The cherry on the pre-holiday season cake or the highlight of this year's Chaîne culinary year was at Restaurant Strelec in Ljubljana Castle.

For the title of the dinner’s report, which was the last in a series of gatherings this year of our professional members, we borrowed the metaphor of the cherry on the cake, which we often use to denote all that is truly the best and surpasses all that is good.

The latter was characteristic of all our gatherings this year. According to the selection of dishes, wines and flavours, escalated in a steadily rising curve. The likes of which we have not seen in many areas of economic and social life in our country for a long time!

Our efforts are aimed at discovering the stories and tastes that are told by the masterfully prepared dishes on the plates and the wines that go with them. This was absolutely the case for this dinner prepared by Master Chef Igor Jagodic, a recipient of a Michelin star this year.

Master Chef Igor regaled us with six wonderful courses. In addition to the images of the dishes on the plates and their flavours, there was a real range of learning about the cooking techniques that Master Chef Igor and his colleagues used in the kitchen and how they created a complete work of art from each dish.

With the end of 2022 upon us, a look back at our gatherings from January to December reveals and above all confirms the growth of Slovenian cuisine and gastronomy, which is co-created by our professional members. Thus, the National Bailliage makes a significant contribution to promotion, especially to the development of cooking skills, which must also be the foundation of our gastronomic development in the future.

Prepared from a detailed account written by
Conseiller Gastronomique Prof. Dr. Janez Bogataj