Restaurant GT19

Visiting experience -Novo na Glavnem trgu (2024)

The chef is too young to know so much … hence he is so daring! But you don’t need to worry, leave it to him and let it be a surprise. It starts and ends as befits Slovenia’s Carinthia region, and along the way – particularly as he is so young – the food is a picture book of ideas, knowledge, techniques and, above all, Carinthian specialities. This is about bravery, the chef’s and guests’, which ends with enjoyment. At the moment, however, a tasting menu is only on Fridays and Saturday evenings and only for a maximum of 18 eaters, curious to know more. Meanwhile, from Wednesdays to Sundays during the day, its simply better on the main square.

Reviewed by: Violeta & Uroš Mencinger, Šola okusov

18 guests and a chef

“Because there is a lack of slightly better cuisine in Carinthia…” That’s why Jure Dretnik renovated the former vegetarian snack bar in the center of Slovenj Gradec into a restaurant with Carinthian haute cuisine, with six tables and a maximum of 18 guests. To ensure there is no shortage of guests, the chef will prepare his tasting menu only on Friday and Saturday evenings, but otherwise from Wednesday to Saturday, GT19 will invite guests in the morning for late breakfasts and “slightly better” snacks and lunches, in the afternoon for business lunches, and on Sundays for brunch.

GT19, prostor
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GT19, chef Jure Dretnik
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Chef

Jure Dretnik was born in 1998. He graduated at the Maribor College of Hospitality and Tourism, and improved his cooking skills with Ana Roš (Hiša Franko), Janez Bratovž (JB Restavracija), Richard Rauch (Geschwister Rauch, Austria), Enrico and Roberto Cerea (Da Vittorio, Italy), Kevin Bonello (The Xara Palace, Malta). Local, seasonal and zero waste are the motto of each of his plates, on which “I like to play with contrasts and use unusual ingredients in a provocative way.”

FAther and son

The son is a chef, and the father helps him… “Jure used to say at home that he couldn’t find a suitable waiter. I’ve been his assistant in the kitchen several times, but I said to myself, this time I’ll at least be in charge of the service… And I quit my job!”

GT19, oče in sin
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GT19, pozdrav, koroški grižljaji, mežerl
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Amuse-bouche

”Mežerli” and potato crisp with onion.

Between the rye bread crackers is a cream of Carinthian curd. So that the onion in it is not too strong, it is caramelized and hidden in the middle.

A shortbread dough made from rye flour, pumpkin seed oil mayonnaise, onions pickled in apple cider vinegar, and on top of it are juicy slices of roast beef, first fried, then slowly cooked.

Bread and butter

The buns with the addition of lard are baked and coated with apple reduction, so that the butter with the flavor of (infused) smoked bacon spreads even better on them; the sourdough bread is soaked in cold-pressed sunflower oil from the Carinthian Agricultural and Forestry Cooperative. Which already announces the next dish…

GT19, pozdrav, koroški grižljaji
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GT19, kruh, maslo, hladno stiskano sončnično olje
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Trout tatar

Trout tartare with parsley root, parsley root chips and trout caviar, all in a delicate delicious sauce made from trout bones and koji. And to make it even more delicate, sunflower seeds crunch on the side, and watercress refreshes the taste.

Ravioli

The ravioli are filled with roasted cauliflower and walnuts, bathed in double-strength chicken broth, drizzled with walnut oil, topped with a lacy yeast cracker, and somewhere in between, oyster cress is hidden in the flavor.

GT19, postrviji tatar
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GT19, vinska spremljava, kozarca
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Mushrooms

Toasted buckwheat brioche topped with mixed wild mushrooms, shallots pickled in black garlic vinegar, and egg yolk dried in mushroom salt that has been marinated for 30 hours with leftover dried mushrooms. A warm open sandwich that showcases the autumnal bounty of the Carinthian forests.

Granita

Plum juice granita, with the addition of black lime.

GT19, ravioli s pečeno cvetačo in orehi
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GT19, ajdov brioš in mešane divje gobe
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Roe deer

Roasted roe deer fillet, demi-glace sauce with spruce needles. Roasted plum puree, like jam, but without added sugar, with salt and chili pepper. Salad of micro herbs and wild herbs (purslane, nasturtium, beetroot shoots), seasoned with plum vinegar.

od slanega k sladkemu. ”Da je nekaj vmes, a morda malce nenavadno …” Po glavni jedi ni predsladice, ker je ‘poslanica’: pašteta piščančjih jeter, ocvrta v panko drobtinah, zraven pa ganache temne čokolade in maline, polnjene z domačim malinovim žganjem. Mladenič, ki najraje preseneča, hrustljavi in topli cmok z jetrno-težkim nadevom pokaplja z 12 let staranim originalnim balzamičnim kisom. Nekateri omagajo, nekateri pa si sredico namažejo še na kos koroškega kislega kruha. Toda vsi občudujejo!

Transition

from savory to sweet. “That it’s something in between, but maybe a little unusual…” There’s no appetizer after the main course, because it’s an ‘epic’: chicken liver pate, fried in panko crumbs, accompanied by dark chocolate and raspberry ganache, filled with homemade raspberry brandy.

GT19, slivova granita
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GT19, jelen in jesenska zelenjava
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Pumpkins

Semifreddo made from Hokkaido pumpkin puree, with butternut squash flesh cooked in syrup with spices and balsamic vinegar, topped with compressed pumpkin marinated in honey wine, and a pumpkin seed cracker. The accompaniment is a mandatory ‘vanilla’ sauce made from pumpkin seed oil.

Bees

All honey-based. Panacotta with sage and forest honey, topped with mead jelly, in a honeycomb-shaped honey cracker roll. Praline filled with jurka. And, of course, that’s why we came…

GT19, ocvrta pašteta, maline, čokolada
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GT19, semifreddo iz buče
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Accompayning wines

For an aperitif, sparkling wine from Carinthia, which (in our country) does not know grapes, but has enough apples. Sparkling apple wine (alcohol content 10.8 vol. %), KZ Šaleška dolina, classic fermentation method, 12 months on apple lees.
Trout and parsley root: Laški Riesling, 2023, Gaube
Cauliflower ravioli: Rumeni Muscat, 2009, Bartol
Roe deer and plums: Pinot Noir, 2015, Bartol

GT19, sladko vino in medica
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GT19, petit fours in klocovi nudli
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GT19, klocovi nudli
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GT19, vinska spremljava
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Restaurant GT19

18 guests and a chef
Jure Dretnik
Chef