Domačija Kovačnik

Pohorje-style lunches with special touches from three generations

It’s good/Slovenian cuisine/Traditional and Contemporary/Journeys and Experiences/From the Farm/Vegetables and More/Accommodation

Chef:Angelca Štern

Chef:Barbara Štern

Planica 9, Planica, Slovenija

Working hours

Saturday - Sunday 12.00 - 22.00
Monday - Friday closed (open by appointment)

Contact

T: +386 31 330 113
T: +386 2 601 5400
E: info@kovacnik.com
www.kovacnik.com

Angelca Štern

Chef

Barbara Štern

Chef

Like being at a feast

The door into the kitchen is always open, so it can be seen and smelt. The dining room is full of the young and old – joyful and noisy. Everyone knows everyone here; children play together, while parents eagerly await their food. The tables in the room by the wood-burner are carefully laid, It’s all very homely whilst at the same time the napkins are more fancy than those at a feast, there is more cutlery than is found in numerous places in the valley, and an aperitif is mandatory; take your choice from the tray featuring sage, spruce tip, and blueberry liqueurs, as well as mint juice.

It might just be a simple, good, Sunday lunch, but at this high-lying Pohorje farm it’s simply better than elsewhere. And it might only be as good as the last time, but it’s been far too long since the last one. So long that the son is now pouring the wine and the future daughter-in-law is already helping and adding to the kitchen.

The experience of the last visit

More beautiful and better than at a banquet (2025)

There is no “excuse” that on the homestead they only cook what they know how to cook and what they cook for themselves. After all, in “better” inns and restaurants they cook the same dishes and in the same way for years and years. And yet, in many places it is not as “chef-like” as the dishes of three generations of Kovačnik cooks! This is because chef-likeness is not (only) in modern techniques and modern appliances, but in cooking, which is always best on a home stove and just like your mother taught you.

Food is the best cooked on the family stove and just as Grandma taught Mum! Therefore, at Planica on the Pohorje plateau even the most pampered of gourmets can forget about all the fancy and foreign stuff and just enjoy the genuine simplicity of local tastes. But it’s not just all about beef soup, from cattle in the barn just a few metres away, or about sauteed potatoes, which always seem better on Pohorje rather than lower down the plateau, but rather the enhanced taste of the entire experience – Sunday lunch. At Kovačnik, it’s not just one chef but rather three generations of the Stern family who work together to make it a meal to remember.

Ambience

Kovačnik isn’t just about the two dining rooms, one on each side of the kitchen, with equally delicious aromas coming from both, and it’s not just about the terrace beneath the building’s jutting roof and the decking beneath the vine; there are also places to hide, swings for plant pots, signs for the herbs, a rabbit hutch, a hut for the pony and a tasty treat under the table for a pet.

Specialities

homemade fruit juices, jams, teas and sausages; accommodation