Pen Klub restavracija

Rating: 15.5
Author: Gault&Millau

Tomšičeva ulica 12, 1000 Ljubljana, Slovenia

15.5/20
Remarkable Restaurant

1 PHOTOS

Chef: Mojmir Šiftar
Cooking: Creative | Modern
Services: Garden
Style: Elegant

Gault&Millau's review 2026

On the way to the greenery of Tivoli Park stands a hidden old writers’ villa with a charming garden. The atmosphere has been restored with great sensitivity, but ambience alone would not be enough. Places like this can easily remain stuck in the past if the kitchen does not bring them into the present. The parquet floors still creak, but the food is more playful, more precise, and less constrained by traditional ideas of what a “classic” restaurant should be. Here, the chef takes center stage, building his cuisine around ingredients, seasonality, and the belief that every dish should have something to say. His style is confident, the execution technically precise, and the flavours linger long in the memory. The menu follows nature and changes with the seasons. Seared tuna is served with lime gel and a cream made from sardines and crab. A signature dish is turbot fillet roasted with Kodila cracklings and accompanied by roasted celeriac purée. The fish remains the focal point, its clean flavour allowed to shine without unnecessary additions. The strength of the dish lies in the quality of the ingredients, the creativity, and the chef’s precise touch. The same approach carries through to dessert, where dried panettone ice cream, chocolate, lemon sponge, and fresh pistachios come together in a playful yet carefully considered finale: distinctive enough to be remembered.