Vodnikov hram, Ljubljana, Slovenia

Vodnikov hram - another very old (traditional?) restaurant in the old town. Tourist magnet, but not trap. Serves also as business lunch place for nearby Dnevnik office. Good. Recommended.

Robert Zevnik - acting Head of PR at Dnevnik, Gorenjska roots from Cerklje beneath Krvavec, drawn to Ljubljana by study, worked at Vzajemna, then switched suit&tie financial services environment for dynamic-always-chasing-deadlines media company midst, Cotrugli MBA second generation - scholarship winner, did Sadovi Znanja at TV Pika (now POP BRIO) in Live-to-tape (a.k.a. the frugal way) fashion, getting more and more into running, already knee deep in DIY with his flat, reading Delivering Happiness - Zappos story about Profits, Passion and Purpose, did a short analysis of "Slovenian Groupon" shareholders, in love with infographics and will one day actively engage in one of many ideas sprouting continuously in his head. Business Angels and VCs, get in line ...

Switching hands. I'm full - do you want? Oh, thanks. Thanks :)

The green (other)side of Vodnikov hram. Sourcing spot?

Stari Tišler, Ljubljana, Slovenia

Stari Tišler - a nice, very old (traditional?) restaurant in the center. Spacious. With intriguing system of counters for labyrinth of rooms. In need of a proper Process Management System ... Food good, service good. Recommended.

Domen Dolar - Head of Application Development at ZPIZ - the national pension fund, stems from Breg near Žirovnica, spent study years in Ljubljana only to then return close to the roots in Radovljica to nest, his family is also running small hydro-plants, received Masters degree at FRI, worked for ZZI before joined ZPIZ, did a package of parachuting lessons and will soon refurbish that knowledge with a gift voucher, used to travel a lot with his wife Lucija - Alaska, South America, Africa, Japan among others - now they wait for their daughter to grow up a bit to kick start travel itinerary again, recently read: Into the Wild, Chris McCandless Alaska story. One day he will have a hostel or two in Slovenia, full of non-intrusive hi-tech gadgets and applications, written mostly by him. iHostel 3.0. A good friend of mine.

Like, Like, Like. Structured bin for plastic coffee cups. Provided by Automatic Servis at IBM Forum 2011, where Domen also presented their achievements at ZPIZ.

Lanzhou La mian, Ljubljana, Slovenia

Lanzhou La mian - what bushes (Grm) become after they die. La mian is a type of hand-made or hand-pulled Chinese noodle. Lanzhou is the place the owners are coming from - if we understood right = not trivial. The Chinese-food-lover in me would say recommended. Others not necessarily so.

Gregor Beslič - Co-founder and developer at Appoteka - web apps for a better world, makers of Shopamine, Ljubljana roots and leaves, recently married, cooperates with Boundbraker, worked for OpenAd (wiki article is an orphan, so is the company), Klika, Sonce.net and is also a DJ - part of P4B - recently performed at Rogla Freestyle week, reading Enchantment by Kawasaki, believes that intelligent ET species are visiting our planet and had FB account only for testing purposes. After inevitable success of one of his ventures, he will keep funding and supporting interesting ventures. P4F - Place4Funding.

Just like hot-sour soup and Szechuan chicken, a poorly written ads and menus are a must in a proper Chinese restaurant. This one is stretching the still-funny to the limit. Boundbreaker Chinese style.

Od Dans do Jutr, Ljubljana, Slovenia

Od Dans do Jutr - one of the latest incarnations of this corner in Župančičeva jama. Facebook based from start. Serving Cafe Britt from Costa Rica. Or maybe not. But they do make you wait on Cola for ever. And ever.

Hans Houmark - business developer in digital media marketing, grew up in Esbjerg in Denmark, moved to Slovenia as exchange student at EPF in Maribor, stayed for job and anchored for love and now family, worked for Tobačna - 1 year in Belgrade - and ReckittBenckiser, re-acquainting himself with Danish language with daughter Inya, avid cook, used to work in restaurant as a student, reading trilogy by Stieg Larsson, at 45 he will move to the seaside, open a restaurant + hotel with spiritual conference room and maybe start another regional Groupon with a system along the way. Crowd-ooohm.

Supply and demand. Oncology institute in the back, tobacco shop in front. System works.

Plato, Ljubljana, Slovenia

Plato - smack in the center. Upstairs and downstairs. Poshy. A bit. Waiter commented "you'll be sorry" when I did not order a drink with lunch. Attitude?

Matej Delakorda - Project manager interested in personal developement, IT and social change, grew up in Velika Pirešica near Žalec where they have presumably the biggest quarry in Slovenia, surprisingly was never involved in local hops business and doesn't drink beer, graduated in Social sciences at FDV, started working as a volunteer at Kiberpipa, was involved with Bog.si company before joined Studio12 and is also running INePA, genuinely interested in developing human potential, does climbing, basketball and is reading The Divine Matrix, a vegetarian while his father is involved in meat industry, will one day totally devote himself to developing, sharing and demonstrating potential leadership within people. A way to lead indeed.

Matyas Pince, Budapest, Hungary

Matyas Pince - world famous Etterem in the center of Budapest. With wine bottles on top of dancing girls included.

Oliver Senti - WebSphere Tech Professional at IBM in Dubai, moved to Middle East from Zurich where he grew up with Lichtenstein roots, left podcast traces on IBM Schweiz page, his father was also an IBMer, but did not get IBM package for newborn like they do in Poland, worked also for Swisscom, cyclist in Dubai when it's not too hot, shoots with Canon 550D and reads a Frank Schätzing's book. Lots of extra time would make him an expert and even more avid photographer. Click.

Hrvoje Živko - Software Group manager at IBM Croatia, grew up in Vrbovec, moved to Zagreb, worked for Oprema Vrbovec and started in IBM as inside sales rep, has 2 kids, plays Lego Batman and Harry Potter PC games on console with them, played tennis and graduated from dancing with his wife, currently reading Jack Welch's best seller and would - time and money permitting - immediately travel around the world.

Our photographer-du-jour, Achal.

Dubočica, Ljubljana, Slovenia

Dubočica - one of the finest restaurants with grilled meat in Ljubljana. Part of Momo group, like Rio Momo and Portal. Totally recommended - all three of them. They've recently had promotion on Slovenian "Groupon" 1naDan with tremendous success - 7538 coupons sold - I was one of them.

Marija Kozin - world traveller, currently finishing her study and contemplating next steps in life, grew up in Škofja loka, had Kawasaki ZZR600 - with one accident - and drives everything, including trucks, used to work at Terme Olimia, Turistica graduate, worked also as bike tour guide in Marburg and in Princeton-Blairstown Center outdoor camp in USA, her blog marijakozin.com is currently offline, but when it was online, it was not accessible in China, while she was cycling 32.000 km to Beijing and back, through 23 countries in years 2006-2008. With a magic wand she would stop all weapons industry, reset human development not to be based on oil capitalism and would prevent lethal children diseases. Granted. In addition she would do the whole Beijing trip again and visit the people that helped her the most on the way - such as Azari family in Tehran, mother Lia Davitaschvili in Tbilisi - and support worthy projects and people such as Eka Machavariani in Zugdidi. That's but a small snapshot, luckily also her TEDx Talk is coming up soon ...

Marija's bike. From her Flickr photo set.

Shambala, Ljubljana, Slovenia

Shambala - chic, top location (not so hidden as the name Shambala - hidden kingdom - implies), a must for Asian-food goers. Recommended.

Polona Žehelj - her first week at IBM Slovenia as STG Sales Operations, used to work for Spark and KPMG, active scout made it to "starešina načelnica" status, knows well Igor Fakin's daughter, recently did trekking in Nepal, began to get serious in her running career and is reading Randy Pausch's Last Lecture.

Ditka Jeran - young researcher at University Medical Center in Ljubljana, used to teach biology, is currently involved in breathing-related neuroscience research, was recently very much involved in TEDxLjubljana events and is reading Jared Diamond's Guns, Germs and Steel.

Staff that works in this bamboo environment would let us talk even after it was close for closed party preparation. Nice move. Stern warning, mild enforcement :)

Gostilna Rožnik, Ljubljana, Slovenia

Gostilna Rožnik - the most crowded restaurant on the most crowded hill in Ljubljana - provided there is plenty sun. Recommended - any weather. Go for Jota. In more ways than one.

Simon Benkič a.k.a Jotaeater - working in video clip production for iStock and Getty, grew up in Smarjepri Jelsah, now lives in Sinja Gorica, EF graduate, worked for Pika.tv and Paprika.tv, started with basic VCR knowledge and worked his way to an Audio/Video all-rounder expertise, did Vipassana in Italy, is regular on Dhamma forum, his first 42km marathon is due in 2011 in Radenci, did lot of biking in Toscana, is a music concert freak, spending most of his vacation time on events like: Inmusic in Zagreb, Sziget in Hungary, Rock Werchter in Belgium and others from the list published on his blog, does a lot of Yoga practice and is currently reading Karnazes. If given opportunity (backed with ample financing) he would do festival 10 times the size of Sziget, would bike around the world (inspired by Marija Kozin - to follow later in this blog) and run Camino de Santiago.

There actually was a piece of path without runners and hikers on a sunny January day.

Gostilna Livada, Ljubljana, Slovenia

Livada - they excel in serving big groups. Crowdfooding.

Aleš Muha - Project Manager at A-Soft, calls Horjul his hometown, surname has Czech roots, Tadej's brother, about to graduate at EF, worked for NLB investement banking arm, was Head of IT finance at Lek and SLA manager for Sandoz group, and now serves as BPA at Viator&Vektor. His blog combines cycling + gourmet, has 6 years old daughter, is reading in parallel The creative manager and Female brain (what?) books, will one day have his own F1 team and bike shop with best mountain bikes for symbolic price. For friends.

A-Soft, B-Soft, C-Soft ... all together now ...

Evergreen, Smlednik, Slovenia

Evergreen behind the green. Great restaurant and lounge. Especially for avid golfers. Diners kind.

Igor Koščak - Head of direct Sales at Infonet Media, has roots in Canada, lives in radomlje, Peter Koschak is his uncle painter, graduated at FM in Koper, worked for Manpower, before he was snatched by Leo Oblak's Infonet. Avid tennis player, had same coach Breskvar as Boris Becker, recently read Armchair Economist and will probably be sales trainer even for free as that's what he likes to do and is very good at.

Dino Ivan Tot - CEO and partner at Media Lab, the company behind 1naDan, Slovenian Groupon wannabe, born and raised in Rijeka, Croatia, lives in Ljubljana as he moved to Slovenia because of study, graduated at FRI and about to finsih Cotrugli EMBA, still has Totalia IT consulting company and was never employed, likes fishing parangal, plays squash and tenis, avid skier, currently reading Gladwell's outliers and will keep spawning new businesses in his life.

Čajnica Cha, Ljubljana, Slovenia

Cha - A very popular and very nice tea place in Old Town. Recommended. Much.

Violeta Bulc - enterpreneur, promotor of innovation and the power of personal development at Vibacom, her company. A lot is written about her, so I need hat much less. Citing fruits of her efforts and thoughts her: Vibacom, InCo movement, Aktualno.biz and Violeta Blog. Recently intervied (also) by Žiga and will soon give TED Talk at TEDxLjubljana. Evolution in Leadership. Indeed.

Maxi 2000, Ljubljana, Slovenia

Maxi Restaurant 2000 - amusingly described by InYourPocket Guide: "A vast underground filling station for budget-conscious city slickers such as construction workers, Korean businessmen and of course the obligatory sprinkling of students"

Miha Mesojednik - newly appointed Tivoli Software Sales Manager for IBM in Slovenia, grew up in Šujica, EF graduate with Masters from FDS, worked for MIBO komunikacije and Cisco, hard core mountain biker with his Canondale, during winter does spinning under Primož Štrancar guidance, currently reads IBM Tivoli related books, will soon be ITIL V3 certified, met Lance Armstrong in Person in Las Vegas and is about to read his books. One day he will travel a whole lot more (e.g. revisit Maldives), help those needed in high level sales management approach and once cycle through Tour de France Track. Endurance is the name of the (sales) game.

Aleš Koprivnikar - Rational Tech Specialist at IBM Slovenia, used to call Stangerske Poljane near Šmartno pri Litiji his home, FRI graduate with Masters looming around the corner, worked for Adacta before joining IBM Software Group, loves to ride his Suzuki V-Strom - did 10.000 km this year, plays squash and visits TEDxLjubljana events, recently read Gerstner's Elephant Can't Dance (review by Rational Tech colleague) and now reads Three Cups of Coffee. One day he will also travel a whole lot more and try many new things - I bet some of them close to racing.

CEE region is where we are. Raiffeisen follows our step. Yellow and strong. Running on strong software.

Elevant, Tallinn, Estonia

Elevant - a realy cool place. India, yes, with a nice touch. A total recommendation. To me. And from me. If it is bossanova you are listening to right now, then it's probably performed by Japanese, if the rhytms are Asian, they are created by some London genius of Indian origin, and the hip-hop is obviously mixed by DJs from Vienna.

Triinu Hommuk - Software Sales Manager at IBM Estonia, born and raised in Tallinn, played piano 13 years and then made a radical departure to study at TUT and work for IBM where also her father worked, sometimes have joint family concerts with her singing mother, worked also for SEB bank, walks her Labrador/German Sheppard mix Sebastian, does local merchandising for celebrities on tour, recently for Sting and soon for Kylie, owns and rides Estonian horse Eedu, although already had a bad horse inflicted injury (not Eedu), is reading HOw to raise a Puppy and is part of Laulan Sinule band since recently. One day she will raise a herd of horses and get really good in photography.

Mihkel Loderaud - Software Tech Specialist at IBM Estonia, Tallinn native and Arvo Part's neighbour in the seaside cottage, TUT gradate, used to work on SAP monitoring in IBM and later as Rational software specialist, was exchange student at Sedbergh School in UK through Soros Foundation scholarship, played rugby there, now does Kung Fu Wing Tsun, a rare female created branch of martial arts that used to be hidden behind closed doors, reads Murakami's Kafka on the shore and Content Analytics Redbook, recommends Murakami's Norwegian Wood and Discogs.com, did The Wilson Run and will one day do a lot more kite surfing while also be active on the other side of movie/music consumption line. Mobilizing Creative Surplus.

Nowhere in Tallinn. Tallinn is special if you are properly guided. Thanks.

Azur, Ljubljana, Slovenia

Azur - trattoria with pizza as they like to call themselves. A very nice place that draws business lunchees from nearby Tehnološki Park. Recommended. Even for busy business lunch.

Daniela Bervar - Country manager for Slovenia at Cotrugli Business School, born and raised in Maribor, her grandfather Marijan being a renown plastic and reconstructive surgeon from VMA alumni that also operated on Tito and is lecturing on novel approaches in his field, she used to work in PR for CMT and Laguna, did business events moderation, has IB Diploma from Druga Gimnazija Maribor, was part of a show on Radio Salomon known as Lady D and had a business show on TV Paprika, was also involved in student politics and singing, walks her dog Bacon, is reading Ana Karenina and Putin's Russia, recent Cotrugli EMBA graduate, working on her PhD thesis under Dejan Vercic's supervision, later sees herself in politics and will one day create a fund that would support talents she would encounter. Supporting encounters.

Gostilna Rožna Hiša - down the road from Azur. Next time.

Pizza Pub, Ljubljana, Slovenia

Pizza Pub - A nice pizza and business lunch place close to new business offices development. Targeted audience. Worth a visit. But not their website. Design by Borchy. Design?

Nataša Sedlar - Ph.D. student and researcher at Social Medicine Institute at SAZU, currently researching work related stress, grew up in Bohinjska Bistrica, was PR lady at BEST, though not a tech student and is part of project Message in the bottle. TEDxLjubljana organizer, recently read Dan Ariely's Predictably Irrational, likes Behemot bookshop and will one day be totally devoted to science and will invest in various institutes. Forever.

Risotto with chicken wings. My first ever. Unlikely combination. In a pizza pub.