Sleeping and Dining in Ljubljana, Slovenia

Slamic B&B

The Slamic B&B made a good base for us as it is walking distance from both the bus/train station where we dropped the rental car and the town center and old town.

The rooms are quiet, average size and comfortable. The room has a euro bathroom, good amenities including – a safe, hair dryer, water boiler with instant coffee and mini bar. Good wifi connection.

Reception is minimally manned. If you want something you often have to track someone down, in the bar or elsewhere. Once you do they are very nice and accommodating.

Breakfast includes a decent selection of cold items, the usual: cereal, cheese, cold cuts, some fresh fruit and croissants. The bread selection includes only white bread and rolls. They have both drip coffee and an espresso machine. You can also boil your own egg.

Restaurants

Lunch at Julija

This is a Rick Steves pick, with tables on the pretty main drag of the old town. We had a simple lunch of two of their salads, the Mediterranean with shrimp and feta and the Julija with grilled calamari. Both were well prepared, shrimp sweet and squid tender. Served with a basket of bread, it made a great light lunch.

Dinner at Gostilna As

Rick describes this upscale establishment as snooty. While sometimes snooty can be fun, especially if the food is exceptional and the people watching interesting, in this case it was just boring.

A sophisticated clubby atmosphere in a cellar space with vaulted ceilings, dark wood furniture and white table cloths. Service is friendly and maybe a tad pretentious. There were very few diners on a Sunday evening and they were out of several of the fish. They only had monkfish, sea bass, and then finally offered up a grouper fillet. The quality of the food is excellent, portions are small, but the dishes lack imagination. Wine list was also a problem as they were out of some of the more interesting bottles we wanted to try.

We started with the tuna tartar – two small squares of very fresh chopped tuna with avocado and wasabi and garnish with a pea sprouts, that simple. Good but not dazzling. Don had the tagliatelli with venison and light spices – a homemade pasta with a ground meat sauce lightly seasoned, again good but not exceptional.

Both fish mains – the grouper fillet and the monkfish – were served with grilled summer veggies, perfectly done and beautifully presented. Don’s grouper was excellent, crispy skin and beautifully cooked. My monkfish was good, but again not exceptional. I would recommend this place only if you are really wanting an upscale atmosphere for a private tête-à-tête. Otherwise, find somewhere more fun.

Lunch at Tokyo Piknik

A Japanese bar along the river, we were lured in by the promise of Japanese ramen, a favorite of ours. They do an OK job, certainly not the best we have ever had, but if you are looking for something different it could hit the spot, especially on a rainy day.

They have a special that also included jiaozi (pot stickers). Served fresh hot they were nicely done and flavorful. The wrapper, however, was a little different than what we are used to, more brittle somehow.