Cars and good food go together about as well as roasted chestnuts and a cool autumn evening, so this time we went on a trip with the main purpose of pampering our taste buds.
Although we Slovenians are a small nation with two million inhabitants, we do not skimp on the culinary experience – quite the opposite. In order to bring top-notch cuisine closer to an even wider range of visitors, we hold Restaurant Week twice a year – in spring and autumn – and it involves the best chefs and restaurants in Slovenia. The main goal of the campaign is to prove that enjoying top-notch cuisine is not necessarily sinfully expensive or reserved only for the elite, but rather an experience that is accessible to us – mere mortals.
The autumn date of this year's campaign coincided perfectly with our test of the Mini Aceman, which was a real call for an autumn culinary adventure. As we already wrote in the test itself, the Aceman is an intermediate link between the Cooper and the Countryman, and it is also the first Mini model to be based on an exclusively electric platform - the roar of the engine is a thing of the past for the Aceman, and the engineers tried to diversify the soundscape with artificial sounds during acceleration and braking, which are always different and, above all, interesting, but will be too intrusive for many after just a few kilometers, but, fortunately, they are also very easy to turn off. We would like to emphasize that we did not hang out with the "normal" Aceman, but with the JCW version, which represents the top of the range. With a single electric motor on the front axle, which produces 250 hp and 330 Nm of torque when the Boost button is pressed, it accelerates to 100 km/h in 6,2 seconds, which is not brutal, but is undoubtedly more than enough for all aspects of driving, including dynamic antics.
This time we decided on the Spargus restaurant, located in Slovenske Konjice. We went there along the A1/E57 motorway in the direction of Ljubljana, despite the fact that the Aceman is not fond of motorway driving. There are several reasons for its dislike, but the main reason lies in the fact that when driving on the motorway, the consumption is simply too high, and as a result, it will have to stop for refueling every 200 km. We were also disappointed by the chassis, which is a bit too bouncy on motorway bumps (of which there are many on our motorway network) to be considered comfortable. Fortunately, the Aceman makes up for it with an additional fee, but enviably good radar cruise control, which was borrowed from the Mini's parent company - BMW. But when we left the motorway at the exit for Slovenske Konjice and headed along winding side roads to the Žička kartuzia monastery, where the Spargus restaurant is also located, the Aceman completely dispelled all our reservations about motorway driving with its excellent cornering position. That's where the Aceman is most at home - it zips through corners like a joke, because with its low centre of gravity and extremely stiff suspension in the JCW version, it is actually designed for this. Since its front axle is heavily loaded by the powerful engine, special attention is required when exiting a corner so that the front wheels do not lose grip - fortunately, the Aceman's drive allows for continuous power dosing, which can largely alleviate this problem, but due to our impatience with the experience ahead of us, we had a slightly heavier foot than usual.
As mentioned in the previous paragraph, today's destination is located in the embrace of the historic Žička Carthusian Monastery and the oldest inn in Slovenia – Gastuž. The Carthusian monastery is considered one of the oldest monasteries of its kind in Europe, and visitors can peek into their everyday life within the walls of the once closed monastic life, see some exhibitions, or simply enjoy the silence of a place where it seems that time has long stopped. The Gastuž Inn, located right next to the Carthusian Monastery, has a rich history and is still in operation today, and its upper floor is home to the Spargus restaurant – the one that brought us here this time.
And finally, we get to the point: food! One of the conditions for participating in the Restaurant Week campaign is that the menu must consist of at least three courses, but this time, the head chef of the Spargus restaurant, Andrej Smogavc, served a four-course menu that was served as a six-course menu – the greeting from the kitchen and dessert were divided into two phases, which gives the guest the feeling that they are enjoying a menu with more courses than there actually are. The greeting from the kitchen, which we mostly know as a simple bite, this time consisted of four separate parts – it was not only extensive in quantity, but above all in its exceptional depth of flavors. We were most impressed by the trout tartare with trout caviar, which was served with one of the most complex flavors I have ever had the opportunity to experience. For the cold appetizer, the chef prepared beef tartare with black garlic and egg yolk, all wrapped in Nori seaweed leaves – the ones we know from sushi. The main course followed, the star of which was the Krškopolje pork belly, prepared using the sous vide technique, which took 20 hours, and to top it off, it was topped with a plum sauce. I admit that when I heard that the main course would be pork belly, I was overcome with a wave of skepticism – I’m not exactly its biggest fan. But after the first bite, it was clear that all doubts were completely unnecessary; the flavors and textures spoke for themselves. To end the evening, dessert followed, which was served in two stages – first tiramisu, served in the form of a coffee cup, and immediately after that, white chocolate and pear sorbet – the latter taste particularly impressed us. The price for all of the above? 32 euros per person. True, that’s not exactly a pittance, but when we take into account the quality of the ingredients and the complexity of the flavors, it quickly becomes clear that this is actually money well spent. Not in cryptocurrencies, not in stocks – but in something that is worth much more than that: yourself.
On our delicious journey, we covered a total of 150 kilometers, which meant that the Aceman would soon be thirsty for electrons. At a fast charger, the battery can be charged with a maximum of 95 kW of power when pre-conditioned, which is quite modest, but thanks to the equally modest battery of 49,2 kWh net capacity, the Aceman can be charged from 20 to 80 percent in just under half an hour, which is quite decent.
If there's one lesson to be learned from this culinary-automotive adventure, it's that sometimes you just have to drive somewhere - away from the everyday, whether it's in a spiffy electric Mini or something older that still smells of petrol. And if at the end of the journey you find yourself in the heart of a medieval monastery with a plate of superb food in front of you, then you've clearly made the right decision. Autumn colours for the eyes, good food for the palate, and the car - well, this time it was just an excuse to go somewhere in the first place.
