JAZ & Mano2

Traditional visit of the famous Slovenian chef Ana Roš to Mano2 in Zagreb delights yet again

Last night, for the third time in two years, one of the best Croatian chefs Hrvoje Kroflin welcomed the multi-awarded Slovenian chef Ana Roš to Mano2 in Zagreb. On this occasion, at a jointly prepared dinner, Ana presented her latest concept – the newly opened restaurant JAZ by Ana Roš in front of a large audience who, as always, managed to reserve their spot in a very short time at this already traditional hosting event.

JAZ was opened as part of the boutique hotel As, located in the very centre of Ljubljana. It is a refined version of a pleasant, everyday restaurant, open for breakfast, lunch and dinner with various exciting dishes.

Ana Roš, a world-renowned chef, had an exceptionally successful year; her restaurant Hiša Franko was crowned with 3 Michelin stars and Ana was declared the third chef in the world according to The Best Chef Awards; she was also the only woman in the top 20; what is more, Hiša Franko won 32nd place on the World's 50 Best Restaurants list.

JAZ is a rather spacious restaurant with many plants that decorate the interior. Ana brought together a great kitchen team that has been trained for years at Hiša Franko. The main man when it comes to service is Lenart Černelić, who spent several years working for the best London restaurants such as Pierre Gagnaire's Sketch. Last year, for the second time, Hrvoje Kroflin – the host of this already traditional event and chef of Zagreb’s restaurant Mano2 – was nominated as one of the 100 best chefs in the world according to The Best Chef Awards. At the same time in Croatia, Mano2 was declared the restaurant of the year and Hrvoje Kroflin the second-best chef of the year.

The eagerly anticipated dinner was sold out in a few hours. Before the dinner, Ana greeted all the guests with a short presentation on how JAZ was created, how the individual dishes were put together and how much they mean to her. Then she joined her team in the kitchen. Both chefs prepared 4 courses each.

Mano's sommelier Marko Rundek was responsible for making the dinner unforgettable in the wine segment as well, so the guests had the opportunity to taste some very limited editions and editions of Croatian and Slovenian wines such as Tomac’s Diplomat from 2014 in magnum bottles; they were also given the opportunity for the premiere tasting of Stagnum from 2015 of the Miloš family winery also in magnum bottles. Magnum bottles of St. Jakov of the Clai winery were served too, as well as great wines from Batič, Fon and Mlečnik.

The guests were blown away with all the dishes, but Ana's tortelli stuffed with winter pear cooked in butter with charred Jerusalem artichokes and a mixture of five spices, as well as Hrvoje's aged Adriatic monkfish with umami consommé, turnips and Tuber melanosporum, a delicious black truffle brought from Istria by the Prodan family, were the absolute hit of the evening.

All those who were unable to attend the dinner still have the chance to visit JAZ in Ljubljana as well as Mano2 in Zagreb and experience for themselves the top quality that these restaurants offer.