Friday Night Feasting at Open Kitchen

Every Friday from March to November, the little town of Ljubljana plays host to an international food festival. The “Open Kitchen” dining experience is THE thing if you’re in the town on Friday night. And since we were, we had to try it out, for both lunch and dinner.

The “Open Kitchen” begins at 10 am and ends between 9 – 10 pm. The ending time is determined by the weather. Don’t expect to see a lot of traditional foods here, this is the opportunity for Slovenians to try some international cuisine. So, turns out we had to try some international cuisine.

THE place to be on Friday!

Like I said, we’re here for lunch and plan to come back for dinner so we’re not looking to have a lot to eat, maybe just something to share.  Got it! First stop was the Argentine BBQ stand where we ordered lamb chops and fries. Thrilled Collette to watch them lather on a big glob of flavored mayonnaise on the fries! I didn’t think it was that bad.

Lamb chops and fries (with mayonnaise!)

Shared the plate then headed off for something else to try. OK Johnny, tell the people what they got. A taco, sort of. Stopped at a stand that was a cross between Greek gyro and Mexican tacos. Crazy, but it works. The chef sliced off pieces of the meat on the spit, threw it on the grill, then covered it with a corn tortilla. After a bit of warming, he flipped it over, threw on some cheese and lettuce and a little secret sauce, there you have it, a Mexican taco made like a Greek gyro in Ljubljana, Slovenia. Perfect!

Taco with a french fry, sure.

Spit taco meat

One last stop before heading back to the apartment. Had to try the mussels and French bread, just looked good. And it was. The mussels were sauteed in garlic (always a winner) and olive oil just right. Shared the plate and the bread, now time to take a break until dinner.

Mussels

Dinner came early. That lunch we had wasn’t very much, well maybe not a lot to some people, so we walked back down to the Open Kitchen to explore dinner options. This was easy, we had a falafel plate with humus (for Collette) and some really strange red cabbage like stuff. Falafels were good but not as good as those we had in Egypt!

Falafels your way

Second dish was a Smash burger. Made the same way we make smash burgers in the States, and pretty much tasted the same. We were looking for a horse burger but no one was serving traditional foods here. Couple glasses of Slovenian wine, not bad, then back to the apartment for the night. Tomorrow, we head off to Prejama castle and Postonjna caves.

Scenes from the Open Kitchen:

Crowded like this all day

Our second selfie!

The Top Dog looked a little tired!

Damn! Just after you eat you find something you really wanted!

Octopus with peppers and paella

Never ordered a sandwich by color before.

Pan fried cake served with Nutella!