Ana Roš is the Slovenian chef of Hiša Franko in the Soča Valley, Slovenia’s first and only three-Michelin-star restaurant. Born in 1972 in Šempeter pri Gorici and raised in Tolmin, Roš is entirely self-taught, with no formal culinary training. She has run Hiša Franko since 2002, transforming what was a traditional inn run by her ex-partner’s parents into one of the world’s most distinctive fine-dining destinations.
Hiša Franko holds three Michelin stars (retained in the 2025 guide) plus a Michelin Green Star for sustainability. Roš is the eighth female chef in the world to earn three Michelin stars and one of only two women globally to hold the combination of three stars and a Green Star.
TL;DR
- Slovenian chef born 1972, grew up in Tolmin in the Soča Valley
- Chef-owner of Hiša Franko in Kobarid, Slovenia (running the kitchen since 2002)
- Entirely self-taught with no formal culinary training
- Three Michelin stars since 2023, plus a Green Star for sustainability
- World’s Best Female Chef 2017 (The World’s 50 Best Restaurants)
Ana Roš key facts
| Born | 1972, Šempeter pri Gorici, Slovenia (grew up in Tolmin) |
| Nationality | Slovenian |
| Main restaurant | Hiša Franko, Kobarid, Soča Valley, Slovenia (running kitchen since 2002) |
| Michelin stars | Three at Hiša Franko since 2023, plus Green Star for sustainability |
| Style | Hyperlocal Soča Valley cuisine, self-taught, intuitive |
| Notable awards | World’s Best Female Chef 2017; Chef’s Table Season 3 on Netflix (2016) |
| Other ventures | JAZ by Ana Roš (Ljubljana), Pekarna Ana (bakery), Ana Roš Drinks (2025) |
Early life and training of Ana Roš
Roš grew up in Tolmin in the Soča Valley, the same mountainous region of western Slovenia where Hiša Franko now sits. She was an athlete first: a competitive alpine skier on the Yugoslav youth national team as a teenager, one of the more promising young skiers of her generation. She did not grow up in a restaurant family and had no particular interest in cooking professionally.
She studied international diplomacy at the University of Gorizia on the Italian side of the border, intending a diplomatic career. While studying she met Valter Kramar, whose parents ran Hiša Franko, a traditional inn in the nearby village of Kobarid. When Kramar decided to take over the restaurant from his parents, Roš went with him. He became the sommelier; she initially ran the front of house.
The kitchen at that point had a more traditional chef who was not interested in experimenting, and Roš gradually pushed into the kitchen herself. By 2002 she had taken over as head chef without ever having attended culinary school or staged in a professional kitchen. She has described the first years as trial and error, with customers effectively functioning as test subjects for her recipes. That self-taught path shapes everything about how Hiša Franko now cooks.
Ana Roš career timeline
- 1972: Born in Šempeter pri Gorici, Slovenia
- Teenage years: Competitive alpine skier on the Yugoslav youth national team
- Studies: International diplomacy at the University of Gorizia
- Late 1990s: Meets Valter Kramar; begins working at Hiša Franko
- 2002: Takes over as head chef at Hiša Franko
- 2010: Featured in Italian culinary magazine Identità Golose
- 2016: Featured in Chef’s Table Season 2 on Netflix
- 2017: Named World’s Best Female Chef by The World’s 50 Best Restaurants; Hiša Franko enters the 50 Best list
- 2017: Roš and Kramar separate; she continues to run Hiša Franko
- 2020: Hiša Franko awarded two Michelin stars in the first Michelin Guide Slovenia, plus a Green Star
- 2020: Publishes Sun and Rain with Phaidon
- 2022: Marries Urban Stojan
- 2023: Hiša Franko awarded three Michelin stars, the first Slovenian restaurant to reach three stars
- 2024-2025: Hiša Franko retains three stars and Green Star in the Slovenia Michelin Guide
- 2025: Launches Ana Roš Drinks, a line of ready-to-serve Terroir Cocktails
- Present: Also operates JAZ by Ana Roš (contemporary bistro in Ljubljana) and Pekarna Ana (artisan bakery in Ljubljana)
Ana Roš signature style: hyperlocal Soča Valley cuisine
The argument at Hiša Franko is that a place with a strong enough terroir does not need to borrow from elsewhere. According to the New York Times, nearly every ingredient served at the restaurant is sourced within 50 kilometres of the kitchen. The Soča Valley provides trout and river crab from the Soča itself, goat meat and dairy from the indigenous Drežnica goat, wild herbs and mushrooms foraged from the surrounding Julian Alps, and produce from neighbouring farms. Roš has specifically revived local practices that were in danger of disappearing, including ageing a regional cheese that had never previously been aged and burying a specific variety of red chicory under cow dung to force its winter growth.
Roš describes her own approach as “technical, almost scientific”. She has a marked preference for raw preparations, particularly of vegetables, and builds her menus around the constraints of what is available at any given moment rather than around a fixed signature repertoire. There is no á la carte at Hiša Franko: a single seasonal tasting menu is served, and it shifts with daily ingredient availability.
The restaurant also sits in a rustic 18th-century house that functions as both home and restaurant. Roš, her husband, her children and her parents-in-law all live on the property; the restaurant runs Wednesday to Sunday; the three-hour dining experience deliberately preserves a sense of arriving at someone’s home rather than at a destination restaurant. The rustic setting, the self-taught cook, the hyperlocal sourcing and the three-star polish are the four pieces that make Hiša Franko difficult to replicate anywhere else.
Notable dishes at Hiša Franko
Several Hiša Franko dishes have become reference points in European fine dining. Deer Heart with kiwi and oysters (Gamay jus, dehydrated and rehydrated beetroot, kale leaf) is Roš’s homage to her father, a hunter. Dosa with Kid Goat and Salty Yogurt pairs a fermented lentil dosa with the Drežnica indigenous goat from a village 25 minutes from the restaurant. Pasta Ana is a ravioli of fermented ricotta and Istrian tomato in a concentrated tomato foam with brown butter, based on a recipe Roš’s mother used to cook for her. And the opening walk of small bites (titled with dish names like Garden Leaves or Ruscus Sprig in the Morning Mist by the Soča River) stages the meal as a walk through the surrounding valley.
Ana Roš awards and recognition
- 2016: Featured in Chef’s Table Season 2 on Netflix
- 2017: Named World’s Best Female Chef by The World’s 50 Best Restaurants
- 2017-present: Hiša Franko on The World’s 50 Best Restaurants list
- 2020: Two Michelin stars plus Green Star in the first Michelin Guide Slovenia
- 2020: Publishes Sun and Rain (Phaidon)
- 2023: Three Michelin stars at Hiša Franko, the first Slovenian restaurant to reach three stars
- 2024-2025: Three stars plus Green Star retained in Michelin Guide Slovenia
- One of the only two female chefs in the world to hold the combination of three Michelin stars and a Green Star
Ana Roš impact on Slovenian fine dining
Roš is, in real terms, the reason Slovenia appears in international fine-dining conversations at all. Before Chef’s Table in 2016 and the World’s Best Female Chef title in 2017, Slovenian cuisine had effectively no global profile; the country had no Michelin Guide at all until 2020. Roš’s visibility was the direct catalyst for Michelin entering the country, and for the current 2025 guide featuring 72 restaurants across Slovenia with a combined twelve Michelin stars. The BBC has described her as “at least in part” responsible for Slovenia becoming one of Europe’s prime gastronomic destinations, and the Slovenian Tourist Board has treated Hiša Franko as a central asset in the country’s tourism strategy.
The self-taught path is the second part of her impact. Roš is one of the very few three-Michelin-star chefs in the world who never staged at any of the kitchens normally associated with that level: no El Bulli, no French Laundry, no Noma. Her position alongside chefs like Dominique Crenn (also self-taught, also one of the few women with three stars) and René Redzepi (foraging-led, terroir-first) is part of a broader argument that the top of the fine-dining system can be reached from outside the classical French route. Her influence on chefs like Gaggan Anand is documented: the banana-and-chicken-liver dish at Gaggan was directly suggested to Anand by Roš.
Ana Roš FAQ
How many Michelin stars does Ana Roš have?
Three Michelin stars at Hiša Franko, retained in the 2025 Michelin Guide Slovenia, plus a Michelin Green Star for sustainability. Hiša Franko earned three stars in 2023 and was the first Slovenian restaurant ever to reach that level.
Did Ana Roš go to culinary school?
No. Roš is entirely self-taught, with no formal culinary training and no stages at other professional restaurants. She studied international diplomacy at the University of Gorizia before taking over the Hiša Franko kitchen in 2002.
Where is Hiša Franko?
In Kobarid, a small village in the Soča Valley of northwestern Slovenia, close to the Italian border and the Julian Alps. The restaurant occupies an 18th-century rustic guesthouse and serves a single seasonal tasting menu from Wednesday to Sunday.
What is Ana Roš Drinks?
A line of bottled, ready-to-serve beverages that Roš launched in 2025. The range reinterprets classic cocktails and non-alcoholic drinks through Slovenian terroir, using wild-foraged botanicals and artisanal techniques. It applies the hyperlocal philosophy of Hiša Franko to a format that can be enjoyed at home.
What other restaurants does Ana Roš run?
JAZ by Ana Roš is a contemporary casual bistro in Ljubljana with one Michelin star (noted in the 2025 Slovenia guide). Pekarna Ana is her artisan sourdough bakery, also in central Ljubljana. Both extend the Hiša Franko philosophy into more accessible formats.
What is next for Ana Roš
Roš has said she has no ambition to leave the Soča Valley. The focus is on deepening Hiša Franko rather than expanding it, with the bakery and the drinks line as complementary projects rather than a restaurant group in the Frantzén sense. Her public Instagram (@anarosacetate) and the Hiša Franko site are the best sources for menu updates and current events at the restaurant.
