Monday, December 31, 2012

Maharaja, Ljubljana, Slovenia

Maharaja - a nice twin restaurant, Nepalese and Indian, a recent incarnation of this old place, used to be Šišenski Zvon and before that Majolka and before that - who would know. Tasty, worth a visit and a return and don't have too hungry eyes in the all-you-can-eat setting.

Sam Burstin - viola player with the Philharmonia Orchestra and conductor of the Paradisal Players"whether wielding baton or bow, Samuel brings huge passion, commitment, expertise and energy to his music-making. He has been a violist in the Philharmonia Orchestra since 2005; he is an award-wining chamber musician; and in 2010 he founded the Paradisal Players, an orchestra of top professional and brilliant amateur players, whom he conducts several times a year in concerts for charities", music runs in the catholic-jewish mixed family though his father Marcus is a physicist, Burstin is a Polish name with Viennese roots,  began playing violin at age 4, studying Suzuki method starting with only bowing and listening, in parallel did sax, piano and singing, football had something to do with the fact that he at some point fell out of love with violin, only to accidentally fall in love with viola and Bach - can play Bach cello stuff on viola, received the most important music education at Trinity College London where they stress depth as well breadth - including the all important listening, after careful selection, 6 months trial and 1 year probation he was accepted into Philharmonia - also helped by his NYO background, ardent Arsenal fan and rugby player - past U17 LondonScottish member, learning to speak Slovenian to even better understand Ana and will one day create opportunity that every single individual on the planet could listen live Mozart, while getting troubled kids and youth from streets through El Sistema-like program as he already worked TEDsters Dudamel and Zander.

Christina, pianist and singer and Marcus, the physicist. Proud parents of an accomplished young musician.

Tuesday, December 18, 2012

La Storia - Gosposvetska, Ljubljana, Slovenia

La Storia - franchise chain of restaurants, this one is the recent incarnation of a place with a long restaurant tradition on Gosposvetska corner, Evropa building. Up to La Storia image, worth a try, though keep your service expectation a bit lower.

Barbka Pečar - manager and consultant at BK komunikacije, wider Pečar family scattered all over Slovenia, related to Maks Pečar and also to Smrekar family, originally from Ljubljana, used to live in Zambratija several years, worked for Studio Kernel in Koper where team received IABC Gold Quill award, tried Faculty of Law first, then switched to FDV, worked also for Zavod za Turizem Ljubljana - where she worked with Jaka - and Thaler's EON, currently president of IABC Slovenia, developing a new line of Abha sustainable and socially responsible products, did solo singing for 6 years, enjoys immersing into foreign languages and relaxes through language classes, part of a big family, likes to look after nephew Luka, reads marketing books, will start watching TED Talks soon and will one day work Pro bono all the time, helping people with what they need the most and what she can provide most efficiently.

Thursday, December 6, 2012

Saporito, Berlin, Germany

Saporito - a very nice authentic, Italian place. Even fully crowded feels good. Worth trying and coming back, too. Pasta e Vino. 

Patrik Winkler - Financial Analyst at German Startups Group, born and raised in Nürnberg, currently lives in Berlin, Winkler Bräu unfortunately not related, studying Business at Friedrich-Alexander-Universität, worked also for Impact IRC and Smart Mobile Factory, studied at Bond University in Australia, recently volunteered at TEDxBerlin, sports guy, reading Never Eat Alone and started reading Paul Graham blog, he could earn his living playing football, will make Before I Die walls in Nurnberg and a bigger one in Berlin, doing also Stanford Venture Lab courses, was inspired by Gloria Lin and Do-Bands, listens to Sinatra and James Brown and will one day devote his energy and ideas to create something to help people, e.g. starting with homeless people in Berlin, while he hates people bitching about life.

Menu in cents. Triple digits delights.

Wednesday, December 5, 2012

Veritas, Berlin, Germany

Veritas - a classic sportsbar with TV sets in every room, featuring football and other sports. For visitors from non-smoking-in-bars the ever present smoke is rather annoying.

Janko Milunovićentrepreneur, the engine behind KissMenu, lives in Belgrade's Dorcol hood, grandpa Dragiša Milunović among the first to have finished Mašinski Fakultet in Belgrade. Janko used to be a part of Future Biz Innovation team in Sony Professional, studied MBA at Hellenic American University as Karadjordjevic Foundation grantee and received his MSc from EDHEC Business School in France. Basketball and beer are his two passions aside from the Xtreme sports. He does not only support Partizan but loves the club. Janko strives for a day when he will try base jumping, and earn applause as basketball coach in Pionir hall in Belgrade while lecturing strategy at Harvard.

Miloš Došen - Executive Director at Balkan Unlimited Serbia, moved to Belgrade city from Crveni Krst, Došen family in general has a mixed history, BkVF co-founder, served also in several networking and business advisory roles and will one day reform educational and entrepreneurial system in Serbia and in the region.