My spouse and I dined at Zlata Ribica/ Vizija Gostinstovo (Vision
Catering) for dinner on a Sunday evening in early September 2016. The
restaurant is open daily from 11:00 am until 1:00 am.
Zlata Ribica (which
means “Golden Fish”) is one of the oldest restaurants
in Old Town. The restaurant is located on Ribji trg (Ribji Square), which means “Fish Square”. Ribji trg
is Ljubljana's smallest square, created after the earthquake of 1895. Since olden
times, the area contained a fishing pier and a fish market, hence the name. Today,
the square contains a small fountain from the mid-1800s topped with a
neoclassical statue of an ancient Greek girl holding a pitcher atop a pedestal
supported by three iron images of Poseidon, the Greek water god. Until the
early 1980s, the fountain occupied a garden next to Tivoli Mansion.
The restaurant occupies a four-story
tall building in a corner location in the small square, which creates lots of
light in the cozy renovated dining rooms. You can also dine outdoors on a small
shady cobblestone square, or at tables topped with umbrellas and positioned on Cankarjevo Nabrezje, the promenade along
the Ljubljanica River near the pedestrian Ribja Brv Footbridge.
Zlata Ribica serves Slovenian cuisine, in addition to pasta,
meat, and fish, and its food features fresh, local ingredients. We ordered two
pasta dishes of beef with dumplings (domaca mesna pasteta) served with fruit
bread (sadnim kruhom), and fettucine, along with three rounds of drinks for a
total cost of about 60 Euros.
We enjoyed our al fresco pasta dinner at Zlata Ribica amid
the flurry of activity on the promenade and the river.
