To demolish or not to demolish? This is what the St. George’s dilemma looked like a few years ago. A Renaissance bourgeois house, realists would call it a ruin, then found a new owner who had to find an answer to this question. After consulting with preservationists, craftsmen and his own values, the investor decided: we are going to restore! Majestic vaults, geometric floor of the First Republic, wine cellar, gate, doors, handles – all this survived several decades, sometimes even hundreds of years, to discover a new life in 2019. And it helped to create a unique atmosphere of the place. Meet the cafe, restaurant, guest house and restaurateur’s “meisterstück”. Krone in St. George. Today, however, we will only stay on the ground floor – in the premises of the cafe.
A cafe with First Republic nobility and Renaissance majesty
When you enter the cafe in Krone, your eyes immediately shoot upwards. The restored, snow-white, majestic Renaissance vaults rise above you. It doesn’t take long before your eyes fall on the floor: it is decorated with well-preserved, geometrically shaped primrose tiles. You sit on a wooden bent “tonka” and your eyes fly: up and down, up and down, like watching tennis. Using the combination “unique space” has perhaps never been more appropriate. The cafe in Krone sensitively connects such different historical periods in a space adapted to current needs and especially to the requirements for modern genius loci. Genius loci, about which rumors spread beyond the borders of the region.
Naturally, the initial charm fades after a while – but it lasts a long time, and you will have time to enjoy an Italian blend coffee from Caffe Galliano, a great cheesecake from a local pastry chef, or even a pastrami sandwich from the chef who works one floor above. Only then will you notice that there are other rooms. Specifically two – in addition to the tonets, there are velvet sofas and cushions waiting for you: pleasant to the touch and to sit on. If you want more privacy for work or conversation, you can go all the way to the back, if you don’t want to disturb the guests with your rambunctious children, there is another room. In Krone, you can close yourself, leave it open, sit at the bar, a table, on the sofa, have coffee, wine, beer, lemonade, or a snack. There are few things that a cafe in Krone can’t give you.
With what intention was Krone born?
The financial costs of the restoration of the town house in which Krone is based were approximately the same as the investment in demolition and new construction. However, the time required to restore this exceptional place was incomparably more voluminous than for a simpler variant. The investor decided to undergo all this – one of the reasons why he did so was respect for history. When he made this decision, he said to himself that it would be a great shame if he did not share this genius loci with others. And so practically the only option was hospitality: cafe, restaurant, boarding house.
Locals, passers-by and guests can sit down with a cup of espresso. You will enjoy breakfast in the morning and a snack in the afternoon: in addition to the aforementioned pastrami sandwich made from delicious beef that you smoke yourself, you can also try a little bit of Asia: shakshuka or hummus. You say unconventional dishes for such a place? That’s for sure, but they beautifully contrast with the historical space and take it to a new level. Like when someone places a strictly functionalist armchair in a bright emerald color in a dark, historical room with only mahogany furniture. At first glance, it doesn’t fit there, but when you take a step back, you say to yourself: “Excellent recovery.”
In Krone, you can also sit in the shelter during the summer
Another cafe space is also created in the basement – behind the gate that separates the house from the main square in Svät Jura, you will find additional, even higher vaults and a seating area. This “winter garden” is separated from the inner block of the house by a glass portal. There is also a large summer kitchen with a Mibrasa grill in the small courtyard, where you can enjoy regular events, open air, good wine and even better food, especially during summer days.
Love for history and traditions does not always mean that we will preserve them. Artificially protect in a kind of vacuum without being enriched by the current influence. The world is changing, so are people, and so are their needs – so why offer them something embalmed? In Krone, they did it excellently: they saved what they could from history, brought in elements from the not-so-distant past and also a lot of elements of the present. The result is a unique place that is worth visiting in any case – regardless of which corner of the country you come from. A place where history and the present write their story together, for St. Jur, for us, for the future.
When we make a sandwich, we first toast the homemade sourdough bread in butter until golden brown. Rub it with Dijon mustard, place thinly sliced Brisket, calamari and pickle on it.
Served with a small salad and French dressing.
Mouflon tenderloin with homemade dumpling
What we need:
- mouflonie meat
- Mangalica ointment
- salt
- ground black pepper
- herbs
- a carrot
- a carrot
- celery
- parsnip
- sugar
- onion
- lard
- beef broth
- lemon juice
- dried cranberries
- whipped cream
- infusion of herbs and wild pepper
How to prepare mouflon pork loin with homemade dumpling
Cut the mouflonie leg into thin slices, which we pat gently. Spread a soft paté of mouflonie meat and mangalica lard seasoned with herbs, salt and pepper on the slab of meat patted in this way. Add blanched carrots cut into fries and make thin rolls, which we wrap in food foil. Rolls prepared in this way are prepared sous vide for 6 hours at a temperature of 65 °C.
For the sauce, finely chop root vegetables (carrots, celery, parsnips), which we reset on caramelized onions and pour beef broth over the lard. Cook until soft. Add lemon juice, sugar, dried cranberries, a little whipped cream and an infusion of herbs and wild pepper to flavor the sauce, of course salt and pepper to taste.
Served with homemade steamed dumpling, whipped cream and cranberry compote.
The recipes were prepared by Chef Marek Minárik.
