“Is there anyone from Sweden here?” asks chef David Vračko, sending a wave of nervous laughter and puzzled looks across the dining room. A few minutes later, he returns carrying a single speaker and places it on a small table in the middle of the room. The thumping piano and chanting vocals of Abba’s ‘Chiquitita’ soon fills the room as silky banana sorbets are dutifully served by waiters, who file in to the beat of the music.
This culinary spectacle is taking place at Vračko’s restaurant, Mak, located on an unassuming, low-lit street corner in Maribor in northeastern Slovenia. We’re three hours into the meal and only now is dessert being served.
Bearded, with long, brown, tied-back hair and a faded blue towel over his shoulder at all times, Vračko cuts something of a dishevelled figure. After spending 10 years learning his trade abroad, he returned to Maribor in 2011 to open
