Ostarija Peglez'n

Ostarija Peglez'n sits in a converted wooden cottage on the lakeshore promenade — a hundred metres from the lake, set back from the tourist traffic, with a garden terrace in summer and a fireplace dining room in winter. It is the restaurant Bled residents take their visiting relatives to; the tourist-grade lake-shore cafés get the Instagram photos, but this is where the locals actually eat.

The menu is the traditional Slovenian canon cooked well and priced correctly. Jota (a bean-and-sauerkraut stew); lake trout pan-fried with almonds; Kranjska klobasa with sauerkraut and mustard; a štruklji (sweet-cheese dumplings) for dessert; a proper kremna rezina that will change your mind about the version sold by the lake-shore cafés.

Service is friendly and unhurried — the owner's family work the room, and conversations are possible. Portions are generous; the house wine (a Brda cuvée) is very drinkable at €4 a glass.

The garden terrace, in summer, is one of the most comfortable evening seats in Bled. The fireplace dining room, in winter, is one of the warmest.

Ostarija Peglez'n is the Bled team dinner. The garden terrace holds groups of eight to twelve; the menu gives everybody plates they will recognise and enjoy; the pricing keeps a group bill reasonable; and the locals-actually-eat-here credibility means the evening feels authentic rather than staged for tourists.