Restaurant Pavus

About us
The Pavus Restaurant is situated  in a small castle that stands on o hill top overlooking the spa town of Laško, which is also known for the largest beer brewery in Slovenia.

About Castle Tabor
The castle is named Grad Tabor and it was built in 11. century. Relatevly small building was used as a hunting base for the counts of Celje. At some point in history it was also an aministritive center, court house,.. It was first rebuilt in 15. centuary when the Turks started invaiding and the people of Laško needed shelter. At this occasion the sourounding wall was built. To keep out the intruders. But by the 1800 it was again in ruins and remaind so until after the 2. world war, when the touristick society decided to clear the overgrown bushes. There were some efforts to revive the castel as a restaurant but unsucesfull until the brewary decided to copletly renovate the castle. Since then the castle is home to a restaurant.

About Chef Marko Pavcnik
Since April 2011 the castle has been in the managment of young chef Marko Pavčnik.

Born in 1980 in Celje, he spends his childhood at his family's farm as the youngest of four children. He enrols in the secondary school for catering. During the school years he spends one of his training periods at the castle as well as the final training period. Castle's restaurant was a part of the Brewery Laško at that time and was very successful and known as a breeding point of many exceptional chefs and waiters. Litlle did he know, that he will start his own restaurant bussines at exactly the same place..

After the training period he worked in many restaurants - climbing the ladder of kitchen hierarchy. He made head chef at the age 19 at various restaurants that thrived while he was cooking. In the following years he enters a few competitions at the Slovenian Convention of Catering and Hospitality and is successful wining silver and gold medals. His success doesn't go by unnoticed and he is invited to join the Culinary Olympic Team of Slovenia.

Awards won with the Olympic team:

• International competition Stuttgart: two gold medals 2010
• World competition Luxemburg: two bronze medals 2010

He is first noticed by professional food critic at hotel Evropa in Celje and receives 4,5 suns (out of 5 possible).

By 2007 he is married and has 2 children.

All the time while he is working in the catering bussines he dreams that one day he will have his own restaurant.

The beginig of PAVUS
»The challenge of opening our own restaurant was irresistible to us, a wish always on our minds. But so much was happening in our personal life, …« At the end of 2010 Marko first received an offer by the Brewery Laško if he would consider reopening their restaurant, which was closed at the time due to lack of suitable tenant. It was a difficult decision for the Pavcnik family with two small children and starting their own business is quite a demanding task.

They knew the effort it would take to open a restaurant that lost all its fame in the years of tenant after tenant, who were more or less unsuccessful. The time of economic crisis seemed especially inappropriate time to start their own business. Especially so for a-high-end restaurant.

But the whish was too strong. He decided to go ahead, make it a family business and April 2011 is the beginning of Pavus. The news of the castle reopening was big and didn't go unnoticed. The culinary critics enlisted the Pavus Restaurat as in of the best in Slovenia.

In 2013 we were also invited to join Jeunes Restaurateurs d'Europe.