Gregor

Gregor finds inspiration for menus in his garden, which is full of vegetables, herbs and spices. He embraces what nature offers him with open arms, and the only constant on the menu is that nothing is really constant. He creates dishes from what is fresh, tasty and in plentiful supply at the time. It is the same with other ingredients, such as meat and fish. He takes what he thinks is best at the time. One day a mackerel, another day a brook trout.

He creates unusual combinations from various ingredients and serves them in exotic ways. Bean purée in a cone or smoked eel with asparagus in a tin. He may surprise you with a catfish soufflé, which, like the chocolate soufflé, hides a soft filling, but one with a refreshing lime sauce. Or a combination of red trout with fennel and cardamom ice cream.

Born in Maribor, Gregor Šagi spent his childhood in Kungota, together with his classmate and best friend David and his brother Gregor Vračko. The Vračkos are both excellent chefs, David at the Mak Restaurant in Maribor, while Gregor runs a Michelin-starred restaurant in Zgornja Kungota. The decision to become a chef was therefore an inevitable one for Gregor Šagi. After graduating from secondary school and vocational college for the hotel and catering industry, he gained experience in Slovenia, Austria and Italy. He has cooked at Mons Hotel in Ljubljana and Villa Bled in Bled. In Italy, he worked at the La Subida Restaurant in Gorizia, which was awarded a Michelin star in 2023, and in Styria, Austria, at the restaurant of the excellent wine hotel Sattlerhof in Gamlitz.

The quote, borrowed from the famous Rolling Pin magazine, was once on his T-shirt and has stuck in his mind. Preparing food, creating food, combining flavours and playing with ingredients is what keeps Gregor going.

Gregor uses home-grown and local ingredients produced in an environmentally friendly way, and puts a modern and bold twist on them. He takes on more traditional tasks, such as baking bread and making cottage cheese, cream and butter, while he also enjoys various challenges, even if they take several days. He once made a sauce from birch shavings which took one day to dry and another two days to cook. But it was worth the effort. The result was a delicious veal tail with horseradish in boiled bread with a birch-shavings sauce and a birch-leaf wine sauce.

Gregor is aware that the team he has in the kitchen is also important, which is why he mentors the students himself. Gregor believes that a chef learns the most in the kitchen, not in the classroom.