Sunday Lunch

Sunday lunch has a special meaning for Slovenians. Not only due to the carefully prepared and traditional dishes, but also because of the family ties that are still forged and strengthened to this day over this almost ritualistic weekly meeting of generations.

If you were to ask locals in Radovljica and the surroundings what a typical Sunday lunch is for them, their answers would be similar: to start, the obligatory beef soup, followed by roast pork, or beef cooked in the soup, with potatoes, and to end, an excellent homemade dessert. Below we have listed some restaurants that (still) offer typical Sunday lunches.

Radovljica’s old town

Three of the restaurants located in Radovljica’s old town centre offer Sunday lunch: Avguštin (Linhartov trg 15), Lectar (Linhartov trg 2) and Kunstelj (Gorenjska cesta 9). At the latter, for example, homemade beef soup is served with noodles and vegetables. Main course is a choice of roast pork or veal with sautéed potatoes and vegetables, followed by apple strudel for dessert.

Lesce and the surroundings

Sunday lunch at the Na Kležnk restaurant (Begunjska cesta 10), located within Lesce Sports Airfield, consists of beef soup with noodles followed by roast pork with sautéed potatoes and to finish, the dessert for which the restaurant has been known for many years – grmada – which is a kind of creamy trifle-like dessert.

Restavracija Krek (Hraška cesta 15) is in close proximity to the Lesce Sports Airfield. Sunday lunch at this restaurant most often ends with apple strudel, while at the nearby Gala restaurant (Hraška cesta 13), you can opt for beef soup, roast pork with sautéed potatoes and a choice of desserts. The Gostilna Leščan restaurant also offers a similar menu for Sunday lunch, while in the centre of Lesce, you can have Sunday lunch at Restavracija Center (Alpska cesta 58) and, of course, at Gostišče Tulipan (Alpska cesta 8), which is particularly known for its excellent sautéed potatoes.

Šobec, Kropa, Posavec

If you plan a visit to the Šobec Camp on a Sunday, we suggest taking time to enjoy the food at the on-site restaurant – Restavracija Šobec (Šobčeva cesta 29) – which offers excellent beef soup, followed by roast pork and potatoes, followed by dessert.

For those visiting Kropa, our tip is Gostilna pri Jarmu (Kropa 2, Kropa), where, in addition to typical Kropa dishes, excellent Sunday lunch is also available.

Restavracija Houston Resort (Posavec 85, Podnart) offers a choice of two soups – beef or mushroom, for Sunday lunch, while the main course, in addition to meat, consists of sautéed potatoes and cheese štrukelj, and for dessert, aromatic apple strudel.

Begunje na Gorenjskem

In the past, Slovenian folk music was an essential accompaniment to Sunday lunch, therefore it's only right that we include Gostilna Avsenik (Begunje na Gorenjskem 21), the home of Slovenian folk music, where you will undoubtedly listen to this music while enjoying Sunday lunch. Also in Begunje na Gorenjksem, Slovenian-inspired lunch is available on Saturdays, Sundays and public holidays at Gostilna pr' Tavčar (Begunje na Gorenjskem 73) and at Gostišče Draga (Begunje na Gorenjskem 142).

And here's an additional tip: excellent food is available at the mountain huts that look towards Radovljica from the surrounding mountain meadows. Providing you order in advance, you can enjoy a traditional lunch at the Partizanskem domu na Vodiški planini (Kropa 180) mountain hut, which you can reach on foot, or on the windy mountain road by bike or by car.

So, what's our suggestion for cooking Sunday lunch at home?

Good ingredients, in addition to time and the right recipe, are certainly important. You can buy them at:
-    Mesarija Mlinarič (butchers) – meat
-    Vegetables and potatoes – market in front of KGZ Sava, Radol'ca Market, farms in the surroundings
-    Soup noodles – Globoko Mill

This guide was created as part of the ‘EKO Tastes of Slovenia’ project, run in cooperation with LAS, which is co-financed with the help of the European Agricultural Fund for Rural Development: Europe Invests in Rural Areas. The Radovljica Public Institute of Tourism and Culture is responsible for the content. The governing body appointed to implement the Rural Development Programme of the Republic of Slovenia for the period 2014-2020 is the Ministry of Agriculture, Forestry and Food. Source of funding: European Agricultural Fund for Rural Development (EAFRD).