Ujer from the prestigious list The World's 50 Best Restaurants. In fact, before giving the Ana Ro gastronomic campaign (Gorizia, Slovenia, 1972), he was part of the national Alpine ski team of Yugoslavia and studied five years to be a diplomat. A cluster of coincidences made him end up leading the kitchen of Hia Franko, the only Slovenian restaurant with a Michelin star. From November 19 to December 7, Ro and his team will move to the NH Collection Eurobuilding in Madrid as protagonists of the fourth #InResidence edition of the NH Hotel Group. With this experience in pop-up format they will make known in Spain the dishes that have provided world-wide fame to their culinary temple with a select variety of ingredients from the Kobarib area, on the border with Italy: mountain lamb, beef of local grass, bear, herbs, flowers, plus trout, anchovies and crabs from the Gulf of Trieste. "I left the diplomatic career to act as Slovenian ambassador through the kitchen," says the chef in her encounter with Yo Dona, "but I never imagined that gastronomy could generate so much change around her."

YODONA His was a late vocation, as well as self-taught. Do you remember your first culinary experience? Ana Ros When I was 12 years old I slipped into the kitchen and, knowing absolutely nothing about it, prepared a cake with cocoa powder, eggs and flowers that I had previously collected in the garden. That afternoon, coincidentally, there were guests at home who offered to try my delicatessen. I didn't even bother to use the oven. I served it directly to the plate. I will never forget my mother's face ... [laughs] What made it possible for me to end up running the most prestigious restaurant in Slovenia? At the university I met what would end up being my husband and father of my two children. Valter [Kramar] inherited a small family business that at the time looked more like a tavern than a restaurant itself. We decided to pick up the witness from his parents, but from a much more ambitious perspective. I started as a manager and ended up taking the reins of the kitchen. How did you learn the job tickets? Before becoming a mother, my husband and I traveled constantly. Valter, who is a sommelier, noticed mostly wines and cheeses, while I took note of every dish we tried. We visited all the important restaurants in Spain, France and Italy until, in the late 90's, a copy of the Italian magazine Gran Gourmet fell into my hands with a report on El Bulli. After meeting him with my husband, I took the entire Hia Franko team to learn a valuable lesson: that cooking can also be an art. Liquid nitrogen surpassed, has the tradition become a new form of vanguard? To innovate you have to know where things come from. The problem arises when that tradition has been mistreated for decades, as happened in Slovenia in the communist era. With few exceptions, all the restaurants in my country eat the same thing. To change this dynamic, I had to make a blur and have new products with top quality local products. Many of the farmers and ranchers who supply my kitchen today did not even sell their products a few years ago.Hia Franko claims the art of telling stories through food. Like which? One of the star dishes of our menu is a sea and mountain of lamb and crab served with egg yolk stuffed with anchovy creamers. It might seem a mixture too explosive if not for a timely sensory synergy that, through the wind, connects the waters of the Gulf of Trieste with the mountains of Drenica, whose pastures have a higher concentration of salt, which gives a different flavor to the meat. The outcome of this story cannot be defined with words. You have to try it.

Ana Ros's international screening shot up in 2015, after Netflix dedicated the first chapter of the second season of Chef's Table. "For several weeks the phone did not stop ringing," recalls the businesswoman, "people came from Australia and Alaska just to try our menu." Two years later, Hia Franko broke into the ranking of The World's 50 Best Restaurants (now ranked 38). "After the hangover of success, I experienced the first dizziness of responsibility," he said. '' What if after having traveled so far they don't like my food? What to do when everyone analyzes each of your movements with a magnifying glass? How to maximize the potential of your team without sacrificing the essence of your kitchen? '' He asked. On these and other issues he spoke in a presentation during the last edition of Madrid Fusión: `` In the end I understood that the star ingredient of gastronomy is self-confidence. ''

The reservations for the #InResidence pop-up in Madrid have flown. Have you ever been tempted to open a restaurant in a big city? I've thought about it many times, but I always end up discarding that possibility. And I'll tell you why: Hia Franko is helping to locate my country on the gastronomic map. Not only in quantitative terms, but above all qualitative, thanks to quality tourism that has revitalized the region. And that is something I am not willing to give up. If anything, I would like to open a small branch of the brand in the Gulf of Trieste, to continue researching the great gastronomic potential of the area. All their dishes have a local, seasonal and zero kilometer component. Can gastronomy be political? Of course it is. However, I believe that the sustainability debate has been raised in the wrong terms: pollution or pollution cannot be fought from a global perspective, for the simple reason that the measures to be applied in New York have nothing to see those that should be implemented in Kobarib. The true causes of climate change are manifested at the micro-regional level. It is not sensible, as some activists claim, that we change to a hundred percent vegetarian diet, as that would also have catastrophic effects for the planet. The solution goes through a process of awareness, so that every corner of the world is consistent with its past and its history. Is there any affinity between Spanish and Slovenian cuisine? Not especially. Otherwise, the #InResidence initiative would not make much sense. It is, after all, to make travel to the palate without having to catch a plane. Spain is a fascinating country and one of the main gastronomic destinations in the world, while Slovenia still lacks that recognition. The dishes of Hia Franko are a reflection of the landscape that coexists in harmony with the flavors that nature offers us. During our stay in Madrid, we will also take advantage of our biodynamic orange wines, which are developed with another type of maceration, and a variety of cheeses from the Soca Valley area, such as Tolminc, which many already consider to be authentic delicacy.

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