list of places to explore.. a list as long as a dragon's tale..

This "live info" also helps us to keep in touch with local roads being closed unexpectantly or restaurants changing their hours or other boring stuff like that, but which can be very handy indeed to pass on to guests who are heading that direction on their next Green adventure and might need to know!

along the hog roast road..

It's kinda like an advanced early warning Bongo Drums system and is very effective indeed!

Well one of the Lodge team is very partial to a decent Somerset hog roast, so it was only a matter of time before we trotted off to explore this road properly!

Where is the Hog Roast Road?

The A1 motorway goes from Ljubblyjana past the Lodge & mt Nanos to the Slovenian coast and one of the junctions about half way down between the Lodge and the coast is KOZINA..

There is no proper motorway between Slovenia and Croatian Istria, so in the 6 weeks of school hollibubbles, half of Europe has to squeeze along narrow main roads just like this one.. Drivers often completely miss all the amazing secret Green Slovenian places near here as they just try to get to the Croatian seaside as quickly as poss!

This is great news for the rest of us, of course.. it means even fewer other people at the already uncrowded secret Green Places to visit along this road, but it is also important to say that outside the school holidays, these roads are very different places too!

along the Hog Roast Road..

But as you drive down this very pleasant main road from Kozina, direction Podgrad and over the border to Croatia you might like to know that the Brkini, one of Slovenia's most exciting, secret Green mini regions can be reached from EVERY side road leading off to the left!

We cheekily describe the BRKINI as Green Slovenia's 8th wine region.. It doesn't actually produce wine, but is full of apple and fruit trees, producing cider, gin and schnapps!

There is a whole unexplored Green region over there to discover, with winding lanes, cute stone walls dividing rocky fields and more cows than people!

Off to the right hand side of this hog roast road are the hills and mountains of the Mediterranean reaching out to Koper and the coast.

There are huge antique white beech trees along sections of the road and a few deserted spooky churches in the forest background that would be brillaint in a scary movie! 

We dare you to go in here after dark.. just along the hog roast road..

The main feature along this road though are the cute little villages you pass through and if you are interested in trying a Hog Roast, then you need to keep a look out for the little metal cabins with big glass windows in on the side of the road with young succulent pigs roasting over a spit on hot charcoal and smoke drifting up into the blue skies..

If you do zip down here from the Lodge on the motorway it will take just 22 mins to reach Kozina and then keep your eyes particulary peeled in the villages of TUBLJE and MATERIJA where you will find two of the closest Hog Roast Eateries.. both tried and test by the Lodge team!

Why not take a trip through the Brkini to the Hog Roast Road..

But we will suggest another really special route from the Lodge which cuts through the top of the Brkini mini region so you could at least get a taste of what the Brkini is all about and avoid going on the motorway.

Either you could pop off the motorway at the Scokjan cave / Lipica (Lipizzaner) exit or just stay on the quiet local road the entire way from the Lodge to Skocjan and then continue on the regional road towards Kozina, turning off to Rodik..

there is a friendly old man who sits outside here in the sun, with his job to turn the spit from time to time..

Rodik is where you enter the amazing BRKINI.. and you could have knocked us down with a feather when we found this secret back door into the Brkini a couple of years ago by accident.. NOW we can get to Rodik from the Lodge in just 22 mins!!

Rodik is in the north western tip of the Brkini and you will notice immediately that you have entered another world of narrow little lanes, apple trees and green paradise!

Follow the cute curvy road from Rodik to Slope and then you can cut through to the other side of the Brkini popping out at Tublje, DIRECTLY on the hog roast road and just a couple of metres until the first hog roast restaurant, Krizmans!

So what is a Hog Roast?

We mentioned Somerset in the UK and it really would take a lot to better a thick sandwich stuffed with freshly barbecued hog from the local village fair.. but we are now gonna tell you that if you are a fan of a decent hog roast, then in our humble opinion.. you DEFINETELY need to get down here to Green Slovenia and try one!

sensational hog roast dinner with raw onion and avjar.. Slovenian cavjar..

The young pigs are roasted to perfection on a spit in a glass cabin over hot charcoals by the side of the road and even during your meal time, you may well see a new hog loaded onto the spit, such can be the demand of the many hungry travellers passing through!

And when you arrive, wipe the sweat off your brow, look the waiter directly in the eye.. do not mess about ordering drinks and just say.. " We are here for your hog roast!"

It is ALL about the hog roast here.. You are coming to eat the roast pork.. So the one thing to expect is to get a big portion of succulent roasted pork on your plate!

Krizman even brew their own beer..

There is a menu, but you are wasting your time even looking at it! So more apologies to the non meat eaters here for this hog indulgence..

Maybe you could find a decent vegetarian option for the veggie in your party, but these places are all about the hogs, there are plenty of other very nice restaurants with lots of veggie options, so this road might not be for you..

But the meat eaters will be presented with a very hearty portion of freshly roasted hog, maybe some chips or roasted potatoes on the side and a few bits of lettuce just for decortion..

There will almost certainly be two more local additions to your Hog Roast plate that need a bit of explaining..

The first will be chopped onions and despite your possible penchant for roasted onions with your burger at home, be prepared for a very interesting surprise here as these onions are just chopped "raw", (don't worry it is a vegetable) and they taste REALLY REALLY GOOD with the meat!

Hog roast and chips..

The second Beilage (a really good German word for this) or side dish, looks like some really hot red sauce.. It is VERY popular here in Green Slovenia and called AVJAR.

Avjar is sometimes described as the Balkon caviar, but it is NOTHING like it! The good news is it is NOT as hot as it looks and is a simple dressing with a unique and very slightly spicy taste from the mix of peppers, aubergines (eggplants) and olive oil..

But the overwhelmingly good news is that Avjar tastes sensational together with the onions and meat.. It looks a bit like tommy sauce (tomato), but tastes NOTHING like it.. for most of you it will be a different, completely new taste, so you really MUST give it a go! 

Onions and Avjar are also the standard side dish here to the unpronounceabubble, but delicious Slovenian barbeque sausage called Cevapcici.. another must try Slovenian delicacy that doesn't look like much at all, but will also surprise you how good they are..

the car park in Materija, be careful crossing the busy main road..

A little bit of recent Hog History..

So we know nowhere better in this entire amazing food country to go sit down at a bench and have a really decent local hog roast.. There is an expertise to cooking a good pig roast and they have been practising that for years along this road..

There may well be other mini regions or single restaurants doing this around Slovenia, indeed we were told the pigs come from a specialist pig producing region north of Maribor..

But the key thing for you to look out for if you do fancy a hog roast on your Green Slovenian adventures is that metal and glass cabin at the side of the road outside the restaurant, with the smoke billowing out..

This particular road has a long history and tradition of Hog roasts.. It is a strong farming area producing the perfect produce for these local family restaurants..

drop in for a spot of hog roast..

It is not fine dining, but it is very fine indeed and you will be greeted by friendly relaxed people in this sunshine region along this busy road who are well experienced in producing this tasty local experience..

However we also need to tell you the number of Hog Roast restaurants along this road is sadly dwindling and for us it was very upsetting during covid times to drive along here and see some empty glass cabins next to recently closed restaurants.

We do not often tip a specific restaurant in our articles, as there are so many good ones here to try and once an article has been written restaurants can open, close, change chef, especially in Slovenia, for some reason..

Krizmans is a family restaurant in the little village called Tublje..

But for hog roasts, we really have to tell you about KRIZMANS in Tublje, one of those family run restaurants, who even brew their own beer and serve up a mighty fine hog roast!

You won't need to book a table, cos this is a drop in kinda place, but do note they are closed on Tuesdays and pretty much every Slovenian restaurant closes for a couple of weeks when you least expect it to, for the family to have their hollibubbles..

Other Stuff to Combine with your Hog Roast..

There are so many possible combos to make a really good case for having a little drive down here and explore along the Hog Roast road..

Some Lodge guests go there specifically for an evening meal as it is not so far at all.. Or maybe you could pop in for a hog roast on the way back from a day at the coast or after visiting the Lipizzaner stud at Lipica or the enourmous Skocjan cave..

There are several other amazing showcaves in the neighbouring Red Karst region which also includes the Teran wine region and it is also not so far to the Green Vipava Wine Valley too.. 

a simple open plan hog roast dining room..

Or cross those little green mountains to the right of the hog road and zig zag your way into yet another unique wine region.. the VinaKoper or coastal wine region!

Our final mention will be again for the amazing Brkini region with secret Green walks EVERYWHERE, especially the Mitski Park Hike in the forest above Rodik and one of the best secret cave tours in Green Slovenia, (therefore Europe) at the Dimnice Cave just a stone's throw from the hog road, but completely hidden away from those thousands of families racing down to the seaside as quick as they can! 

sometimes nothing special can be something very special.. especially in Green Slovenia..

So you might not have thought you would be tucking into a pork dinner with a glass of home made beer in a Mediterranean sub region on your Green Slovenian holidays.. but this little country is so packed full of surprises, this one will be most delicious.. maybe not the biggest of those many other Green surprises!

A final photo below to click on if you want to see a bigger photo of a hog roast..