Vila Podvin Review: Uroš Štefelin’s Former Restaurant

Our Vila Podvin review belongs to a particular chapter in this restaurant’s life. At our lunch near Radovljica, Uroš Štefelin’s kitchen used local ingredients and older Slovenian recipes as a starting point for an inventive tasting menu. We remember an egg served in its shell, a remarkably good octopus, and a dessert hidden beneath a Jerusalem artichoke sheet. The chef and his team have since moved to Hiša Linhart, so this is a record of the meal we ate, not a review of today’s Vila Podvin kitchen.

The Vila Podvin We Visited

The restaurant stood in a former outbuilding of the Podvin estate, with a garden for warmer days and a dining room of brick arches, stained glass and a fireplace. During Štefelin and Klofutar’s tenure, the connection to the region reached beyond the kitchen. Handmade tableware and projects with local makers were part of the experience, while their farmers’ market brought producers and guests together. The market later moved with the team to central Radovljica.

Podvin Castle has its own place in Slovenian history: the first draft of the country’s constitution was prepared at the estate in 1990. The restaurant occupies a separate, former ancillary building. That distinction matters when looking at the photographs of the villa itself.

Uroš Štefelin and the Move to Hiša Linhart

Štefelin’s cooking at Vila Podvin returned repeatedly to the food of Gorenjska: buckwheat, Bohinj cheese, pork, mushrooms and ingredients supplied close to home. The team earned a Michelin star in 2020 and retained it in 2021, when it also received a Green Star for its sustainability work. Those awards belong to this earlier chapter. On December 1, 2021, Štefelin and Klofutar moved the whole project to Radovljica’s old town. Our later Hiša Linhart tasting menu review follows the chef in his new dining room.

Vila Podvin Food Review: Our Lunch under Štefelin

The menu paired familiar Slovenian ingredients with small changes of shape, temperature and texture. Some plates explained themselves immediately; others revealed their connection to an older recipe once we started eating. These are the dishes we were served at Vila Podvin before the team’s departure.

First Bites, Bread and Butter

Lunch opened with potato foam, egg yolk, polenta and pork cracklings inside an eggshell. It took the ingredients of a hearty breakfast and reduced them to a few spoonfuls without losing their character. Another opening bite was a crisp cone filled with smoked trout and horseradish mayonnaise, its sharpness giving the fish a welcome lift.

The sourdough had the sort of crust that makes a bread course difficult to hurry. Stripes of flavored butter added herbs, nuts and the sweeter note of beetroot. Even with the more elaborate courses ahead, I kept returning to the bread.

Appetizers and Soups

Slices of slow-cooked beef tongue came with horseradish mayonnaise and salad; black walnuts, quail egg and local cheese made the combination more interesting with each bite. The photograph of marinated sea bass records another course, accompanied by parsnip purée, beetroot and parsley oil.

We also had two soups. Jerusalem artichoke was thick and earthy, with yogurt foam, fried parsley and crisp artichoke chips to lighten the spoonful. The mushroom and potato soup used fennel and pea sprouts to break up its softer textures. They were comforting dishes with enough contrast to keep them from becoming heavy.

Bohinj Cheese Ravioli and Blood Sausage

The ravioli held plenty of Bohinj cheese filling. Mushroom foam, a creamy quail egg yolk and an autumn salad gave us different ways into the same plate. The kitchen’s reworking of blood sausage took a more playful route: a familiar buckwheat filling appeared with potato foam, truffle and fried turnip. The ingredients still pointed back to the traditional dish, even after its usual shape had disappeared.

Piglet and Grilled Octopus

Ian chose piglet with crisp skin and juicy meat, served with beans, red cabbage, apple and parsley root. I went for grilled octopus with potato purée and vegetables. It was one of the best octopus dishes I had eaten, second in my own memory only to one on Lefkada. That is a personal ranking, of course, though the plate gave me good reason to remember it.

Two Autumn Desserts

The first dessert concealed pear, pumpkin, mint, meringue and chestnut sauce beneath a thin Jerusalem artichoke sheet. Breaking through the cover changed the dish from something almost sculptural into a mixture we could taste piece by piece. The last bowl brought chocolate chestnut mousse, apple ice cream, panna cotta and orange-pumpkin sauce. We kept trying to get a little of everything on the same spoon.

Conclusion: A Review of a Distinct Chapter

This lunch showed what Štefelin’s team could do with the food traditions of Gorenjska without treating them as museum pieces. The egg, the bread, the blood sausage and the octopus each had a reason to be on the table; the best courses were memorable for how they tasted as much as for the ideas behind them. Our 9.5 score records that meal and its service. For Štefelin’s cooking now, read our Hiša Linhart review; for a new reservation at Vila Podvin, use the current details below and expect a different team and menu.

Vila Podvin Review Card

• 9.3/10
  ATMOSPHERE – 9.3/10
• 9.4/10
  SERVICE – 9.4/10
• 9.6/10
  PRESENTATION – 9.6/10
• 9.6/10
  FOOD – 9.6/10
• 9.3/10
  DRINKS – 9.3/10
• 9.7/10
  VALUE – 9.7/10

These six category scores and the displayed overall 9.5/10 rate our historical meal. The six category values average 9.48, rounded to 9.5; they are not a rating of the present restaurant.

Practical Details for Today’s Vila Podvin

Vila Podvin continues to operate in Mošnje and is currently listed in the Michelin Guide without a star. Its official website displays a three-course menu at €45 and a six-course menu at €85, along with à la carte choices. Menus and hours can change, so check the restaurant’s own page when booking.

Vila Podvin FAQ