Placitum of Riziano
Where rebellious Istrian history was written in the Middle Ages, for a long time only beavers created along the Rižana River… Until Istrian artists turned the beaver land into a stunning restaurant. But since the first attempt was too astonishing with its creativity, the second one was more folk-like, but still with the potential to surprise.
Chef
The new Placito Risano focuses on an offer that doesn’t scare, but the menu also contains small print that still surprises. Chef Matevž Volk, who trained in famous Slovenian restaurants, is competent, skilled and very hardworking, respects locality and takes into account the season.
Greetings
Greetings from the kitchen: pea mousse with dill and peas; choux filled with chicken pate, topped with candied grapefruit; rice chips, wild vegetables (yarrow, pimpernelle, spinach), sour cream and trout roe from the fish farm in Rižana; salt and olive oil.
Beetroot
Beetroot salad ‘our way’. With sour cream, hollandaise sauce and buckwheat popcorn underneath, the beetroot is masterfully shaped into flowers, and it’s also marinated in a salad-like way, so it’s a pleasant surprise in your mouth.
Deer
Deer tartare, olive oil butter, pickled cherries, fennel salad, wild watercress. A good tartare that doesn’t hide the meat and its gamey characteristics with spices, but at the same time, it’s just right that it’s not just raw.
Asparagus
Fried asparagus, truffle sauce, olive oil, healing pimpernelle and chopped egg.
Zuppa etrusca
A memory of an old, Etruscan soup: old bread soaked in French onion soup, sautéed spinach, parmesan crust foam, layered black truffle.
Risotto
Risotto with garlic and brown hare. Wild brown hare sauce with chamomile, black kale powder, on top are cubes of raw brown hare fillet.
Spaghetti
Spaghetti with wild garlic foam, asparagus, morels and pancetta. A distinctly spring dish, which is also distinguished by the locality of the ingredients.
Trout
Trout fillet, Jerusalem artichoke puree, wild lettuce, pickled radish.
Wid boar
Wild boar roll, potato millefoglie, leeks roasted in the oven and peeled to the ‘cooked’ core, burnt carrots.
The pulled meat, cooked slowly and for a long time until it ‘falls apart’, remains juicy. The wrapped pancetta spices it up and adds texture (crunchiness). The sauce is velvety, the potatoes are chef-styled and baked, and the leeks and carrots add sweetness.
Lamb
Lamb as a roulade, fried artichoke, mashed potatoes, burnt tomatoes (confit), black olives, meat sauce (balsamic vinegar, olive oil and mint).
Cheescake
Basque cheesecake and strawberries with mint.
Mousse
White chocolate mousse, cherries in cassis, pineapple with sage, cocoa crumble, blueberries.
Olives
Pralines with chocolate ganache, cleverly disguised as olives, sweetly spice up the chef’s sequence of surprises that you don’t expect at this location, but want in this ambiance.
Wine
The offer is not large (25 labels), the winemakers are mostly Istrian, but there is still something to be found. Merlot 2020, Krapež, Vipava Valley
