Tomaž

Chef Tomaž Sovdat decided to be a chef at the age of six. He was inspired by his two grandmas, his mother, who was a waitress, and his father, who made salami. He finished cooking school in Tolmin, then worked in Bovec inns and soon headed across the border. In Italy, he tried his hand in several restaurants. He started at Lake Como and continued in Milan and in the Dolomites. Italy fascinated him, because for the first time he moved away from goulash, jota and čevapčiči and saw a world of a thousand possibilities.

When he returned to Slovenia, he first honed his cooking skills at Ljubljana’s Gostilna As, then went to the one and only, now two Michelin-starred, Hiša Franko for three years. From Kobarid, he returned to Bovec and started to create his own story for the first time. He stayed at Dobra Vila for seven years as chef de cuisine, and then turned another page.

Tomaž and his wife Yuki opened the Mangrt Restaurant in Log pod Mangrtom village in Soča Valley.

Tomaž Sovdat likes to explore different approaches, foods, and practices, but in the end it’s the taste that tells whether the experimentation has gone in the right direction.

He is never completely satisfied with what he has done, so he likes to look for new approaches. At the same time, he is confident enough not to be confused by the opinions of others, but above all he is his own harshest critic. He describes his cooking as simple and creative. He draws inspiration from traditional foods, which he shapes and processes in his own way.

Now, together with his wife Yuki, he exercises his art in a 200-year-old inn while focusing on the local ingredients that he spices up with his own creativity. He emphasises that he wants to make the most of the area’s raw materials, complementing his know-how with the knowledge and products of young people, near and far. It is essential to him that his guests feel the homeliness and warmth that he values so much.