Ljubljana Restaurant Reviews

A girl's gotta eat. And when a girl is outside Belgrade, she heads for the ethnic restaurants. It should come as no surprise that our first priority was the Mexican restaurant. Joe Penas was recommended by several friends. Close to the city center, Joe's gets off to a very good start. The decor is right on with tacky signs, colorful walls, and rickety chairs and tables. The delicate scent of greasy tortillas wafts through the air and greets you at the door. 

When we opened our menus, the befuddlement began. No quesadillas? Burritos with potatoes? No cheese? Something was wrong. The European interpretation of Mexican food was worrisome. Undaunted, we ordered a pitcher of margaritas and some guacamole. Then stared at the menu some more. The margaritas showed up frozen (too bad) but were quite strong and tasty. The guacamole was made table side and very well done. All in all, we were quite pleased with the start to the meal. When Bob's fajitas arrived the waiter kindly offered to demonstrate the proper construction technique. Clearly Mexican food is a rarity in the area. I had decided to investigate the chicken/potato burrito. The description had not mentioned the 18,000 spices also included. The potatoes absorbed so much heat during cooking that I couldn't taste a thing after the first two bites. For me, it was all downhill from there. In the end, we both decided that there wasn't anything else on the menu we were interested in. We wouldn't return for anything other than margaritas.

For our second dinner excursion we decided to try out a recommendation from the Rick Steve's guidebook. DaBuDa is an Asian restaurant near Kongresni Trg. Thai and Japanese are the main features. The restaurant itself has a very cool vibe with a nice bar and good music. We were surprised at how empty it was on a Saturday night. Until we realized that 8:00 was probably much too early to eat. When we left at 9:30 things were quieter still. It was only when we were out getting coffee at 11:00 that we saw the street life pick up.  

As soon as we opened the menus at DaBuDa we were overwhelmed (in a good way) with choices. There were plenty of fun drinks to choose from. The house-made cranberry and ginger iced tea made my day after so much walking around. For dinner, I went with the sesame beef with coconut milk and basil sauce. It came with the most perfectly steamed vegetables I've eaten in months. The penang curry was really hard to pass up. I guarantee I won't be able to find that in Belgrade. I'd very highly recommend this place to anyone visiting Ljubljana. Especially if you're visiting as a "local" and maybe not so interested in delving into the Slovenian cuisine.

We also had a great lunch at the As Lounge -- not the expensive Gostlina As next door but the attached cafe. They share a kitchen so why bother with the real restaurant? The glassed in patio made for a great Sunday afternoon. The waiter's wine suggestion wasn't so hot but the slab of roast beef on my sandwich was far beyond my expectations. This was no deli sandwich.

It was a weekend of good eats and, now that our appetites are stoked, we are more determined than ever to locate the best Belgrade has to offer.