I have a very sensitive palate and good memory for flavours so I am lucky enough to keep memories of the great flavours from my childhood still alive. You can’t imagine how happy I am when I rediscover them in my dishes!

Ingredients have changed a lot in the last twenty, thirty years so it takes a lot of work and passion to find the flavours as they used to be. That was also one of the reasons and motivations for creating a garden around my home where we cultivate many vegetables and fruits for our restaurant.

For me flavour of a dish becomes perfect when I can feel each ingredient separately in all the purity but when at the same time a composition of them creates something new that gives me a feeling of happiness and contentment.

A small secret: I feel a deep happiness when I am melting the mangalica bacon to do the cracklings. The smell is just divine!

Janez Bratovz, Restavracija JB (Ljubljana, Slovenia)