Jakob

Even as a child, Jakob Pintar knew he wanted to be a chef. After culinary school, he went abroad with the desire to improve. He first interned with Gordon Ramsay in London, then at the two-Michelin-starred L’Atelier de Joël Robuchon restaurant in Paris. He says that he took the first big step up in his career in France. After returning home and working for one year in Ljubljana’s Smrekarjev hram, he was called abroad once again. This time to Vienna, which shares a lot more in terms of culinary tradition with Slovenia than Paris, to work at the Steirereck restaurant under chef Heinz Reitbauer. This experience, which he sees as the second big step in his career, inspired him. The next one was to be upon his return to Slovenia, when he took the position of head chef in Ljubljana’s TaBar restaurant.

The young chef is creating new and reviving forgotten dishes, while at the same time reaching for unusual ingredients that are very well received by guests. He prepares each dish following his own inspiration and according to the conditions of the season. If you order his famous lardo in the summer, it will be served differently than in the winter. The same goes for all the other dishes on the menu.

Chef Jakob Pintar tackles each plate carefully and thoughtfully, and he also likes to forage for forgotten Slovenian delicacies.

Chef Jakob Pintar leans on the environment which he calls home. It is a space that stretches between the Alps and the Mediterranean and is subject to distinct seasonality. He likes to delve into Slovenian history and reinterpret its dishes.

Today, Jakob seems to have been born for TaBar. With his arrival in 2017, a symphony began that still sounds to this day. Fine dining in a relaxed environment, fun dining, is what excites Jakob and gives him momentum.

“Let this award be an important encouragement on the way to becoming one of the most recognisable names on the Slovenian gastronomic scene,” wrote Gault & Millau 2020, and awarded him the Young Talent 2020 award.